The timber wolf that was feeding off of the road-killed deer. Though he wasn't welcoming of the attention we were giving him, he was not going to pass up the venison that was a free meal because of two guys in a little car.
Dean Juntunnen of Mass City
Al Koivonen, of South Range, paddling upstream just for the fun of it in his Mad River Courier canoe. That's Dean's titanium and carbon fiber wheelchair in the stern of Al's canoe.04-15-06 Wolf by M-26 & Firesteel River Paddle
On Friday I went out to Chassel Bay for the first paddle of the 2006 season. The day was in the 50's with sun and some gusting wind. I was using my new paddles - the "Maine Guide" style ash paddle and the Nashwaak Cruiser paddle out of Canada. I liked the grab of the Maine Guide and practiced with it. Saw 2 immature eagles near the Pike River, paddled up the river and on my return saw a nesting goose right on the bank with 4 eggs thus far in the downy nest. Also saw my first male redwing blackbird warbling in a willow above the stream.
I went out with Dean Juntunnen and Al Koivonen on a long and roundabout trip to the Firesteel River which was running with class 2 and a couple of #3 rapids along much of the 13 miles we went on.
We were a couple of miles before the turnoff to Mass City , near the Firesteel River when I noticed a timber wolf at the side of the road eating a road killed deer. I stopped the car, turned around and pulled off to take some pictures of it. It was scared of us but couldn’t pull itself away from the meat for long so we did get some decent pictures.
When we arrived at dean’s place off of Aspen Rd., about a mile south of Mass City, there was quite a bit of work to do preparing for the boat carrying on his car, as Dean is paralyzed from the waist down and has special attachments on his rack for getting his kayaks on his roof rack, etc.
We then had to drive to Ontonogan and take lakeshore Dr. To other roads and finally to where the Firesteel River outlets into Lake Superior to drop one vehicle with trailer and then drive to another place to put in for the paddle down river. I was a bit hesitant in the first couple of rapids, not knowing how the Wildfire would do. It was very forgiving and handled well. The royalex skin slid off ledges well and in the few holes that I went in the cover made it a dry boat. We saw a number of eagles and I saw quite a few kingfishers chattering as they fished. Big bunches of ducks and geese were in the air and on the river. There were a quite a few deer stands and logging taking place back from the river with occasional camps back away from the river. The fairly continuous rapids made it very nice to run and the only drawback to that was that I had to watch the river and not the shore. The sun was bright on the water so that the glare made it hard to see rocks at riffles, but no harm done. I tended to favor the 57 inch beaver tail paddle though a wider blade would have been better for control in the fast water. I used the Maine Guide paddle quite a bit with its wide blade tough it is a bit heavy and long. Al saw the first turtle of the season though I missed that.
I didn’t get home until 7 PM after leaving here at 7 AM with all the time involved in driving. Nice water though and a fine 60 degree day.
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