Smooth moving on the Grand River

Nothing says Summer in Michigan than enjoying an afternoon on the water. The sun brightly shinning, Birds gliding through a gentle breeze over head and myself and 5 friends making our way down the Grand River via kayaks. A few months leading up to this day my husband and I had been talk about things we would like to try that would get us outside and enjoying with grand local of ours. Kayaking came up. My husband had a friends that enjoyed it, his son included. So my research of local options started. What I found was my options were drive to a river and rent a kayak and be sent down the river. While driving to float down a river isn't something new to me and it wasn't very exciting either. My options were places I often see or have floated down on tubes with friends before. Luckily I came across GRPaddling.com. My options increased greatly. Did I want a lake or a river? How about a Moonlight trip? Dinner or a Picnic? Just these few options left me spinning with glee!

While this was to be our first trip I thought I would take it easy and keep it simple. Simple and close to home. After reviewing many of my options I found an a launch site not far from my own home. Perfect! What could be better than finding something so close to home? How about being driven to the site of the launch by this company. GR Paddling picks you up at a location you chose. Home work or where ever works best for you. So after looking at what they offer I gathered a few friends and book our day on the Grand River.

I booked a trip for myself and 5 other friends. I was able to contact GR Paddling before hand and explained that this would be the first kayaking trip for all of us and in our group was a non swimmer. Jeff responded to my email quickly and professionally assuring me that the selections of kayaks " are quite stable and very unlikely to tip over on the Grand." Life jackets are also provided. 

The day of our trip Jeff arrived with a Van for all of us to fit in and behind it all 6 of the kayaks that we would use that day. While we finished gathering our belongings Jeff setup the Van for us. On the step into the Van a sign greeted up which I thought was a nice touch. Once we were all loaded up we were off to our launch point that I had chosen which was in Eastmanville. 

Once we arrived we were given the obligatory legal forms to fill out and sign and while we took care of this Jeff unloaded the kayaks and brought out drink options that we could bring on the river with us. We were also given the option of a waterproof case for our phones for anyone that wanted to bring their device along. Jeff explained our options in choosing the kayaks. The color of the kayak dictated style. Blue the latest and most stable also meant it would be the slowest. Yellow, our second choice was stable but a little quicker in the water. Our final choice was red, a sleek nimble little number built for gliding quickly through the water. Once we figured out who was what color we were given some instructions and review a map of the route.

After this it was time to get into launch mode. We formed a train to carried the kayaks down to the launch point. This particular launch site had a specialty built assisted launch for canoes and kayaks which made is simpler and safer to launch into the water. Jeff gave a few last instructions on how to use the paddles and then one at a time we glided into the Grand River. 

Once we entered the water we had a chance to get use to the balance and maneuvering to get our momentum which didn't take long and we were off on your 7 mile trip down river. 

It was a beautiful day. Sunny blue clouds lightly dotted with puffy white clouds and just enough of a head wind to slow us down. As we made our way down river, we could not only enjoy the nature around us but each other as well. For 2 hours and 45minutes no one sent a text message, checked Facebook, answered an email. No, we just enjoyed being humans in nature. Spotting multiple turtles taking advantage of the sun, a blue herron come in for a landing and even the majestic bald eagle soaring above us. 


When we reached our half way point, aka opt out point, Jeff was there with his camera snapping shots and making a point to ask each person in the party how we were doing and feeling so far. Our group all agreed to paddle on. Jeff gave us an update on how far we had to go yet and said he would meet us there. The last couple of miles were calmer. The wind was no longer slowing us down and we were feeling more confident in our ability. Once we arrived at our end point Jeff once again met us and as well drift into shore he grab the front of the kayak to make sure we came fully a shore.

Once on land again, drinks and snacks awaited us. Which was incredibly nice because after the trip I could use a boost in calories. Kayaking is a calorie killer! After the kayaks were packed up and we were loaded back into the van everyone discussed what area of their body hurt the most. Shoulders, arms, backs, you name it someone was hurting there.

While we all had our aches and pains everyone of us wanted to go again. One member of the party said that this trip convinced her to purchase her own kayak. The trip was enjoyable so much that we want to turn this into a annual event. GR Paddling gives me plenty of options to try different areas of the Grand River and other rivers and lakes as well.