GOURDNECK CREEK, KALAMAZOO COUNTY, PORTAGE TO VICKSBURG

It was late October. It was raining while I was loading my kayak on top of my Jeep. The neighbors probably thought that I was a little nuts. I questioned my sanity, but the weatherman said it was going to be nice. I met up with my friend Dan at the Gourdneck State Game Area boat launch on Hogset Lake. The access site can be reached by heading north on a improved trail from U Avenue, between Oakland Drive and 18th Street. There is also a Hogset Lake access site at Prairieview County Park, also on U Avenue, between 18th Street and Portage Road. Dan’s son, Tyler, a budding outdoorsman, helped us with transportation in his Chevy Colorado 4X4. Thank you, Tyler!!

This voyage is for kayakers of all skill levels. However, there is a short stretch of the creek between Portage Road and 23rd Street that may deter paddlers from making this trip. Deep in a cattail marsh, the creek was blocked by a bunch of floating cattail islands. These islands broke away from the cattail bed and floated downstream, collecting in narrow spots. The cattail islands were packed tightly together and we could not force our way through. There were no openings in sight. Most sane people would turn around and go back, but not us. Quitting is for sissies.

The only tactic that worked was to stay in our kayaks and go over the cattails by grabbing the cattail stalks on both sides of our kayaks, pulling our boats over them by hand. Dan is a youngster in his mid-fifties and is very agile. At one point, he got out of his kayak and stood on a slowly sinking cattail island and pulled his boat through! Once he got back in his kayak, he managed to reach over and pull my boat on top of the cattail clump, so I could pull myself through.

It was hard work and it took us a half hour to go forty feet. I want you to be aware of this creek blockage if you are planning to make this trip. These conditions may change over time. Maybe the creek will be open when you take this voyage.

Back to the start of the trip!

The temperature was a cool fifty degrees when we shoved off from the landing. The lake was shrouded in fog. The fog would gradually lift and the temperature would climb to a more comfortable seventy degrees by the end of our trip. We paddled Hogset Lake north to the channel that leads to Gourdneck Lake. Exiting the channel, we paddled east along the south shore of Gourdneck Lake to Gourdneck Creek.

The north side of the creek, between Gourdneck Lake and Portage Road, is lined with homes. The south side is mostly undeveloped.

You can paddle under the Portage Road bridge with plenty of headroom.

Downstream from Portage Road, the creek flows through a cattail marsh.

The marsh is bordered on each side by a wooded corridor.

There is a drawbridge over the creek.

Parts of the creek are covered with lily pads. It was fall and the pads were disappearing. In summer, the creek is choked with pads, making the trip difficult.

It was deep in this marsh that we encountered the channel that was blocked by floating cattail islands. After negotiating the blockage, we celebrated with a well deserved beer.

We continued through the marshland. The 23rd Street bridge was coming up.

At the bridge, the banks on the side of the road are steep. The shoreline next to the bridge is covered with cattails and brush. Portaging was not an option.

We slouched down in our kayaks and barely made it under the low bridge. During periods of high water levels, you may have to get out of your boat and wade it under the bridge. I did just that on a previous trip. Downstream from the bridge, we paddled by the backyards of a row of homes. Just past the homes, Austin Lake Drain joins Gourdneck Creek. Gourdneck Creek zig-zags between the wooded corridors on either side of the creek bottom.

Next, the creek enters a huge cattail marsh.

After a while, the current slowed to a stop and the creek widened as we entered the north end of Sunset Lake.

The long, narrow north end stretches for a mile and a quarter to the main basin of the lake.

We paddled south along the west shore of the main basin to Sunset Lake Park, where we ended our trip.

The blocked creek channel tested our kayaking skills and our determination got us through. We both agreed that this was one of our biggest challenges of the kayaking season. I could say that this trip is one of our favorites, but every trip is a favorite!