Canoeing the Tahquamenon

The only canoe livery on the Tahquamenon, Mark's Rod & Reel and Canoe Livery, offers very beautiful two-hour paddles from the Dollarville Dam (west of town) east to the Tahquamenon River Logging Museum in Newberry. Longer trips go farther down the river into the gorgeous, wild country below the dam. This is easy, flat water, with no portaging, well suited to beginners. Cost: $45 for trips of 1 to 5 hours. Reservations are recommmend. Note: Mark Yeadon doesn't rent canoes when the water's so high that the river channel can't be seen. There's good fishing for pike, muskie, walleye, and panfish.
Mark's has grown into a full-line sporting goods store. Bows and bow repair are available. Mark also repairs bicycles. He is happy to direct cyclists to lightly traveled roads.

The generally placid Tahquamenon doesn't make for exciting canoeing. But it does inspire rhapsodies among people who grew up fishing and hunting along it. In Tahquamenon Country: A Look at Its Past, for instance, Sprague Taylor wrote about its wilderness character and its contrasts. "For a hundred miles. . . , it flows through plains and heavy timber, marshy flats and thickets. It is a river given to the woods, yet where the plow has made brief contact near its banks, the scene is almost pastoral."

Mark's Rod & Reel is just north of Newberry, at M-123 and CR 462. (906) 293-5608. Open year-round. Opens daily at 8 a.m. in summer. Stays open to 5 at least.
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