[Giesela]

I was just wondering if anyone had any personal experience with the Thunder Bay River just west of Alpena. Is it fairly clean? Does it flood? Would you swim in it? Eat the fish? What kind of wildlife (besides deer which are everywhere) are common? Would it be a nice river to live on and recreate on?

[bluebird39]

I live between Alpena and Gaylord, and while we're not on the TB River, this part of Michigan in general doesn't flood much. Of course it all depends on where you are. Further towards Gaylord, there's going to be elevation to help things drain, plus in most of the area the soil is very sandy which makes things drain quickly. The exception is right now when the ground is frozen, but the vast amount of snow is melting. Once the ground thaws, things drain very quickly, in fact, that's one reason we have a problem with forest fires... if we don't get rain frequently things dry out VERY quickly. So floods, not much, but fires are a problem, especially in places that are jack pine since these trees are much more flammable due to their high oil content.

More than you wanted to know huh? In general, the headwaters of the Thunder Bay River is in state forest, so it's clean and I'd eat the fish if my husband and boys would ever catch any :-) .

Good luck. It's a hidden gem this area, and few folks know about it...

[Giesela]

Bluebird39 - that's great. How do you feel about the access to healthcare in the area?
I'm thinking Alpena county, and areas surrounding, Atlanta, Hillmann. Well generally I'm thinking of looking around for a little recreational property, possible future summer retirement camp. I'm a birdwatcher wildlife enthusiast, maybe a little slow river, flat water paddling for wildlife viewing. So, like everyone else, I want wildlife and not too many people but not too far from healthcare.
There is no way I can afford lake property, not even with what's going on today, but maybe a little river property.

[bluebird39]

I'm afraid the health care in the area isn't that great, but not too bad either. There's a clinic in Atlanta, not too sure about Hillman, and Alpena has a hospital and most medical professionals there. Gaylord also has a smaller hospital. I'm about 30 miles East of I-75, but we go to Petoskey or Traverse City for medical specialists, Gaylord or Grayling for routine stuff. Some specialists have office hours a few days a month in Gaylord of Grayling. Graying also has a small hospital. Cheboygan and East Tawas (?) also have small hospitals. Most smaller towns have fire and EMS services. Ours occasionally has to airlift critical people.

As far as wildlife, to be brutally honest, there's plenty, but there's still way too many people to really enjoy it. It's not bad during the week, but week-ends, and much of the summer has so many people up here, and most frankly seem to be here for the motorized sports, so it's hard to get the peace and quiet needed to enjoy birds and wildlife. There's plenty of turkey, bald eagles, foxes, bear, deer, some elk in this neck of the woods, coyotes, loons (my favorite), etc... Since it's so far North, unless you're near the big lakes, you won't see much during the winter. I've only seen a few finches and sparrows at our feeder in the last few days. We don't live near water though, and I'm sure we'd see more if we did.

If and when you look for property, be sure to be aware of all of the trails in the area. When they say you're "near trails", up around here they mean ATV, motorcycle and snowmobile trails. There are some "quiet areas" up here, but IMO, not enough. Also, many counties, including our own (Montmorency) may soon be allowing ATV's to be able to ride on ALL county roads. Each county is trying to decide what they want to do, but living adjacent to 80 acres of state land where ATV's are technically forbidden, it's been a big hassle dealing with folks who want to ride in illegal places. There's not enough law enforcement. Week-ends are the main problem, as many of the houses up here are vacation homes.

I'd just be very careful where you look, and research the trails, and ATV laws, etc... There are plenty of non-motorized lakes and rivers around though, which are great.

My big pet peeve though is the folks who come up here to recreate and ignore the laws and are just plain rude. Believe it or not, I know of more than a few people who have cabins in the UP so they can get away from the people who come up here during the summer. The further NE you go though it seems like there are fewer and fewer people.

Good luck.