Memorial Day Weekend Canoe Trip

So after getting back from Belgium last month, I guess things were still fairly crazy:   a tournament outside of Philly the day after my return and then a big canoe trip the following weekend...

Eight of us drove up to north-central Pennsylvania to spend three days on a 22 mile stretch of the West Branch of the Susquehanna River. Things got off to a rough start when there was nobody at the hotel in Karthaus, PA to let us in when we arrived late Thursday night. And then after overcoming that hurdle, the guy from the canoe outfitters was 90 minutes late in delivering our canoes to the put-in point the next morning.

Still, all seemed well as soon as we were on the lazy river, drinking beer for brunch shortly after passing under the Karthaus bridge. After a little while on the river, we reached the old rope swing strung up in a tree hanging over the water's edge. The ladder and jump platform that had been there in the past were both damaged beyond usability, but it was still fun to swing out a few feet over the water and let go. As we got back in our canoes after swimming/swinging, the weather turned.


heading into the storm

The weekend forecast had looked decent -- only a 30 or 40% chance of rain on Friday and Saturday -- but here we were getting stormed on only a few hours into the trip. I honestly was not sure of the best thing to do since I had never thought about being caught on the water like that. Water never seems like a good place to be when there is lightning around, but on the other hand, we weren't swimming in it. And the water did represent the lowest point within the narrow river-cut valleys. I didn't really think we would be helping ourselves all that much by standing under trees on the elevated river banks. The small beach-like area in the photo above was probably the only good spot available to wait it out, but I didn't think of getting off the river until we were well past that point and it was too late.

So we cruised along for about 10 minutes as the storm passed over us. The wind and rain were pretty bad for a few minutes, but fortunately there was not much thunder and lightning. And actually, it was kind of fun being on the river with the rain hitting the water in a never-did-that-before, exciting sort of way.

Fortunately the weather cleared up by the time we made it to our campsite alongside the end of Bougher Run. There was one couple already set up on the other side of the creek from our spot. We would later refer to the guy as Lynyrd Skynyrd -- and that was just the start of our Pennsylvania hillbilly experience.

Shortly after setting up our tents, the sky really opened up for a full-on downpour as rain would turn out to be a theme for the weekend. Most people took shelter in the tents, but Joe and I were already soaked as we were trying to finish setting things set up, so we just stood around and watched the huge sheets move across the river for 10 to 20 minutes. Once again, though, the weather cleared and we had good company (and steak and beer), so all was well.


hanging out in Joe's tent on Saturday afternoon during the ?fourth? rainfall of the weekend

After a lazy Saturday morning, we all did a short hike up Bougher Run to the nice little waterfall. Joe and Kelvin then continued on a little further up until Joe stepped right on a rattlesnake -- which somehow did not bite Joe. At that point, they decided to turn around. We then drank a bunch of beer and endured one or two more short rainfalls back at the campsite. During the sunny moments some of us swam in the river.


wandering around the forest alongside Bougher Run

We also met some of Lynyrd Skynyrd's friends who arrived in their canoes Saturday afternoon. First, there was General Custer. This was a skinny old hillbilly that came off the river completely drunk. In fact, as soon as he stood up after stepping out of his canoe, he fell flat on his back into the river. Then some other guy showed up, took out a loaded pistol, and fired three or four shots into the river just for the hell of it.

A little later, General Custer came to hang out at our campsite where he offered drunken ramblings on a series of topics. At one point he also referred to us as a bunch of DC yuppies. And at another, he amazingly announced his distaste for the Steelers while also simultaneously trying prove that he was superior to Joe and I (both Pittsburgh natives) in terms of being a true Pittsburgher. Where I come from (Pittsburgh), saying "I hate the Steelers" isn't exactly the best way to show that you are a true Pittsburgher.

Later, we had a dry, relaxing evening around the campfire. We ate some chili, finished off the remaining hot dogs and steak, and finished off the remaining booze as folks drifted off to their tents for the night. And of course, Peleg's last name was temporary changed from Tal to McTal after he polished off a surprisingly large amount of Jameson Irish Whiskey before passing out.


group photo before leaving our campsite

Sunday was a beautiful day for our paddle down to the takeout point at Keating. The only downer was that due to lateness on Friday morning, we had not done the car shuttle in advance as planned. So we needed to spend over 90 minutes to take care of that before we could even start our long ride back to DC (doh!)   All-in-all, though, it was a nice lazy weekend out in the middle of nowhere.