OTish: Great spot to visit in Ann Arbor during summer/offseason
The beautiful Huron River. I've been going for several years now during the summer. Whether it's pedal-boating or tubing down the cascades, it's a great spot to go and be around nature and the things that I think make Ann Arbor the best place.
If you want to go tubing down a lazy river basically, it's free if you bring your own tube or you can rent one for $10. The Argo is a nice little park that has plenty of room for picnicking or hiking the trail in the woods. That's where tube or kayak rentals are. I haven't yet kayaked down the river but that's in the plans for next summer/offseason.
For tubing there's multiple options. You can go where there's no current but has plenty of swimming area or go down the lazy river rapids which has about 6-7 drops. The water is not deep and you can stand in the middle of the river if you fall off. That course goes for about a mile and then there's a point where you exit or if you want to walk the whole way back you can keep going and go for another mile.
The Argo park is in Northern Ann Arbor off Broadway and just before you get on Pontiac Trail to head into AA Twp.
August 3rd, 2019 at 11:48 PM ^
Ann Arbor is a lot better during Summer now than it was back when I was in college like 8 years ago. Tubing down the river was always an option, but a lot of people do it now. And the bars are a lot more busy during Summer than they ever were in the past.
Ann Arbor is still a small town, and definitely feels that way at times. Slowly but surely it's becoming a city where residents have a few things to do at all times though.
It’s not a big city but it’s more than a small town. It’s now Michigan’s 5th largest city, in fact.
People snickered when the third high school was named “Skyline”. That name makes a lot more sense now than it did 10 years ago.
Outside of the University, Ann Arbor is still very much a small town and the people have a very small-town mentality. This is mostly because there have been two very distinct groups for the last 50+ years..... University of Michigan affiliated people who don't care that much about Ann Arbor, and a group of townies who have no affiliation to the University, and are the same as people who would be located in any average Michigan town(like Adrian, Jackson, etc) who actively fight any effort for Ann Arbor to grow and improve.
Luckily, the townie-types seem to be losing their stranglehold permanently. My guess is that Ann Arbor grows significantly in the next 15-20 years.
Couldn't disagree more. There is less separation between the archaically named townies and other parts of the population---the University itself, University alums, the tech and research facilities, national and international corporations. And that doesn't count the weekend traffic from other parts of the State.
August 3rd, 2019 at 11:52 PM ^
I'm stuck in NYC this weekend for a baby shower and would hurl myself from my 38th story hotel window to be floating down a river in Michigan right now
August 3rd, 2019 at 11:59 PM ^
OOOH YEAAAHH!
August 4th, 2019 at 12:10 AM ^
Nice ditch.
August 4th, 2019 at 12:25 AM ^
Where can one do some good horseback riding in Washtenaw County?
...asking for a friend
August 4th, 2019 at 12:32 AM ^
Just make sure that your "friend" keeps his shirt on.
I can't make any promises.
Which girlfriend was he just asked about? The 36 year old or the 23 year old? Alina or Alana?
It's good the be King. Or Tsar. Or President for life.
That looks like fun. I'm surprised how many people are in those photos. Forty-some years ago, I did quite a bit of canoeing (never on the Huron, though) and even through cities, there were never very many people out on the rivers.
August 4th, 2019 at 10:59 AM ^
Due to the clean water act, the Huron is now a lot cleaner than it was in 1980.
FWIW, the rapids that cut around the dam at Argo are a quarter mile long at most. Pointing this out because a mile is a long way to walk with a tube, but the walk from end of rapids to the beginning is quite easy.
Agree on both counts. A mile walk with a tube between every run would be rough.
On the topic of river tubing, the Cascades are nice but short and incredibly crowded. I always preferred going farther upriver (though it does require cars.) Dexter Cider Mill-Delhi Metropark was our go-to trip, but Hudson Mills, Dexter-Huron MP, Zeeb Rd, Maple Rd, and Barton Dam are other options upriver for put-in/-out points. Also Gallup downriver.
I still go tubing a lot, but we skip the cascades and get in right after. The Ann Arbor float is still a really good one, and we just order an Uber at Gallup park when finished instead of going through the hassle of parking one at the end.
August 4th, 2019 at 10:55 AM ^
The Arb is great also.
Actually Bird Hills/Barton, kuebler Langford Bandemer, Argo, Island and Fuller, the Arb, and Furstenberg to Gallup is essentially a string of parks for the lazy tube/kayak or canoe day . Get out for a bit and picnic where you will with 5 miles of special lazy river.