• Monday-What'sUP August 13 - 04:41 pm

The Autrain River is located in Alger County, near Autrain, which is located between Marquette and Munising, off M-28. Today's photos were taken along this meandering river by Lynn Virtanen on a canoe trip she took recently.

It looks like someone may have tied a rope for swinging out over the water, in that leaning tree in the first photo. Sure hope the roots hold fast when it's in use. The slow pace of the water makes this river the perfect place to relax and enjoy the scenery around you, as the team of ducks in the second shot seem to be doing. In the last picture there's certainly a muddy appearance to the water. You could almost say it has a golden glow. I wonder what makes the water that hue?

Mary, it looks like tannins from decomposing vegetation. I even have that tinge of color in a 400 foot deep well.

Wrong colour for tannins; those waters would be more of a root-beer coloured if that were the case, much like the Tahquamenon. The third photo looks almost like a shallow, sandy flat in a river bend. If these photos were taken between AuTrain Lake and Lake Superior, sandy flats are common along that stretch......

These photos are a feast for the eyes.

Going out in canoes or Kayaks is so peaceful, you can hear so much around you. Snuck up on a deer and a beaver last month.

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Wonder if thats where the saying "Make sure all your Ducks are lined up" comes from ?
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Flipflop, maybe from mama duck remembering her youth and putting her own hatchlings "all in a row?" :)

Curious.....where did the name "Autrain" orignate?

Sorry....."originate"....left out an "i". I tend to type faster than I think.:)

Shirley Waggoner:
"Curious.....where did the name "Autrain" originate?"

According to Hunt's Guide to Michigan's Upper Peninsula:

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Quote:

"Au Train" is one of many Upper Peninsula names that comes from voyageurs canoeing Lake Superior's shores. According to Walter Romig in Michigan Place Names: The History of the Founding and the Naming of More than Five Thousand Past and Present Michigan Communities: "The river carried so much sand into the lake here as to form a shoal over which the voyageurs would drag (trainerant, in French) their canoes to make a short cut."

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Isn't that what Tattoo used to say on "Fantasy Island" all the time:

Look boss, AuTrain, AuTrain!! ;-)

or make sure all your ducks are in a row

Thanks, FRNash, for the info on Au Train, and thanks also, for posting that 'Guide' site....looks like a beautiful place to visit.

Alex------------visiting the Smokey Mountains and find there are loads of people touring on their motorcycles. You would love it.
The mountains are really something to look at------in the evening they look smokey and blue on the horizon. In addition, once you get into the mountains it is really cool------about 15 degrees cooler than out of the mountains.
We toured some dirt roads up the mountains today but I didn't see anything that looked like a moonshiner's still. Might be all shut up?
This was really remote----dirt road and no barriers on the drop off side. Just down you go if not careful. Can't pass without stopping and finding a wide enough spot on the road.

Tom;..Alex.. Inside Cades Cove is a road called Rich Mountain. It is a one and a half hour ride going 12 miles an hour that ends in Townsend and is one way only.It would be realy cool on a motorcycle.Speaking of the Smokey Mountains,at Rainbow Falls there was a Father & Son attacked by a 55 pound bear today. They are doing ok,the little bear was found and shot a short time later.

The golden hue to this river is the hard sand bottom, it is soooo clear in so many places. You can jump out almost anywhere and swim, the hard sand bottom is beatuiful. We just kayaked this river last week and you can see beavers, fish, ducks, turtles, it is an awesome river, especially for novice canoers and kayakers. Our son is 9 and he kayaked by himself from the first bridge to the second bridge. There are not too many places to get hung up on and you don't even have to paddle, the current just slowly takes you down, just steer once in a while. If you are ever in the area take a trip, it's great!