June 8, 2008

June 8, 2008

We launched at 8:00 am with the same weather forecast as for the 7th. It was a little cooler because we started out earlier. There were many more sections with large rocks scattered across the river making navigation much more challenging. Also, the further we paddled, the more shelves we passed over. Some of them I got hung up on momentarily.

We went under a long railroad bridge in Duncannon that had a train passing over it. We counted two engines and one hundred railcars. We raced to be under it when the train was still overhead. It was silent under the bridge we think because of the massive stonework that made up the bridge. It had at least two tracks for trains.

The Dauphin Narrows was quite an experience. The river made a sweeping right hand turn and maps instructed us to take the outside ( left river). Water was quick and there were many shelves and large rocks. Quick decisions had to be made. The current was played with by the wall put in to hold Routes 11 & 15. The kayaks were turned this way and that at most inopportune moments. A smaller replica of the Statue of Liberty which was put on top of an old bridge support could be seen for miles—from the beginning of the slow turn of the river.

We then encountered a light tailwind. It was good except that we felt hotter with sun at our front and very light breeze at our back.

We stopped in marshes on river left for lunch. I was red-faced and feeling light headed. The heat had done me in. Sue was faring a little better than me. Eating food and drinking lots of fluid and soaking our feet in water and talking for several minutes made an incredible difference. We were rejuvenated.

On towards Harrisburg. We felt that Harrisburg temperature was probably at the 100 degree level. If we didn't have good maps, we think we could have gotten into trouble just trying to get our kayaks out of the water for the portage around the Dock Street Dam. We went into the city on river left. There was a wall of cement steps along the Front Street side that extended for a couple of miles. The first warning of the dam ahead was on the last railroad bridge before the dam. The map said to portage from the steps right after the last railroad bridge. The water was too low to safely edge a kayak onto a step to try to get out so we noticed just after that bridge that there was a break in the steps before they began again. We paddled our kayaks up onto a curb-like edge that then had a bank of dirt and brush growing. We got out there and carried the kayaks up onto a cement walkway and then proceeded to put the dollies on the kayaks for easier carrying. We stopped under the I-83 bridge which was directly above the dam. We took another break and ate and drank. The cool breeze felt great too. That maneuvering of the kayaks wiped us out in the glaring heat. There was a spillway at the left edge of the dam, and the put-in was just below it. That was designed nice.

As we entered the river after the Dock Street Dam, we needed to cross to river right quickly before some islands in the center so that we would be on river right before the islands ended. When I checked for my maps, I realized they were not with me. I left them under the bridge at the dam!!!! We didn't try to go back to get them. We sprinted across the river noticing surprisingly little current coming from just below the dam. Two miles down was an access described, as we remembered, as under a railroad bridge. We found a yacht club marina as expected from the maps. Quickly afterward should be the access. We found a railroad bridge on the side of the river with Britches Creek flowing through it. Well, we thought, maybe we were expected to paddle up the creek a bit to find the access. So Sue led the search. The creek was flowing strongly due to a marked drop in elevation down to the river. I paddled under the bridge and had stopped moving due to the flow. Sue was making slight headway and realized we were in a housing development and would come to another bridge. We remembered that was not on the maps. Sue and I were able to turn around and get back to the river. A half mile down was a concrete ramp that led to under a railroad bridge. We found the right one, finally!!! Beyond the bridge was a park with a ball field, a pavilion, and porta potties. The Conservation Department people were on their boat doing their thing talking (I guess) to a kayaker about something! My husband Bill found us through luck and his GPS. We got off the river at 5:00, making nine paddling hours including stops. We proceeded 27 more miles.

We didn't see much wildlife. We DID see a lot of dead fish in the water. Some were small and many were large, probably totaling thirty or so. We don't know the cause of all these dead fish.

The temperature registering in our truck was 96 degrees. We hope the weather cools down a little. We heard that we might have thunderstorms Tuesday. We'll see.

Tomorrow we travel. We are moving the camper down to Tucquan Family Campground in Holtwood. So Bill will have quite a trip bringing us back to Lemoyne, just below Harrisburg to start out on Tuesday.