2023 Kayak the Manistee LetterBox Geo-art (KTM)
The Cache is NOT at posted coordinates. You need to enter the final coordinates before you start down the river.
Manistee River:
Launch: CCC Bridge Campground and Launch (N 44° 36.851 W 084° 59.475). Restrooms available
Midpoints for shorter trips: 3 Mile Bend(N 44° 35.837 W 085° 01.661) and 4 Mile bend(N44° 36.372' W085° 00.273'): Both along King Rd.
Take out- Sharon Road Boat Launch (N 44° 35.161 W 085° 05.530). Restrooms available
All of the above waypoints are listed in the first cache as extra waypoints, GCA9G5H
A recreation passport is needed for parking at all locations.
Typical float time from CCC Bridge to Sharon Road Boat Launch is 4 hours. Therefore, wIth finding caches you need to plan more time. To hide the caches it took three of us 4.5 hours, which was record time for hiding caches on this river.
Make sure you save all caches to an offline list or put them on your GPS, as cell phone service is spotty to none along this section.
Traveling to Launch Site:
Also do not trust your GPS navigation system when traveling by vehicle to the launch sites, as no two tracks or super sandy areas are required to get to any of these launch sites. DO NOT travel down Military Road from Sunset Trail and six miles east unless you have a jeep, lots of clearance or a winch. It is super sandy and whooped. Avoid Military Road between these coordinates N44° 35.516' W084° 58.318' and N44° 36.960' W084° 54.178'. Your auto GPS will want you to travel this road, but it is almost a sure $400 plus dollar tow charge. Also, avoid Sunset Trail south of Military as it is super sandy.
Caches:
These caches are LetterBox hides. They contain a rubber stamp. Please do not let the rubber stamp fall out of the container, it needs to stay in the container. It is not swag either. The rubber stamps are super small and could easily fall out. If you want to stamp a booklet you will need to bring your own ink pad and be at each cache when found(no leapfrogging).
This logbook is wrapped around a zip tie so you can easily remove it, please use the zip tie to wrap it back up and be careful to make sure the zip tie does not get caught in the lid when replacing.
The cache itself is a smaller soda bottle preform with a larger cap(juice container size) attached with a wire and zip ties. Some are attached with 65 lb fishline. Do not use the cache itself to hold you and your kayak in a spot to sign the log. If you tend to break tethers in the past, bring something(zip ties, wire, and/or braided fish line) to repair the cache and make sure they are secure/tethered before leaving ground zero. DO NOT LEAVE IT SO THE RIVER CAN CARRY IT AWAY, AND DON'T TAKE IT. FIX IT!
All caches are accessible from your Kayak. Some may require a pull me down, you may need a grabber if you are short.
Acronyms for hints
PMD- Pull Me Down
SMoR - Stump MIddle of River
These caches will most likely be removed before winter. I hope to plan a cache removal event in September.
Hiders:
Please thank the hiding crew that consisted of aghudley, bgscrabble and DirtBikeGranny who helped to pull coordinates, take notes and place caches. This task would not have been easy for one person. So when you see them, give them a big thank you.