One of my favorite rivers in the world is the Paint River. The north and south fork of the river go right through Iron County. I spent a lot of time on the river while visiting our good family friend, Don McDonald’s camp on the river. All of my dad’s West Iron County teacher friends spent a lot of time there. I remember drinking directly from a spring near the river. Mr. McDonald used to have a coffee cup hanging on a nail over the creek for people to drink. Later as a teenager, we used to go to a section of the river called Horserace Rapids east of Crystal Falls, Michigan. So it was special for me to take my kids earlier this month to go for a swim on the river. As you can see in the video above, we had a nice time. Later in the day we visited the nearby beaches of the Michigamme Reservoir on Way Dam Road. I forgot that the UP has lots of horse flies and mosquitos, but going underwater is a way to escape them. It was such a delightful summer day outdoors! Next summer we will plan to do a long canoe paddle down the river. This summer with my shoulder, it was impossible.
Beau and Ollie – Michigamme Reservoir 
Ocean – Michigamme Reservoir 
Paint River
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