August 25, 2007

August 25, 2007

Even though the Susquehanna is still very low, we decided to paddle another day. Since we finished up last time at our campsite, Bill and I stayed overnight Friday night and Sue met us up there at 7:00 am. After enjoying a few donuts and some coffee, we headed out. The weather was expected to be hot, so we had a lot of water with us.

The morning got warm quickly. We saw quite a few great blue herons and some merganser ducks and lots of kingfisher birds. The kingfishers are easily spotted because of their loud squawking noises. We only had two spots on the river before Wyalusing that we had to walk the kayaks through. Around seven miles from the campsite, we stopped at Endless Mountains Outfitters (EMO) in Sugar Run. We made a pit stop and visited with Melody Buck who, with her husband David, runs the outfitters. I also bought the majority of my equipment from them. David had a group of kayakers with him and they were paddling from Hornbrook County Park in North Towanda to Wysox with a stop in Towanda to participate in River Fest, a yearly event. EMO is located on the south side of the river opposite an island. With the low water, Sue and I had to walk our kayaks through some low water at the end of the island to get into the main river.

Soon after we left EMO, we saw four eagles of different ages. There was the distinctive white head and tail of an adult, and the other three were juveniles of different ages. I found this out after referring to my copy of “The Sibley Guide to Birds”. Juveniles don't have white heads or tails for the first three years. It's so good to see the eagles. The eagles were enjoying the updrafts from the river up the banks and ridges, just soaring as comfortably as ever. They were missing from the river's edge for so many years. I believe that they have been recently removed from the “Endangered List”. That's great!

Next on the river is a large bend that's about 6 miles long, and the area is called Quick's Bend. The water was like glue there. There was no breeze, and it was very hot. Two or three miles further was Laceyville. We saw two more bald eagles there. Sue and I decided that we didn't want the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches that were packed. When we got to the boat access in town right next to the bridge, we called “Information” on our TracFone and got the number of the Wiser Choice Restaurant in town. We called and ordered cheeseburgers and fries and drinks. I walked up (literally) to Main Street and along the street to the restaurant. I struck up a conversation with a man sitting at the counter and he pointed out the thermometer which was reading 101 degrees outside. From talking to him, we found out that we knew each other. Twenty years ago he had sold my son Ken a car. Small world! Well, I have lived within thirty miles of Laceyville for the past twenty years. Sue has lived nearby probably for forty years. I brought the lunch back to Sue and the kayaks, and we decided to paddle and eat at the same time. We have aprons for the front of the cockpits, and Sue always uses hers because she burns easily in the sun and has to redo her SPF 50 often. I don't burn easily with SPF 15, so I hadn't used mine until lunch time. But it makes a nice table top for us while we paddle.

We had more low water at the downriver end of Laceyville. The cool water was refreshing on our feet. Paddling became difficult because of the heat. The humidity was high too, so we were sweating heavily and felt that we were expending so much energy. Our goal was Meshoppen, twenty-two miles from our campsite, or Mehoopany, three miles further.

Four miles downriver from the Laceyville access was the village of Black Walnut. I know some people who have a camp on the river there. We stopped in and had a nice visit with them in their air conditioned motor home. They also gave us a couple of glasses of water. They did mention that there was a weather warning for thunder showers in the evening. I think our enjoying the visit and the air conditioning was our downfall, though. When we got back out in the sun on the river, we felt exhausted.

Both Black Walnut and the next area called Myo Beach had a lot of houses and trailers along the left side of the river, so there was lots to look at. We saw people fishing and boating. Some were mowing lawns and others were weed whacking. There's limited use of motor boats because the river changes depth very often. Usually in front of the populated areas, there was deep enough water even during drought that a motor boat could get through. Most boats were used for fishing or just cruising around. We didn't see any water skiing or tubing, or even jet skis.

After Myo Beach we decided that if we could make it to Meshoppen, we could make it to Mehoopany. After all, it only meant three miles further! As we proceeded, we began doubting our decision. I felt like my face was radiating heat. And I could feel my heartbeat in my face. Sue was no better. So we called my husband Bill to pick us up at Meshoppen. We live only about twenty minutes from the boat access. We ended the trip at almost 4:00 pm. So the distance was only 22 miles. We had a nice social day—the first of our trips.

It was just as well that we got off the river when we did, because while we were loading the kayaks onto our truck, the sky got darker and there was a heavy wind coming from the Mehoopany direction. When we finished loading, we drove back up to our campsite in Homet's Ferry for Sue's car. When we got there it started to rain hard and there was thunder and lightning. My son Ken and his wife and son and daughter were there playing in the water, and they quickly got out. It was one of those storms where the sun was shining through the rain. It only lasted about fifteen minutes. Sue left, and Bill and I gathered up some stuff from Friday night and left. I couldn't wait to get home and take a long cool shower.