Published on April 29, 2009.

Renting canoe allows paddlers to take in nature, enjoy summer weather

Outside the Administration Building, the water of the Red Cedar River runs quickly. Although some students choose to lounge near this area of the stream, the sound of flowing water is an irresistible call for adventure for others. “Just last week, we took the Outdoors Club canoe on the Red Cedar and shot the rapids three times,” said Kristen Yaney, a food science senior and secretary of the MSU Outdoors Club. “It was awesome; we did it once and we were really nervous about it. … By the third time, we developed quite an audience on the river, so it was a good time.”

Yaney said she gets a thrill from canoeing rapids — a form of recreation she finds particularly entertaining.

“I just really like to get on the water and have fun with my friends,” she said.

If this warm spring weather has you interested in grabbing a paddle and hopping in a canoe, there are several places in the area that rent canoes.

Here are three places to check out if you’re looking to enjoy some time on the water.

On the banks of the Red Cedar

The Red Cedar River is one of MSU’s most prominent geographic features. Immortalized in the university’s fight song, the river also has a tradition of canoeing. According to the MSU Archives and Historical Collections, the original canoeing shelter was built with funds from the graduating class of 1937.

Tim Potter, marketing and sales coordinator of transportation services for MSU Bikes Service Center, rents canoes from his location near Bessey Hall.

Potter said canoeing the Red Cedar is part of MSU’s history and culture and that while running the service he has encountered many documents and alumni that recount the glory days of MSU canoeing.

However, Potter points out the risk of capsizing when running the rapids of the Red Cedar and therefore recommends safer activities on the river.

“There used to be up to 40 canoes that ran out of here,” Potter said. “They would actually raft them all the way across the river.”

The MSU canoeing tradition has produced some interesting stories. For example, Potter said there was a time when students utilized the canoes for more than recreation.

“I’ve bumped into other alums, like older folks, and they’ve told me stories about when the campus used to be dry, as in no alcohol on campus,” Potter said. “It was a very popular thing to rent a canoe, go just off campus to Hagadorn Bridge, tie up the canoe in the trees there and run up to Tom’s Party Store, get some booze and then party off campus.”

Potter said the popularity of canoeing has diminished since adopting the semester system. As a result, students leave MSU earlier in the warm months.

Although fewer canoes are available for rent on the Red Cedar River, six are available now, and Potter said the activity still is popular with students and MSU visitors alike.

“When we’ve got those big summer conferences, we get just huge groups that’ll come in,” Potter said. “Everybody wants to canoe or wants a bike — we’ll get lines of people waiting and waiting for the next boat to come back and they’ll be in rotation.”

Potter said a canoe ride down the Red Cedar is a great way to get a new perspective of campus, taking in the sights of nature, including wildlife like beavers that populate the river.

“There’s some really nice natural beauty, I mean even just the other side of Bogue Street you get into where it’s gorgeous,” he said. “I think that seeing more of the campus beauty from the water level, it’s a totally different perspective.”

Afloat on Lake Lansing

For those looking to paddle in a different setting, the MSU Sailing Center, 5918 Shaw St., on Lake Lansing, in Haslett, also offers canoe rental.

Ken Warshaw, director of the Sailing Center, said attributes like the Lake Lansing Marsh are particularly popular with boaters.

“It’s a protected wildlife area and that seems to be very popular for canoers,” Warshaw said.

Many of those who rent canoes are community members looking for recreation on the water, he said.

“We get a fair amount of people that rent canoes to do a little afternoon fishing, things like that or just take the kids out for a paddle,” Warshaw said.

Warshaw’s organization, which shares a fleet of 16-foot aluminum canoes with the facility on the Red Cedar, said there are differences to paddling on a river.

“If you want to get out on the water and don’t want to canoe on the river, you might want to try some lake canoeing, it is a different experience,” he said.

Warshaw said the center does not offer canoeing instructions, but will inform renters about the layout of the lake.

“If they’re (renters) unfamiliar with the body of water and where there might be hazardous areas or areas that they’re not allowed by law, we would give instructions as far as that goes,” Warshaw said.

Some of the specific restrictions are places they should not canoe, like public swimming zones and protected wildlife areas, Warshaw said.

Canoeing the county

If you’re looking to leave the familiar territory of MSU canoeing facilities, consider Ingham County’s 540-acre William Burchfield County Park, 881 Grovenburg Road, in Holt.

The Grand River runs through the park, and this water access is utilized as a form of recreation.

In addition to offering canoe rental, the park also offers organized canoe trips, which transport canoes and passengers upstream and allow them to paddle with the current back to the park. The park offers three different routes with estimated travel times ranging from 45 minutes to four hours.

Jeff Gehl, park manager, said renting a canoe or going on a canoe trip allows you to interact with nature.

“It’s in a beautiful setting, pretty much it’s all wooded most of the way down; it gives you the opportunity to use both canoes and kayaks if you want,” he said.

Gehl said there are many reasons to try canoeing as a recreational activity.

“It is a recreation sport that allows you anywhere from just floating down the river, having fun getting closer to nature, or it can be a group activity where you want to include fishing or be with a bunch of buddies and go down the river and have fun with it as a social event type of atmosphere,” Gehl said.

Gehl said the park offers no formal instruction in canoeing, but that they do provide renters with some advice before they launch their boats.

“When you’re canoeing down the river, don’t reach out if you get near a bank and grab a limb; that’s the quickest way to flip,” Gehl said.

He also said that when more than one person is in a boat, they have specific roles.

“The person in the back is the one that does the steering, the person in the front is the one that basically does the power for the boat,” Gehl said.