May 25, 2008

Bill drove Sue and I from Forkston to the Union Access. We launched at 8:25 with mid 40's temperature and a clear blue sky. We immediately encountered headwind that stayed with us all day in varying strengths. We averaged about 3-1/2 miles an hour today compared to yesterday which was close to 4-1/2 miles an hour with stops for lunch and breaks. Also today we were packed to stay overnight in Bloomsburg, so each of us probably carried an additional thirty pounds.

Soon after we passed Shickshinny, we noticed on river left a young antlerless deer starting to swim across the river which at that point is probably a quarter mile wide. The only part of the deer out of the water was the head. The deer got about a third of the way across, looked upriver and saw us coming, and turned around to head for shore. We were surprised to see it attempting to cross such a wide river. He came ashore and clambered up a steep treed embankment and was gone.

At Shickshinny we saw two plumes of steam rising from the Berwick power plant. We paddled on and on and on and finally got even with the plant. A large amount of power lines crossed above us. About a half mile further downriver, four or five humming high voltage lines crossed above us. If we had a fluorescent tube with us, it would have glowed.

There was a long section of quiet water with light headwinds. The area was rural. As we got closed to Nescopeck Falls, we went over several shelves that stretched just about all the way across the river. In Nescopeck there is a bridge that has “Nescopeck Falls” directly under it. We were warned that if the water level at Bloomsburg was less than two feet, it would be very hazardous. In the morning the river gauge showed 3.05 feet, so we ventured forth. We were told by Dave Buck of EMO to stay to the extreme river right immediately after passing the last island before the bridge. Our map directed us to paddle left of that island. So it turned out to be a difficult sprint in heavy current to get us very right before the bridge. As we went under the bridge we had to maneuver between the far right bridge support and numerous boulders just right of that support. We squeaked through and then paddled through more boulders and more current. We were glad to get that behind us because the rest of the trip, including Monday, should be in quiet safe water.

We then ate lunch at a very busy boat access called Test Track Access. We have no idea why it's called that. We then paddled along fighting more headwind.

At around 3:30 we spotted an access with a bathroom and we landed. We met a couple with an adult daughter who had just gotten off the river with their kayaks. We exchanged stories of river adventures for probably a half hour. It was a nice break.

We arrived at Indian Head Campground at 5:10 pm. Another 28 miles done. We set up camp, cleaned up, had dinner, wrote in the journal, and went to sleep.