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Black, MI

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C) 'Middle Black': Narrows Park to Conglomerate Falls (7.9 miles)

Class II-III+
7.9 Miles
Avg Gradient 24 fpm
Max Gradient 52 fpm

Gauge Information

Black
C) 'Middle Black': Narrows Park to Conglomerate Falls (7.9 miles) II-III+
low
144
5/16 19:00
[detail]

Min Sug. Level:  200 cfs Max Sug. Level:  500 cfs

River Description

(Description based on one run, at 275 cfs.)

This run starts off with perhaps a mile of easy wide boulder-garden rapids with a few minor (at this water level) playable waves. Mostly flatwater ensues until nearing the Copper Peak Ski Flying tower. (This can be used as an alternate put-in to cut off some of the (mostly uninteresting) length of the run. This would likely put you below the following described drop.) Chippewa Falls(3.4 miles), a somewhat technical, wide, boulder jumble drop (class II-III) of maybe 50 yards preceeds a right-hand bend in the river. This was easily boat-scoutable. (Obviously, it is much more of a 'rapids' than a 'falls'.) A few random waves and holes follow before action subsides for a bit.

Before long, the character of the river changes. Instead of the wide open grassy shores and red-granite boulder strewn stream (as it had been down to this point), you encounter an area of vertical walls and sloping bedrock drops with a couple random appearances of conglomerate, hinting at the character of the river in the lower reach. Again, at this level, all was boat-scoutable. A couple drops provided great surf opportunities. My guess is that with perhaps 1.5-2.0 times as much water (400-500 cfs or higher), some holes could become rather meaty, and provide (intentional or unintentional) rodeo activity. (I believe the main drop in this area is what is marked on maps as Algonquin Falls (5.7 miles). Again, it is much more of a 'rapids' than a 'falls'.)

Quickly the river returns to its prior more pastoral state until reaching Great Conglomerate Falls, where a great dome of conglomerate rock divides the flow into three channels. At this level, it was quite easy to eddy out river right and carefully wade across the (relatively smaller) river-right channel to scout the main (center) channel. (With any appreciably increased flow it would be necessary to beach on the 'hump', which could become a bit unnerving at some flows!) A huge log blocked both the very small left channel and the somewhat larger right channel. The wide, main, center channel was clear, and provided a quite straight-forward slide into a surging, but not grabby hole at the base of the falls. Most of the group took out here, while two of us ran the twisted, rocky, short rapids immediately below before eddying out to carry back up the three-quarters of a mile trail to the parking area. (Ugh! Long hike!)

Click here for a large pdf article (872k) from the AW Journal, way back in 1981! (You must have Adobe Acrobat Reader for pdf format items.)

In addition to this reach, the article also describes the following:
Michigan's

     Upper Presque Isle, 
     Lower Presque Isle, 
     Middle Black, 
     Upper Silver, 
     Lower Silver, 
     Falls, and 
     Rock,
and Wisconsin's 
     Lower Brunsweiler, 
     Montreal, W.Fk., and 
     Montreal Canyon.


StreamTeam Status: unverified
Last Updated: 2007-04-23 21:45:46