June 30, 2007

June 30, 2007

We started out from Windsor, NY on a 60's sunny day. The weather forecast mentioned 15 mph winds from the northwest, and the day should remain sunny and in the high 70's.

We paddled past a fisherman who was standing in thigh high water. He said that he had caught a released four or five small mouth bass that were twelve to fourteen inches long. He was having a good day.

The river meandered through farmland with occasional homes. Because of little rain, the Susquehanna was very low. This area of the river loops down into Pennsylvania and then back up into New York a couple of miles before Kirkwood. In fact, one town at the bottom of the river loop is named Great Bend. Ten miles down river from our start for the day is the Oakland Dam in Susquehanna, PA. The river is wide there with steep banks on both sides. Sue and I had driven up to the dam area in the spring to take a look. At that time, with the river much higher, the water rushed over and dropped probably ten feet. There was a Penelec (electric company) building on the downstream right side at the dam, and we decided that that was the side of the dam we would portage on.

We arrived in Susquehanna just at noon, and Sue found a less steep spot in the bank which we used to get the kayaks out of the river. We found a spot of grass without duck feces to sit and have lunch. We had chicken spiedie hoagies and chips that Sue brought. They were delicious. We then attached the dollies to the kayaks and walked them close to a half mile along a small road that paralleled the river to a point beyond the dam.

The bank there was steep and rocky and went about fifteen feet down. Then it flattened out some for twenty feet to the water's edge. Sue climbed down to the bottom of the steep part and I lowered the empty kayaks to her using the ropes that were tied to their bows. Then I tossed the water bottles, snacks containers, and paddles to her. I climbed down and we carried the kayaks across the rocks to the water. We spent a full hour from getting out of the water to putting back in beyond the dam.

We saw our first great blue heron today. In our neck of the river there are lots of heron, so I was surprised it took so long to see our first. Great blue herons remind me of pterodactyls!

In a few miles we went through the Great Bend area and then the river turned north-northwest. We were about seven miles from Kirkwood. That's when we hit headwinds. We sure weren't going 3 mph anymore. That was the average speed of the previous miles. At times we had waves rolling upriver, and some had whitecaps. If we stopped paddling we lost ground. And the paddling took much more effort.

We went past a pontoon boat that was moving very slowly and two people on jet skis were circling it. They all seemed to be having a fun afternoon. Generally we didn't see any boats on the river. I guess it's because there aren't enough areas of the Susquehanna that had consistently deep water. Our kayaks could just about go anywhere, though.

Around 3:30 pm I called my husband Bill to say that we wouldn't make River Park in Kirkwood by 5:00 pm. He told me he was scheduled to take a training flight in a Piper Cub at the airport in Tunkhannock, PA (about an hour south) at 4:00 pm and wouldn't be up to Kirkwood before 6:00 pm. I said that would work out great because it would give us more time to get to Kirkwood. So we continued to trudge along. At times the wind subsided when the river turned, but mostly we were working hard to move forward.

As we entered Kirkwood, we started looking for the park. We saw a car and two people and a dog on a gravel bar near shore under a bridge and asked them where the River Park was. They said it was right there. I asked where the boat access was, and the man said to follow him. He got into his car, and we followed him in our kayaks as he drove along the gravel bar. Then he turned toward shore and drove through the water to the boat ramp. The water was about five inches at the deepest point. We paddled to the end of the gravel bar and got out and walked our kayaks through the water to the ramp.

The River Park was so nice. There was a large pavilion with lots of people having picnics. We saw a ball field. And we saw porta potties!! We used the facilities and then carried the kayaks up to some grass by a nearby parking lot. Almost immediately we saw Bill show up in our truck. Perfect timing! I think we spent ten hours on the river.

Sue had no plans for Wednesday, July 4^th and neither did we, so that will be our next date.