I didn’t start recording pics of the 100 days of paddling until around day 7. I remember the first day the best. I tried to make it a “meetup”. A few people said they would join me but the water iced up the night before. I postponed the meetup a few hours to see if the ice would melt. It did a little but not all of it. I still went out but had to break the ice through the canal to get to the open water on Globe Mill Pond. I didn’t decide to do 100 days at that time, but I was thinking about how many days to paddle. I did 50 days in 2017. I keep track of the days in my journal. I don’t remember a whole lot about those first few days of paddling other than it was cold; even in a full wetsuit, warm layers and a life jacket. I had purchased a dry suit for cold weather paddling but I hated the way it felt around my neck. I opted for a full wetsuit on colder days.
Despite the early start I took some time off from paddling when my dad died on April 17th and my mom came up from Tennessee to live with me for a few weeks. On April 22nd I went kayaking a day before we buried my dad at Fort Custer National Veterans Cemetery near Battle Creek, MI. I still wasn’t thinking about doing any challenges at that time. It just felt good to be outside and feel the warm sun on my face. I didn’t do much paddling for a few weeks after my dad’s passing.
On May 20th I decided to take my stand up paddle board (SUP) out for the first time in 2018. The canal behind my house is a challenging place to go paddle boarding. There are a lot of fallen trees and submerged logs. They aren’t a problem when you’re in a kayak but my paddle board had a 9” fin. I need to always be on the lookout for submerged logs while paddle boarding there. I remember that it was risky that first day because the water was very murky and I couldn’t see anything deeper than an inch or two into the water. I guess I felt cocky and confident that everything would go well. I knew where all the submerged logs were from all the paddling I did last year. Unfortunately, there was a new submerged log that I wasn’t aware of until I heard a hard knock; the sound of my fin hitting a log. A split second later I was under water floating back to the surface. I was wearing my wetsuit so the shock of cold water didn’t affect me as much as the shock of how quickly I found myself under water. It happened so fast. A fisherman in a kayak was coming in the opposite direction and asked if I was ok. I just laughed and said it was a good day for a swim. I swam back to my paddleboard, got back on and took a few deep breaths to gather my composure. I sat there a minute before I realized I was missing my ball cap. Sure enough, it was floating in the water a few feet away. I retrieved my hat and went back home. I decided to hold off on paddle boarding until the water cleared. Then I got on Amazon and ordered a 4 inch flexible “river fin”.
My daily routine consisted of paddling south from behind my house to Globe Mill Pond. After a loop around Globe Mill I would paddle north through the canal and go up the River Raisin a short distance before turning around. When I was on my paddle board I would take a break on Standish Pond in the lily pads to rest my feet.
During the spring I concentrated on all the natural changes happening; trees budding, flowers blooming along the water’s edge, and birds nesting or migrating. For a few days I witnessed soft shelled turtles laying eggs near Standish Dam. Last year I found a nesting pair of Eastern Kingbirds and they returned to the nest this year. I enjoy birding so on most days I recorded the birds seen or heard on Ebird.org When the bird activity slowed down my attention changed to something else; trash. One day, while paddling around Globe Mill Pond I passed an area on the west side where the wind pushes a lot of logs and a lot of trash. It piles up there along the Indian Crossings trail. I used to see it on my hikes. Perhaps it was the memory of my dad that made me paddle into the log jam to start pulling out garbage. When I was a kid our family camped a lot. Part of the camping routine was to scour the ground for trash before we left our campsite. I remember wondering why we had to pick up other people’s trash but he was a retired Marine Corp officer so we (my brothers and I) rarely questioned him. He’s the one who taught me the “leave it better than you found it” philosophy. The abundance of trash picked up moved me to stop buying single use plastic. I could go on and proselytize about being good stewards of the land and waterways but I would much rather just live by example and hopefully inspire others to do the same.
This adventure also brought new love into my life; Debi Bailey. She grew up in Tecumseh and is a kindred spirit who also feels deeply connected to nature. We met through Instagram and mutual friends. We decided to meet on June 24th in Tecumseh to paddle and have been paddling together ever since. It was my 27th day on the water. However, life is full of ups and downs. Soon after I met Debi I took a vacation to Tennessee to visit my mom. A day after I arrived, my mom had a heart attack. I spent the next three weeks at the University of Tennessee Hospital. She received by-pass surgery and made an amazing recovery.
When I returned to Michigan I asked myself if paddling 100 days was such a great idea? Instead of having the entire summer to accomplish the goal I now only had a few short months. I did the math. I would have to paddle at least 4 times per week to be finished by the end of October. With Debi’s support we decided to go for it. Luckily, she loves the water even more than I do.
Paddling every day was a lot of fun but we did have a few hiccups along the way. On Sand Lake Debi lost her glasses. We went back a week later with snorkel gear but had no luck finding them. There were ticks and deer flies. There were DNR “do not swim” postings at Deep Lake due to chemical treatments for invasive species. We got rained on and had to paddle hard in high winds to get back to launch sites. Yvon Choinard of Patagonia, Inc. once said, “adventure doesn’t start until something goes wrong” We certainly had several adventures along the way, but for the most part we were gifted with several adventure-free days where we stopped to swim and soak in the sun. We made coffee at the Pickerel Lake put-in and watched the sunrise. Had a picnic on our paddle boards. We saw all sorts of turtles; Soft-shelled, Painted, and Snappers. Debi photographed birds with her DSLR camera. We also used a submersible sports cam to take underwater shots while swimming. However, most of the pictures were taken with our iPhones inside of a waterproof cases.
Every season had its own set of highlights and fall was no different. In addition to the obvious fall color, it’s also quieter. The livery in Tecumseh closed for the season which meant there were fewer people on the water. Soon after, the Bald Eagles returned to Globe Mill Pond. We witnessed a Screech Owl in a tree over the canal and were accompanied by Blue and Green Heron on most days. Our favorite big water trips were in the fall on Lake Michigan and Little Traverse Bay. Our coldest day was in the Upper Peninsula on Muskallonge Lake where the winds off Lake Superior chilled us to the bone. The 99th day on the water was under a clear night sky with a full moon on Globe Mill Pond. On day 100 the weather was not spectacular. It was a typical Michigan fall day with dark grey skies. The only way to make it special was to celebrate on the water with some Bell’s Expedition stout beer, cheese, olives and smoked meat.
We would still like to go out one more time during a snow fall but have all winter to do that. Debi and I are switching gears now and getting ready for more hiking, skiing and snow shoeing.
Gregg Perez
Tecumseh, MI
The Heron 