BIG CARP (Gogebic Co., MI, in Porcupine Mountain State Park)

LENGTH: 2 mi., CLASS IV

SEASON: During the spring snowmelt

PUT-IN: Parking area at the mouth of the Presque Isle at Porcupine Mountain State Park. Then kayak approximately 2 hours (depending on conditions on the lake) to the moth of the Big Carp on Lake Superior. Then hike up the river to Shining Cloud Falls. The best put-in is 1/2 mile upstream from the falls. Futher upstream the river is hopelessly log infested.

TAKEOUT: Parking area at the mouth of the Presque Isle at Porcupine Mountain State Park.

GAGE: Visual. When creeks in the area are swollen with spring snow melt you probably have enough water to run this river if you can get to it.

FUN FACT: The paddle to the mouth of the river on Lake Superior, the necessity of making this trip an overnight, and the fact that you need to hike your boat up the river make this run one of the more inaccessible yet tantalizing gems of the U.P.

FIRST DESCENT: 29 March 1998 by Steve "Guido" Corsi, Harry House, Mike Giddings

SHUTTLE: No shuttle except that you have to hike your boat up the river from the mouth.

The first challenge of this run is actually getting to the put-in. The closest roads are a few miles away. You can either hike in on the trails of Porcupine Mountain State Park or boat in to the river on Lake Superior. In either case the adventure to the river involves an overnight.

From the put-in 1/2 mile above Shining Cloud Falls, the water was fast class II with several log portages. The river started dropping 200 yards before the falls. The falls is right after a left-hand bend with a cliff on the left. The falls appears runnable on the right but the approach was complicated by logs. The left may or may not be runnable, it was difficult to tell as it had a log on the left in a critical spot, and a log on the right, and a strainer at the top. We put back on after the little gorge below the falls and soon after there was a little log-formed drop in a stretch of continuous class III whitewater.

The first Significant drop was about 100 yards below the gorge. It consists of a 3 meter high 45 degree drop into a moderate hole and we named it "Bottom Feeder". This was immediately followed by a small sloped ledge drop. After this is a bigger ledge (2 m) into a meaty hole with a big log sticking up in the middle&emdash;We Portaged. And though we do not really have the right to name it since we did not run it, we nonetheless called it "Harpoon" due to the configuration of the log.

After that was "Smoked", named after Harry's experience at the bottom. It starts with a 2 m ledge into a hole that we discovered is a bit sticky (two of us had short unintended surfs there). The river immediately bends right-then left as it drops down into a curler folding from the left. This is immediately followed by a series of hole-forming ledges that kicked Harry's ass (he got a total of about 6 roll attempts in!).

Next there is a river wide ledge-hole followed by a rock island with a good drop below. The right side was choked with trees, so we ran the smaller left channel after portaging over a log jam right above the entrance. We named this "Fileted". This was followed by another nice looking drop around a right-hand turn with a rock wall on the left. It had a log near the middle so we portaged. The last rapid in this continuous stretch below the falls had a rock island in the middle and a two-pitch slide into a meaty hole. Unfortunately there was a strainer just below that complicated things if anything went wrong punching the hole, so we portaged. After this there is a nice continuous stretch of small ledges and holes all the way to the final drop, called the "Lips". This drop near the mouth has several pitches and two channels, which rejoin before going under the bridge (with fairly low clearance) and then out to Lake Superior.

The paddle back was not too bad with wind at our backs. It took 1:50 and we encountered a lightning storm for some excitement. Both the Carp and Presque Isle are near points that stick out in the lake, making them easy to identify and navigate to. The total paddle is 5-6 miles. The Big Carp is a gem that is marred by inaccesibility (for some this is a plus because of lack of crowds) and the large number of logs present. If this run was near a road it would likely be quite popular. There are lots of holes that have great play potential, and it is very continuous below Shining Cloud Falls, making for non-stop fun. A bit of well placed log clearing would go a long way towards making this a really worthwhile run.

submitted by Mike Giddings after the first descent run in 1998