CANOE SUSQUEHANNA RIVER

The Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay is an advocacy group with offices in Harrisburg, PA, Annapolis, MD and Richmond, VA the capitols of the three states surrounding the Chesapeake Bay whose rivers and streams feed into the bay. Their mission is to raise public awareness to the sources of polution of the bay and actions being taken to reduce and eliminate the sources of polution. Ten years ago they held their first Susquehanna Sojourn. This year there are 12 sojourns held on 12 different rivers and streams in Pennsylvania. I became aware of the sojourn last year when a friend paddled from Harrisburg to the Chesapeake Bay. I couldn't go because of other commitments. Ron Cully, who receives the Alliance's newsletter, asked if I would be interested in going on this years 11th annual sojourn titled "The Trail of the Tall Timbers". I jumped at the chance to paddle the upper reaches of the Susquehanna and to do a journey, probably my only chance to get out in my canoe this year. Although not the type of canoe trip I am used to because of the size of the group and lack of whitewater, I enjoyed it as I learned many things, made new friends and contacts.

June 16, 2001 Saturday Drive to Lock Haven, PA

Got up at 6:15 and ran 5.1 miles. Ate breakfast of orange juice, banana, toast with butter and raspberry jam and a glass of milk. Put the roof rack on the car and dropped the canoe onto the rack. Lashed it down with bicycle tubes and ropes front and rear laced through the car's towing loops. Packed the car with paddles, PFD, chair, clothes dry bag, equipment bag (GPS, camera, binoculars, etc.) cooler and slide projector with slides. After showering I was ready to go. Ron Cully, my canoeing partner for the week, arrived about 9:30. We waited until my son Kevin and wife Lorraine arrived since they had called from MD32. They were coming to pick up Anne for the Fanconi Anemia conference in Columbia. They were giving a presentation on fund raising. They arrived about 9:40 and we exchanged hugs around, chatted 5 minutes then hugged each other good bye as they left.

Ron and I decided to leave at 10:00 to drive to the Hashawa Nature Center just north of Westminster for the 12:00 Mountain Club of Maryland annual meeting. We arrived about 11:00 in the rain. I carried the projector and slides inside and set up. The food was delayed in arriving so they asked me to give my slide presentation on the Aconcagua 22,841' climb in Argentina in January first. I had 84 slides to cover in 30 minutes. It seemed to go well as I was barraged with questions. The food arrived shortly before I was finished. We quickly consumed the variety of subs, macaroni salads and desserts. As the business meeting proceeded Ron and I slipped out about 2:15 p.m.

We drove north on MD97 to US15 to I80 west to PA120 a few miles west of Lock Haven arriving in the rain at 6:10 after 168 miles. After some difficulty we finally found the group camp beside the river. We are located at 41 17' 11" N by 77 36' 30" W at an elevation of 702' above sea level. We checked in and received a decal for the canoe and a Sojourn T-shirt. We unloaded our gear and canoe then set up my 11'x11' tent in the rain.

We drove back about 5 miles to Fibbers Tavern which we passed on the way in. There was a wedding reception in progress with extremely loud music, strobe light and plenty of cigarette smoke in the air. We ate a greasy bacon cheeseburger, French fries and a draft Gennessee beer for $8.02 each. Ron and I were relieved when we left but still concerned about our stomachs. We parked a mile short of camp with the other cars and walked back to camp. We went to bed at 9:15 in the rain which continued most of the night.

June 17, 2001 Sunday Canoe PA Road Rest Area to Lock Haven

Got up at 5:30. Although we are dry everything outside and the tent are soaking. It is still spitting rain but it is about finished. Packed up everything by 6:00 and walked to the car about a mile down PA120 towards Lock Haven. Drove back to camp and loaded our gear into the car. Ron and I drove about 13 miles into Lock Haven to a McDonalds for orange juice, egg mcmuffin, home fries and milk for $3.19. Drove to the top of the hill to an A Plus for a 10 pound bag of ice for $1.19. Drove back through town through the dike and across the bridge to Woodward Park. We met the yellow shuttle bus with Allan Quant driving and rode back to camp arriving at 8:20 a.m.. We had the daily river readings of poems and songs then the safety briefing covering individual equipment and river conditions for the day.

We set off at 9:20 a.m. with 39 kayaks and 52 canoes manned by 135 people. Our a rmada of 91 boats is quite impressive. The river is remote nestled between two high ridges and relatively narrow and shallow. We bumped a few times going through the shallows but never got hung up. The river is very clear and clean but relatively lifeless due to acid runoff from old abandoned mines. We seem to paddle for an hour then break for 40 minutes. Most of the kids, teenagers and some adults get into the river to swim during the breaks. After another hours paddle we stop along the river for a bag lunch given to us at the start. We have a peanut butter jelly sandwich, corn curls, an orange, 6 Oreo cookies and 4 ounces of apple juice. Everything tastes quite good so I must have been hungry.

Back on the river it is hot about 85 degrees. We have a nice tail wind pushing us along but it doesn't cool us much. There are dozens of water guns, more bailers and paddles engaged in water fights up and down the column of boats. We get into flat water with little current for about 5 miles above the Lock Haven dam. It requires more work and we progress slower. It also is warmer. Being a Sunday afternoon we start seeing many ski doos, party boats and fast power boats. The waves from the wakes make it difficult for canoes.

We get in about 4:00 p.m. having canoed 15 miles. We set up our tent on level grass in the shade on a high bank about 10-15 feet above the river. My car is parked 40-50 feet away so it is easy to set up. Camp is located at 41 08' 24" N by 77 25' 18" W at an elevation of 675'.


We are hot and dry so we each drink two ice cold English Bitter home brews I brought from home. A noisy group of six tents with many teenagers set up next to us. At 6:00 p.m. we are served a salad, barbecue ham sandwich, potato chips, strawberry ice cream and a Coca-Cola by the Dunnstown Fire Company.

Ron and I walk across the bridge to the Lock Haven YMCA at 6:55 p.m.. Heather, a college student, opens the Y and about 10 of us shower for $2. We walk about 2 blocks to The Scoop for a $3.50 banana split. We walk back to the bridge where there is an open air theater of concrete steps for about 2600 sloping down the steep dyke to the floating stage. Five old guys called the Pastimes from Harrisburg are singing 1950s do op songs acapella. We are sitting next to and chatting with a couple and a woman from town who know everyone. There is Tony, about 40 and retarded, walking through the crowd and singing loudly off key. Carl, the local Honda dealer, flies his Piper Cub in a circle over the stage about 10 times. It is very pleasant with a nice breeze and setting sun. As the concert ends we stroll back across the bridge to camp in the gray twilight. I go to bed at 10:00 p.m. and quickly fall to sleep despite the significant camp and traffic noise.

June 18, 2001 Monday Canoe Lock Haven to Jersey Shore

Got up at 5:18 a.m. and packed clothes, equipment, folding chair, cooler and tent into the car. Ron and I drove across the bridge to Lock Haven and up the hill to A Plus for 10 pound bag of ice for $1.19. Returned down the hill to McDonalds for eggs, biscuit, sausage, pancakes, home fries and milk for $3.96. I drank some orange juice from the cooler that I brought from home. We returned across the river to camp at 6:40. About 35 cars lined up and followed the shuttle bus about 14 miles to the Susquehanna Campground near Jersey Shore. We got back to Lock Haven on the shuttle bus about 8:15. We had a session of river readings and a safety meeting.

Pushed off the left shore at 9:00 a.m. and paddled straight across the river about 200 yards above the dam. We went single file about 100 yards along the dyke to a ramp. With 4-6 people per canoe, we carried each canoe up the ramp and back down below the dam. Everyone helped making several trips so that we had all 94 boats below the dam in about 45 minutes. Two naturalists working this section of the river joined us for the rest of the day. We paddled down about an hour when we stopped at a shoal in the river. The naturalists gave a talk about the acid levels, different sediment metals, other hazards to plant and animal life, and an overall view on the condition of the river in each section of the river. They showed the sparse and anemic samples of life they seined from the shoal. We continued down the river and saw a bald eagle soar across the river.

Pulled into the Clinton County boat slip at 12:00 noon. Many people took a bus tour of the Clinton County landfill. Ron and I found a shady grass patch and ate our boxed lunch of ham and cheese sandwich, Hershey chocolate bar, potato chips, apple and cranberry juice provided by the Clinton County Solid Waste Authority. It is really hot with the radio calling for a high of 84 degrees. Unlike yesterday, there is very little breeze.

We were back on the river at 1:30. We paddled very close to the shoreline taking advantage of any shade. In one short section, we saw about a dozen large carp about 2 feet long. We took a break after an hour and Ron and I got in the water for a swim. It lowered our body temperatures as we were beginning to cook. We continued on down the shore to the town of Jersey Shore where we pulled in at 3:30 p.m..

We walked to the center town park with a gazebo where Mayor Lehman read a proclamation declaring this day Susquehanna Sojourn day and calling on all the Jersey Shore citizens to support the Sojourn. Ron and I walked to a bar and then realized neither of us had any money on us. We borrowed $20 from a sojourner and went to Santini's Restaurant for a Yuengling lager draft and then a bottle of the same for $3.25. We walked to the Elks Club for salad, spaghetti, meatballs, garlic bread, vanilla ice cream and ice tea.

Walked back to the river at 6:40 and paddled two miles to camp at 7:15. We canoed 17 miles today.

Set up our tent and unloaded our gear from the car. Walked up to a terrible trickle of a shower that fluctuated from cold to very hot for $.25. Stopped by a machine for a Sprite for $.60. A guitar player and singer set up near our tent and sang for a couple of hours. He was from Wilkes Barr and sang Susquehanna River songs that he wrote. He was okay but not that good. Went to bed at 9:30 p.m.

June 19, 2001 Tuesday Canoe Jersey Shore to Canfield Island

Got up at 5:40 and packed up. Ron brought cheerios so we ate them with the milk I brought from home. Finished the orange juice from home. Followed the shuttle bus at 7:00 a.m. to Canfield Island near Montoursville about 3 miles east of Williamsport. Rode back to the Susquehanna Campground in the shuttle bus. We had our daily river readings. Some are quite humorous while others are a little too serious for my liking. Some of the kid's readings are very clever for 10-12 year olds. We conclude with a safety briefing.

We finally set off at 9:20 with 84 boats in the water. The number is diminished somewhat because Allan Quant has brought his 26' 280 pound white war canoe named Clipper. It can easily accommodate 10 paddlers but he has only about six which means they have to work a little harder. Mayor Rafferty of Williamsport is one of the paddlers. I guess Allan is getting even for some past wrong. The river is fairly remote for a little while but soon widens out and deepens for about 7 miles above the Williamsport Dam. There is little or no current so it doubles our paddling load. It is very hot, the radio calling for a high of 92 degrees.

We are ready to melt down by the time we pull into lunch at Susquehanna State Park around 12:40. Mayor Rafferty reads a proclamation that the entire week is Susquehanna Sojourn week in Williamsport. The mayor provided lunch consisting of a pasta salad, cheese, ham and turkey sandwich, ice tea and cold bottled water. Ron and I walk over to a concession stand for a large black raspberry ice cream cone for $1.25.

It is almost 3:00 p.m. before we are back on the water. We go a mile or two and have a very difficult portage on the left bank around Hepburn State Dam. The dam and dyke are much larger than at Lock Haven and we have to carry the boats up the steep and long dyke banks. We then traverse about 150 yards along the top of the dyke then descend steeply to the river below the dam. The dyke bank is lined with large uneven rocks making the footing difficult especially on the downhill when you can't see your feet or what is coming. We complete the portage in good time and without incident.

We set off in a fast current and have a good current all the way to camp about 2 miles distance. We arrive at Canfield Island about 5:00 p.m.. We have paddled 17 miles today in the heat and slack water above the dam.

I walk along a dirt track across a stream to Riverfront Park get my car and drive it back to Canfield Island. We quickly unload our gear and I return the car to the park passing through two mud holes each way. We set up in the shade of a wide grass border around a large corn field. We are between the army water buffalo (water trailer) and the large group of six tents that camped next to us in Lock Haven. At 6:00 we eat supper of saurkraut, stuffing, barbecue pork sandwich, cheese macaroni, chocolate chip cookie and lemonade. The food is very good, plentiful and provided by Ed Snook. We watched several C-130 military material planes fly down river below tree level to land at the nearby Williamsport Airport.

A large bonfire is started and you could feel the heat more than 100' away. The project manager from Loyalsock Township explained how the township acquired Canfield Island, Riverfront Park and the parking lot with boat slip a short distance up river all totaling 56 acres. He explained the planning process and development steps for Canfield Island taking into consideration the various usages, environmental issues and historical preservation. Joe Baker then discussed the native American history of the island illustrating each subsequent settlement with pottery samples. He also discussed the brief history of the settlers. He turned the program over to a elderly gentleman who has participated in all 17 archeological digs on the island. About dark Don Shappelle took over playing and singing blues music into the night.

June 20, 2001 Wednesday Canoe Canfield Island to Great Stream Common

Got up at 5:48 and packed up. Walked to the car and drove it back to camp to load the gear. Ron and I finished his cheerios and my milk for breakfast. There was no morning shuttle so we hung around a long time. We were waiting for Allan Quant to return from taking the shuttle bus to be repaired. We had our river readings. Allan gave us a safety briefing concentrating electrical storms since the weather forecast called for severe thunderstorms in the afternoon.

We got into the water at 10:15. We had a good current and the river is scenic in this area. It is another hot day and we engage in several water battles for the purpose of cooling down. There are many water canons so we are easy prey. We see osprey diving for fish.

Due to our late start we keep moving and stop at the Muncy Township landing about 12:30 p.m.. Pennsylvania Power and Light Montour Preserve provides lunch of chicken salad sandwich, fruit salad, cookies and ice tea. The Muncy Mayor and a representative of the Muncie Township Supervisors each read proclamations declaring today as Susquehanna Sojourn day in their jurisdictions. Mike Hendric from a privately funded fish hatchery released 22,000 shad in the river. He said that 1 in 318 would return in 3-4 years to spawn here. He talked about the dams downstream on the Susquehanna and which ones had fish ladders and plans for fish ladders on the dams that don't have them. The shad look like tiny pieces of clear jelly about a half inch long with a very thin black line running through it.

We are back on the water about 2:00. The river is pretty remote and we encounter 3-4 class 1 rapids, the only ones we will see on this trip. About 2:30 p.m. we see a thunderstorm quickly approaching. Most of us head for the right shore and we are caught broadside by several wind gusts that nearly capsize us. We get ashore and get our hooded rain jackets on as the rain starts coming down. We turn our backs to the steady very strong wind and torrential rain. There is a terrific thunder and lightening storm all around us that goes unabated for 15-20 minutes. It is frightening yet exhilarating at the same time and beautiful. We can't get away from the waters edge because of the high steep river bank covered with dense vegetation. After about 30 minutes we bail about 2 " of rain water from our canoe and set off down the river again. There is concern about the low bridge at the Interstate 80 bridge construction site and possibly a portage there. It proves to be not that difficult and we paddle under the low bridge in good order. We arrive at the Great Stream Commons on the right bank at 4:30 p.m. having paddled 17 miles.

Great Stream Commons is a farm that Union County leases for $1 a year from a corporation while they raise the funds to purchase it. It has a farmhouse and outbuildings. They are developing a plan for use and development of the property.

The shuttle didn't run until 5:15. Since my car was many miles upriver with our gear we waited around until the shuttle departed. I got back with my car at 6:20. Everyone was already eating the salad, pizza and grape soda provided by the Union County Conservation District for supper. When I finished eating, Ron and I set up the tent. It was just in time as a windy rain storm hit us. Ron and I weathered it inside the tent bolstering the windward fiberglass tent poles to assure they didn't break. We walked over to the barn to listen to Ed Reish talk about the Susquehanna birds of prey. He had some injured raptors in cages which he showed with the help of his wife. During the talk another good rainstorm hit us. After the rain I went back to the tent to check on it. I drank an English Bitter home brew and shaved. Went to bed a little after 9:00 p.m. and listened to the rain which continued off and on all night.

June 21, 2001 Thursday Canoe Great Stream Common to Milton State Park

We had some light rain during the night. Got up at 5:53 and packed up by 6:28 a.m.. We are provided with breakfast of orange juice, bagel with cream cheese, Danish, cinnamon roll and milk by the Watson Inn in Watsontown. Again there is no morning shuttle. We have our session of river readings which seems to get longer each day with more participants, some with multiple readings. Some are very good, others clever and many are poking fun at sojourners and yesterdays events. After the safety briefing we set off down the river at 9:30.

We have about 4 miles to go to Watsontown. There is a good current so we arrive at Watsontown about 11:00 even though we dallied and engaged in numerous water fights. A festive mood seems to have taken over as the weather is cooler and the long hard days of paddling are behind us. We also seem closer with no strangers after working together for several days.

We land and walk a few blocks through the town to the Watson Inn. We are escorted downstairs to the ball room and are invited to tour the inn in small groups. The Watson Inn has 36 rooms and is quite old. It has been immaculately restored with lots of oak wood which cost lots of money. Everything is well done. We pick up a bag lunch with many choices provided by Clyde Peelings Reptile Land. I chose a ham sandwich, corn curls, chocolate chip cookie and a Pepsi. Clyde Peeling gave an interesting talk zeroing in on the indigenous poisonous snakes in Pennsylvania. He had a live albino rat snake, a timber rattler that was very thick and a copperhead. When he took the rat snake out of the cage, Snakebite, a sojourner, quickly moved back. Ron and I mused about how Snakebite got his name.

We got back in the river about 1:30 p.m. and moved quickly downstream about 5 miles to W Milton State Park on a large island in the river. We arrived about 3:00 p.m. having canoed 9 miles on a very easy day. A Milton High School teacher gave us a talk about the restoration of 11 mile Limestone Creek that empties into the Susquehanna at Milton. He simply directs the project with all the work done by about 30 students. They received a $32,000 grant used mostly for monitoring equipment. He described the steps necessary to restore the stream. They are in phase one which is to determine the condition of the stream. He talked about a 50' buffer zone where farmers would be paid for the loss of cash crops so they would plant trees in the zone and fence it off to prevent animals getting in the stream.

At 4:00 the drivers loaded on the shuttle bus and we retrieved our cars arriving back about 5:00. Ron and I set up the tent and unpacked in a flat shaded grassy space near the parking lot and toilets across the lot. There is plenty of space and we are spread out with no close tents. It is quiet and cool.

At 6:00 we are served supper of pasta salad, spaghetti, lasagna, salad, watermelon, strawberry ice cream and lemonade. Supper is provided by a boy scout from Troop 538 in Lewisburg and his family as a fund raiser for his eagle scout project of establishing a hiking trail.

The Alliance for the Chesapeake holds an awards night recognizing people with small wooden paddles and T-shirts who have contributed a lot of help to make the sojourn a success. Just about dark Glen Waldeck with a guitar and harmonica starts singing mostly river songs that he wrote. Glen is a very good musician with a good voice. He has a quick wit and responded quickly to any comment from the crowd. His songs all had a serious message but his lyrics were hilarious. I found myself laughing during very nice ballad sounding songs. He brought his 9 year old daughter Hollie who has a beautiful voice and sang accompanied by her father. It was a very enjoyable evening and we stayed until almost 11:00 p.m..

June 22, 2001 Friday Canoe Milton State Park to Confluence at Sunbury

It rained most of the night sometimes very hard. I came half awake many times during the night with the contented feeling of being dry, warm and comfortable in the middle of a raging rain storm. Got up at 6:04 am. We had a puddle in one corner of the tent but we were dry thanks to the plastic sheet inside the tent. All water seeps underneath it keeping dry everything on top. We packed up by 6:35 in an intermittent light rain and loaded everything in my nearby car. Allen Quant said he would run the shuttle to Shikellamy State Park at the confluence of the West Branch and the North Branch of the Susquehanna River at Sunbury. We finally got away at 7:38 driving our cars south along the left bank of the river in off and on rain heavy at times. We returned on the yellow ex-school bus at 8:15 a.m. and ate a breakfast of bagel, croissant, cream cheese, fruit salad and orange juice under the river bridge approach ramps.

We had our session of administrative announcements and river readings. It seems more and more people are participating by writing poems/songs and reading poems they brought. There are funny parodies of yesterday's events, the condition of the river environment and inner musings. We end with the daily safety briefing by Allen concerning what we will encounter downstream and the usual reminders.

Finally there is a mass movement to the water as everyone helps each other getting boats to the water, launching them, and getting out of the way so others can get in the water. By 10:15 a.m. all 80 some vessels are in the water and we set off down river. Included is Allan's war canoe and a 2nd identical war canoe commanded by his teenage son and manned by 10 teenagers. Although it has been raining all morning until we set out and it still looks very threatening, it is not raining and quite pleasant. It would slowly clear as we progressed down river with some sunshine before it rained again as we left the parking lot in our cars.

The river is wide, deep and no rapids but with a good current. We moved along without too much effort. The shores are tree lined hiding highways and rail lines. There are wooded mountains back a little especially on the right.

We pull in at Lewisburg at 11:15 a.m. after 4 or 5 miles. We climb a high bank to a small park. There is a large tent set up and a formal garden with over 900 flowers planted in May by volunteers. The park land was donated by the city of Lewisburg. At 12:00 there is a dedication service as a memorial to Mariah Quant. Mariah was killed in an auto accident last year at 18 after graduating from high school. Mariah was the daughter of Allen and Betsy Quant our guides for this Sojourn. There are proclamations by city officials, poems and songs by Sojourners who knew Mariah. There was not a dry eye including my own in the crowd of about 200. The event was being filmed and recorded by TV channels 14 and 16, the Alliance for the Chesapeake video newsletter on the internet and National Public Radio in Pennsylvania.

We all walked a few blocks through the alleys and streets of Lewisburg to a church for lunch. We had choices but I ate a ham and cheese sandwich, 2 different macaroni salads, potato chips, apple pie, banana and ice tea. We had presentations on functions, progress, goals and plans by representatives of the Pennsylvania Organization for Watersheds and Rivers (POWR) and the Northcentral Pennsylvania Conservancy (NPC).

It was after 2:00 p.m. by the time we walked back to the river and got everyone's boat in the water. The river remained about the same but the sun was out more and it warmed up considerably. We hugged the shore for the shade quite a bit beside a series of large islands. About ¾ mile from the end all 80+ boats rafted up to float down the river in mass. Glen from last night without guitar but using a canoe paddle as an instrument stood up and led us in some songs including the Susquehanna River song that he wrote. Separating again we paddled to the last take out about 4:30 p.m. We had canoed 10 miles this day for a total of 85 miles over 6 days.

We all helped each other get out of the river and move boats away so others could get out of the river. Ron Cully and I loaded my Old Town Discovery 169 canoe on top of my 1996 Mazda 626 and lashed it down to withstand the 70 mph drive home. We changed into clean dry street clothes we had set out this morning. It rained lightly.

At 5:09 we headed out of the park, across the bridge through Sunbury and back across another bridge to US15 south. We stopped about 6:15 p.m. just north of Camp Hill at a family restaurant for supper of clam chowder, salad, baked haddock, cheese macaroni and ice tea for $12 each including tip. A couple with their grandson from the Sojourn came in the restaurant and stopped by our table to talk.

On the road again about 7:00 p.m. we started running into rain again and it was quite heavy as we passed Gettysburg. It continued to gain intensity the further south we came on PA97 and then MD97. There were frequent long bright flashes of lightening quickly followed by loud booms. We turned east on MD26 then south on MD32. We were stopped by police because MD32 was closed (flooding, fire or accident?) so we had to backtrack about 10 miles to MD97 south to I80 east back to MD32 about 2 miles south of where we had to turn around. We headed south on MD32 to US29 east to Columbia and home about 10:00 p.m. It stopped raining about ¼ of a mile from my house and it was dry having had no rain all day. It made up for it about an hour later.

TRIP COSTS

Trip Costs	$160.00
Cash	$45.00
Film	$4.95
Pictures	$7.59
Total	$217.54

EQUIPMENT LIST

Canoe
Paddles
Lifejacket
Ropes
Tie down tubes
Roof rack
Bailer
Knee pad
Tent 11'x11'
Clothes line & pins
plastic liner
Sponge
Mallet
Dry bag
Sleeping bag	Battery Razor
Pillow	Mirror
Air mattress	Comb
Sheet & case	Toothbrush
	Toothpaste
Hat Rain coat	Soap
Rain pants	Shampoo
Fleece	Towel
	Wash cloth
Jeans	Sandals
Bermudas 2
T-shirts 6	Camera & film
Shorts 6	Binoculars
Socks 6	Log
Shirts 6	Pens
	Head lamp
Running shoes	Radio
Socks	Tapes
Briefs	Batteries
Shorts
T-shirts 5	Lantern
Kerchiefs 4	Silverware
Bandanna	Knife
Boots