Canoeing Down the Chippewa River | Buckley's Mountainside Canoe

Canoeing and kayaking down the Chippewa River. It is a classic Michigan summertime activity. We decided that it was something we wanted to do so we made our plans to go to Buckley's Mountainside Canoe. Let's go!

We started our day in downtown Mt. Pleasant with coffee from Ponder Coffee and sandwiches to bring with us on the river from Max & Emliy's. Ponder Coffee has a new menu item which is a cold brew float. It was fairly early in the morning for ice cream but we had to get one! It is a must-try! 

We were fueled up on coffee and had our food with us so now we were off to Buckley's, which is located about 8 miles west of downtown Mt. Pleasant. There are a few choices that need to be made when planning to go down the Chippewa River with Buckley's. One is to decide between canoes or kayaks and the other is which trip. They vary in length with the shortest being 1-2 hours and the longest being 6-7 hours. There is also an overnight option. We went with the School Road to Buckley's trip, which falls in the 2-3 hour range. We decided to go with a canoe since we don't canoe as often and also made a last minute decision to bring a fishing rod. With this trip, we were taken to the start in a van to the start then the trip ends back at Buckley's. 

Once we were on the Chippewa River it was perfect. The sun was out, it was warm. It is everything we wanted for a day on the river. We decided early in the paddle to throw out a line to see if there were any fish and right away we caught a tiny bass. This trend continued throughout the entire paddle, which was a lot of fun!

As the trip continued we found a great spot to have our sandwiches we had stopped to get earlier in the morning. Bringing food was a great idea but it was not the only things we brought along. We had plenty of water, sun shirts, sun screen, hats, glasses and a dry bag. 

While this trip said it would take about 2-3 hours, we were on the longer side of this because it was just so nice out and we were having such a good time. The flow of the river did a lot of the work so didn't even have to paddle that much. We thought there was no reason to rush to be done!

Overall we had an amazing time canoeing the Chippewa River and our experience with Buckley's Mountainside Canoe was great. They must know what they are doing since they are celebrating their 50th anniversary this year!

You can check out our full video below!