South Higgins Lake is probably one of my favorite places to camp in Michigan. The water is super clear and the lake is beautiful. The Au Sable is very close by, and depending on which livery you go to, you can canoe differing branches of the river – and depending on where you start, you are given various difficulty levels to navigate. My goal is to go at least once a year. This year, since I’m working for a new company I’ve made some new friends! I was happy to have a couple of my co-workers tag along this trip.

As is become customary with pretty much any road trip I take with friends now, we always start with dinner at Del Taco. It is becoming an honored tradition for my friend group, and one that I enjoy immensely. We left Friday night after work and so we did not arrive at the campsite until 9:30/10:00 PM when the sun was low on the horizon. Ian had never gone camping before, so it was very satisfying to watch him learn how to set up a tent and be in wonderment at all the new experiences he was getting. Kyle brought a fridge. First time camping with a mini-fridge, it was pretty convenient but at the same time I was pretty flabbergasted that a fridge was brought. Kudos.

In the morning Ben cooked us up a bunch of eggs, some brats, and bacon. I believe there was also salmon. It was a pretty unconventional breakfast. After people had ate their fill, I took my inflatable paddle board out to experiment with. I’ve never done Stand-up paddleboarding before, but Sarah had – she told me to start kneeling and stand up if I felt comfortable. Amanda stood on the board and I asked her opinion of it compared to a hard board since she had also gone paddleboarding before; she commented on how it was pretty comparable. Eventually about half our group went out to the lake and had some fun. I let people try out the paddleboard, and there was a water fight that started. I got embroiled in it so the pictures become a bit sparse. The water was cold, but once you were in it was easy to get accustomed to.

Canoeing was slated for 12:30 PM and we were going on a different branch than last year’s trip. We spent a good 4-5 hours on the river. People were prepared with super soakers this year, and water fights dominated the first part of the trip. After we broke for lunch, everyone was a lot more into the drift and drink aspect of cabrewing. We met a lot of other people on the river, and Amanda had set up her own little Jello Shot barter economy. Near the end, Pat, Chase, Adam, Ian, Katrina, and my canoe’s would just stay interlinked as we navigated the last mile of the river. We had a wonderful inebriated time.

Ben cooked dinner upon on return and it was quite the feast. There were roughly 6 courses, and we didn’t even cook all the food he brought.

As the sun set, it started to rain. Most people retreated to their tents. A couple of us braved the storm, and to stay warm we played with fire. At about 2 AM we retired for the night.

We packed up the next day and said goodbye to the campground as we headed home. It was decided we would go to Frankenmuth and have some beers at the brewery. Was a fun time, and Ian got to go to a fair number of new places since moving here.

Not bad for a weekend that cost $62 for canoes, food, campsites, and alcohol.

-Evilmanta