Water route across Indiana

Advice
#1
-- Last Updated: Dec-10-13 11:14 PM EST --

Anyone ever figure out a paddling route across Indiana from Lake Erie to Lake Michigan? now don't laugh too quickly....

The Maumee River looks to get to Fort Wayne from Lake Erie in good form but I don't see any easy transition from there. Some distance on a back country road or trail using a bike/trailer would be acceptable.

Looked for a way to link with the Mongo millpond/Pigeon creek or south Elkhart but no good solution found.

Edit: I may have helped answer my own question by looking at the Canoe and Kayak launch map. Looking farther north there may be a way via Ann Arbor, Jackson, Kalamazoo...

#2

Yeah the HugH Heward 1790 Route
the 1790 route of Hugh Heward is the route to do, in fact there is an annual race across this route every year from Lake Erie to Michigan but not in center of Indiana but on coast.

Here is info on the race and route.



https://sites.google.com/site/vkmchallenge/hugh-heward



http://www.verlenkrugermemorial.org/id34.html



http://www.verlenkrugermemorial.org/id20.html



http://www.mlive.com/outdoors/index.ssf/2009/04/five_men_to_paddle_in_465mile.html

#3

Perfect; I knew someone would know
This is exactly what I am looking for. Thanks. I suspected early on that Indiana was a dead end but saw the possible connections north of Fort Wayne, but hadn’t seen the way west on the Huron river.



The portages were expected and the longest of 7 miles should be doable with a boat cart.

#4

Try Paddle Michiana

– Last Updated: Dec-16-13 5:32 PM EST –

The Paddle Michiana group has members in Northern Indiana and Southern Michigan. They paddle anything with water in it and know the area well. Their Yahoo groups page used to be reliable, but this group has about given up on Yahoo since the botched "Neo" rollout.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/michiana-outdoors/

Their Facebook page is at

http://www.facebook.com/groups/paddlemichiana/

Here is a link to the map of some of their launch sites

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&ll=41.816361,-86.017456&spn=1.784959,3.515625&z=8&msid=101517425394322410382.00045e2fe5a028ffb6fd1

Pat2

#5

Thanks Pat
I’ll check them out.

#6

Maumee
On paper the Maumee River (OH) looks like it could get you all the way to Fort Wayne (IN), but it gets pretty boney for good parts of the summer. I would suspect you’d do a lot of walking. Only guaranteed water is from Perrysburgh to Lake Erie. There are lowhead dams dotting the upstream sections to Indiana, but again you may pick up stretches of navigatble water until it gets low again. I’ve been on the Maumee in sections from Antwerp to Lake Erie, but I have the luxury of coordinating a trip after a good rain or spring run off since I live in the area.

#7

very cool
Someday perhaps.



Still, there are areas along that route where I wouldn’t put the water through my filter.

#8

if you remove the “S” from "https"
it makes the link live.

#9

Agree, water level a big problem
if the trip isn’t timed right. Dragging a gear-laden boat through mud is no fun and then add in mosquitos on top and its a nightmare. Fortunately, I’m not yet committed to this trip, just thinking and planning to see if it might be feasible. But its great to hear from local people who have on-the-ground experience.