A Big Day on the Paw Paw River - 2025

The Paw Paw River is a fantastic waterway to float a boat down but is known for its many downed trees that slow paddling progress and wear down paddlers from the repetitive climbing out of a boat and pulling it over tree fall. Even if you can get around or squeeze through a tree fall, it usually requires you to paddle back and forth across a river or to slowly make your way through a tangled twist of downed tree limbs. So why would anyone want to paddle 67 miles of the Paw Paw River from the city of Paw Paw to Benton Harbor in a single, very long trip? The simple answer is that some people just love a challenge and the Paw Paw River. I spent a weekend with a few of these people.

We launched from Maple Lake Dam in Paw Paw during the dark early morning hours at about 5:15 AM. Wearing headlamps we paddled away from the circulating currents below the dam and left the noise of the crashing water to enter an eerie silence. Too early for birds, the only sound was the strong winds pushing through the trees and the familiar sound of the paddle hitting and pulling through the quickly moving water. With recent storms, the river was flowing at a good pace, but fresh trees had fallen to slow progress. The USGS river level gage at Riverside was malfunctioning and stuck at 6.9 feet or 470 cfs.

Our three canoes (two tandems and one solo) and five paddlers quickly tuned into the rivers rhythm and focused on avoiding down trees while moving at a quick pace. With the aid of our head lamps, we made our way through the dark and downed trees for that first hour of paddling from Maple Lake to County Road 665. The birds began to sing as the sun came up and we approached County Road 665 Bridge. With the sun up and 2.5 miles behind me, a paddling pattern set in of scanning ahead for downed trees, finding a path through or over, listen to bird calls with a special ear for prothonotary warblers (each location was recorded), observing flowers and wildlife near the river’s edge, snacking to replenish calories spent, and staying hydrated.

Mottled white sycamores and bark less dead ash reflected the early morning sun while the still water in the floodplain forests reflected the pockets of blue sky. I had to keep reminding myself that I had a long day ahead of me and needed to keep paddling and not be pulled into these magnetic habitats. Near these floodplain forests is where I would regularly hear and see the golden or prothonotary warbler. With its loud sweet, sweet, sweet call and bright golden head and body it was easy to find and record these birds during the trip. This data will be added to Two Rivers Coalition’s Prothonotary Warbler Partnership project to map their presence in the watershed and help understand our floodplain forests.

I recorded 70 prothonotary warblers in addition to many other small birds along with bald eagles, owls, several busy blue heron rookeries, turkey, otter, beaver, muskrats, woodchucks, coyotes, and racoons. During much of the paddling trip, I found myself chasing wood ducks and geese with their many babies in-tow racing downriver as they swam away from my approaching canoe. The baby ducklings and goslings would eventually find woody areas along the shore to hide while the adults would fake an injury and flap down river for me to follow.  

The roughly 23 bridges over this stretch of the river were milestones to meet and track progress. In the end the downed trees would wear us down and win, one canoe pulled out in Hartford (34 miles) which is about half the distance to Benton Harbor. A second canoe pulled out at the 70^th Street Bridge about 41 miles on the river and the final canoe pulled out in Watervliet having spent about 15 hours covering 46 miles on the river.

Spending that much time on the river lets you see a lot of the river over a relatively short period of time. It is a refreshing, rewarding, and challenging river to recreate on with much of its riparian habitat mostly intact. This habitat serves as an important wildlife refuge and corridor in a time of increasing habitat loss. There are some homes and farms near its edge at times, but for most of the trip the river winds though a forested escape with trees that stretch across the river providing a close, connected feel with this rich, riparian habitat.

Unfortunately, zoning ordinances for riparian protections vary widely among the townships the river flows through and few meet water quality protection guidelines outlined by Michigan State University. We have conservation minded landowners, conservation groups like Sarett and SWMLC, city and county parks, DNR State Game Area, and the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi to thank for much of the undeveloped habitat hugging and protecting the Paw Paw River.

We may have come up short of our goal this time but left mentally recharged even if our bodies were worn down and with a greater appreciation of the Paw Paw River after a rewarding big day on its waters.

Check out a trip video made of short clips: You Tube Video Link