Canoeing the Pere Marquette River

A peaceful float or canoe trip down the Père Marquette River rates an awesome ten on our Michigan scale. Named after the French Jesuit priest who explored the region and established the first communities in Michigan in the 1600's, the 66 miles from Baldwin out to Lake Michigan have been designated as a National Scenic River and is known far and wide for its trout and salmon fishing. This shot was taken near Scottsville.

Pendills Creek National Fish Hatchery

Brimley is home to the Pendills Creek Fish Hatchery which raises fingerling and yearling lake trout to be released in the Great Lakes. 200,000 fall fingerlings were raised for Lake Huron and 900,000 for Lake Michigan. Here, we see a US Wildlife employee at work, measuring their growth. It was interesting to see what seems like millions of trout swimming in man made the ponds.