Silver

I ran this section with Fred Young and Bob Obst in spring 1980 or close to then, probably the second descent.  It's included in my article in AWA journal that's cited in the main writeup.  The descriptions here are accurate and it's good to see that this has become a popular, resonably difficult, creek run.

I ran this on 4-16 and 4-17-2022. There is a log stuck against the face of Bubble Bath waterfall on the right side. You can't see it from the top. We couldn't run the right side line, but the center was good to go.

Ran this river yesterday @ 8.0 with a buddy and fellow whitewater rafting guide in our inflatable NRS Outlaws. We were incredibly impressed with this river and found ourselves out classed for the inflatable type boats we were using a few times. We ran the first two pitches of Hail Mary but decided to portage around the final pitch (thanks to the landowners for letting us use their property!). The sections between the bottom of Hail Mary and the top of the Cabin section were incredible and challenging. We spent plenty of time scouting the class four sections in the middle. Those rapids were intense, exciting, and very worthy of good names! Bubblebath does have a large tree down on the river right as you approach the falls, but it is easy to avoid by keeping towards the middle. By the time we reached the cabin section, we were just about out of daylight due to our late start so we chose not to push our luck and portaged using the road behind the cabin. Overall, an absolutely gorgeous portion of white water nestled into the U.P.!

George runs the third pitch of Hail Mary.

FWIW, strictly in the interests of clarity and correctness, the text of the cited article may be misleading as to the actual events. The initial problem Richard had was being stopped/caught in the hole above 'Silver Bullet'. I'm pretty sure the report was that repeated attempts were made to throw him a rope while he was in the hole, but he went limp. it was only once he flushed from the hole that his body ended up pinned on the tree. The hole which stopped him should be of concern and should be scouted and evaluated by all boaters before deciding to run the drops in the 'Cabin Section'.

http://www.miningjournal.net/page/content.detail/id/526038.html?nav=5006
The Mining Journal, Marquette, MI
POSTED: April 19, 2009
L'ANSE - A Houghton man is dead after a kayaking accident that occurred on the Silver River in Baraga County Friday evening.

Richard Honrath Jr., 47, was pronounced dead at Baraga Memorial Hospital.

Baraga County Sheriff's deputies went to the Silver River in L'Anse Township, shortly after 8:20 p.m. to assist a kayaker who was reportedly 'pinned against a tree.'

Deputies found Honrath pinned under a tree in fast-moving rapids. He was pulled from the water and taken to the hospital.

Honrath and his partner, Dave Bullock, 38, of downstate St. Johns had entered the Silver River about two miles upstream from where the incident occurred.

Bullock told police that Honrath had rolled and was separated from his kayak. Bullock attempted a rescue with a throw rope, but all attempts failed.

According to Bullock, he and Honrath had been kayaking together for about 15 years and were familiar with the Silver River.

The L'Anse Fire Department, Bay Ambulance, Keweenaw Bay Tribal Police and the L'Anse and Baraga village police departments assisted with the incident.

Steve Arnold runs the third pitch of Hail Mary.

Bob Hannigan runs the Silver Bullet (lower potion of the Cabin section) in his Huka.

This is the first of three sections of Hail Mary on the Silver. Most of the river right side is undercut, but a huge pillow billowing out from under it makes it easy to stay out from underneath it.

The upper most rapid in the picture is the Upper Cabin Section which is separated from the rapids in the middle and lower portion of the picture by a small pool. The rapid that spills off the bottom of the picture is the entrance to the Lower Cabin Section and is also known as the Silver Bullet.
This is Richard coming out of Silver Bullet. The pool he is emerging into has a deceptively strong backwash so don't quit paddling. Directly below this is about another 30 yards of ledges before an eddy on the river right. The trick to this rapid is to keep paddling once you start down the Bullet and especially once you hit the hole at the base.

Running the Cabin Section for the first time back in 2005.

This section of the upper Silver is sooooooo cool. It has everything you could possibly want from starting with a 12 foot waterfall, down slides and punching holes.
This is a shot looking up at the entire cabin section of the upper Silver. It's a marvelous place.
Nice 7 foot waterfall with easy boof into pool below.
This drop feeds into a hungry looking hole which was generally innocuous at this level.

Running the three pitches of 'Hail Mary'.

Jim runs the middle sequence of the Cabin Section of the Silver River.

Dave and Ralph do a 'blue angels' run on the second pitch of Hail Mary.
A run of the Upper Silver is climaxed by the 'Cabin Section'. This sequence of falls (at more 'normal' waterlevels) will test most boaters' skills.

Boris provides us with an excellent shot showing (about as well as can be done) most of the drop in the 'Cabin Section' near the end of the Upper Silver run.