By Joel Thurtell
I’ll be talking about the adventure of canoeing an urban river Saturday, May 14 at 11 a.m. in the REI store in Northville Township.
The stream I’ll be discussing, of course, is the Rouge River in metro Detroit.
I also plan to show an 11-minute video about the project.
And afterwards, I’ll be selling print and audio versions of the 2009 book, UP THE ROUGE! PADDLING DETROIT’S HIDDEN RIVER written by me with photos by Patricia Beck. The print book was published in 2009 by Wayne State University Press. The audio book was published by Hardalee Press.
UP THE ROUGE! co-author Pat Beck is a Detroit Free Press photographer. When we canoed the Rouge in June 2005, I was a staff writer at the Free Press. I retired from the paper in 2007.
Our series about the Rouge project in the Detroit Free Press won the Water Environment Federation’s 2006 Harry E. Schlenz Medal for Public Education in 2006.
Our book, UP THE ROUGE!, was selected as a Michigan Notable Book for 2010 by the Library of Michigan.
I’ll talk Saturday about the plight of the Rouge River, but since Paddlefest is about canoeing and kayaking, I’ll focus on how we planned for and organized our 27-mile odyssey up the Rouge River in Detroit. What are the conditions that make the Rouge River a challenge to paddlers?
Here is the schedule of events at REI on Saturday:
11:00 AM – Up the Rouge – Paddling Detroit’s Hidden River!
Presented by Author Joel Thurtell
12:00 PM – Family Canoeing & Kayaking
Presented by REI Specialist Rob B.
1:00 PM – Paddling the Boundary Waters
Presented by Wilderness Journey Guide & Outfitters
2:00 PM – Kayaking Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore
Presented by Black Parrot Paddling
3:00 PM – Stand Up Paddleboarding
Presented by REI Specialist Travis A.
