Kayaking the Kalamazoo River 9-15-11. Homer, Michigan to Albion

On this trip, we started out at the riverside park in Homer, Michigan and proceeded to do the next 12-13 miles of the Kalamazoo river from there. We took out at B Drive N, west of Albion. It was a beautiful ride and took about 6 hours to complete. This stretch eventually went through the town of Albion, Michigan. There were a few places we had to take out and put back in for safety reasons. There were two dams specifically, and a flume that we had to bypass if I remember correctly. The water was a little low in spots, and so we ended up scraping bottom on several occasions. Upon entering the Albion area, the river widens greatly until the dam and has very little current, so it took more stamina to plow through those sections. After the dam. and paddling through Albion, was a real treat as the river goes under old buildings and through a park. From Albion to B Drive N was a beautiful stretch with good current, lots of natural surroundings and more nature. I think I saw the biggest crane bird I have ever seen in this stretch. My companion thought it was a pterodactyl at first :-)

If you take this stretch, I would caution you to be careful of putting in before the old mill dam if the water is too low. When I went through, my kayak inadvertently spun to the side pinning my kayak against some rocks at the bottom. Without water depth, I was unable to effectively paddle my way through. This made it difficult to maneuver as I trying to get unstuck as water was trying to pour into my boat. Earlier in the season, I did this same dam just fine, but I think the water level was higher.

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