A Rock Solid Adventure
June 11 to 16, 2019
Our crew of Chupacabras for the second adventure on Susquehanna
consisted of experienced canoeists, with one new adventurer. On this cruise
were Firestick, Seeds, Summer Sausage Sailor, Seacow, Captain Canoe, JStroke, Escargot, Beer Canoeist, Grumman Master, Milkman, Rock Hound, Beef Chowder, Russian Bear, and the new guy, River Puss.
Our launch destination was again the Shawville PA site on this 11th day
of June, 2019. Grumman Master came with the canoe trailer, 3 canoes and his boys, Seacow,
Summer Sausage Sailor, and Seeds, along with Rock Hound. A major traffic slowdown was avoided
with help from Seacow’s GPS phone for a detour route around it. We arrived at
the camp site and as we drove down the access drive, Seeds noted “ Hey,
someones already here”. Captain Canoe, along with Beer Canoeist, Russian Bear and River Puss, had a fire
going. JStroke’s van with Beef Chowder and Firestick showed up a while later. Escargot came
later after a narrow miss of a deer, Milkman was last with his canoe. Milkman slept in
the back of his truck while all the rest of us had already set up tents.
A nice morning greeted us as we broke camp and loaded the canoes for
a smooth ride along the river. Abundant rain in the days, weeks, and months,
leading up to this high water river, flowing rapidly,was a welcome sight. In
the canoes on this cruise were; Seacow and Summer Sausage Sailor, Grumman Master and Seeds, JStroke and
Firestick, Captain Canoe and River Puss, Escargot and Russian Bear, Milkman and Beef Chowder, and Beer Canoeist and Rock Hound. The sun was out and the green trees along steep river banks shone brightly in
their verdant plumage.
NOTES ON CAMP SITES
Tue. 6/11 Shawville
Wed. 6/12 Wild rose site 19 miles
Thur. 6/13 beyond Karthaus
Fri. 6/14 really good site as before
Sat. 6/15 No paddling situation camp, + trek
Sun. 6/16 Light rain on launch
Our first taste of the now deeper water on the Susquehanna was
enjoyable as it was easy to recognize the possible impediments such as rocks
and shallows. This, plus the swiftly flowing current, estimated at about 5
MPH, made for a relatively quick work to our anticipated 19 mile run that first day.
Grumman Master had his river map and we found our camp spot. I called it the Wild
rose site for Beer Canoeist’s and my tent was located where one had to walk through
clusters of nasty prickers of the wild roses on the way in and out from our
tent. Rock Hound asked “Beer Canoeist, d’you have your hatchet? Then I can use my knife
and we’ll make a path through this stuff.” Summer Sausage Sailor was our go to guy for fire
starter and did a great job in having the fire ready when we needed it. Damp
wood hinders starting a fire, but Adam had thoughtfully packed red flares to
aid in starting fires. Our stay here was basically uneventful and pleasant. We
prepared our evening meal, ate, sat around the fire or adjusted our set-ups and
retired for the night. Next morning, we repack stuff, load up the canoes, clean up the site and shove off for our Thursday’s paddling .
Thursday, our plan was to travel to a site just past Karthaus for a 9 mile
run down the river. In several places as we approached, we could see the
water was fairly well rippled and showing some white water indicating rapids
ahead. Where this shows, there is nearly always a major path for the flow of
the fastest and generally, safest way through. We look for a flow of smooth
water, which shows the major and deepest stream. Beer Canoeist calls out “What’s
best?” Rock Hound responds “Aim for just to the right of center.” We align our bow
for the smooth water and slide through to the lower area where some waves
may crest over the gunnels (gunwales for the purists). The abundant rain this
season has raised the water level to where we had little, if any, trouble
running the rapids. “ That was a good run, Beer Canoeist” notes Roc Hound. “Did you catch
any water back there?” “Not much.” comes the reply. (Note: We’ve brought
water squirters, which are good as bilge pumps for when we do ship excess
water.) When we’re in the vanguard, we look back to see if all the others have
made it through safely.
Calm water often calls for a light respite from paddling and we often
come together, linking one canoe to the other for conversation and perhaps a
drink or bite of snacks. At one section of calm water, after a white water run,
five canoes were thus linked, and we floated together for 10 or 15 minutes.
“More rapids ahead” said one of the group. There was a general thought, “so
what,” and we ran the rapids linked together. A first for the Chupacabras. The
next set of rapids looked like it called for a greater measure of caution, so we
ran it in separated craft.
Karthaus PA, with its general store, came up next. Landing our yellow
and green fleet at an inlet, we proceeded to a steep climb up the bank to a
railroad track and then on up further on the road to the store. That ¼ mile
uphill walk brought us to the little convenience store with its fresh subs, pop,
chips, a variety incidentals and, of course, ice!
Our group, after this ½ hour side trip, traipsed back to our canoes ( it
was downhill back) launched and headed downstream about one half mile to
our next landing. This is a site on which we’d camped 2 years ago, but the
major site had been occupied by a small group of kayakers. This site, now,
was great for our large group and we took advantage of the more than
adequate space to spread out. The landing area was mostly small river rocks
which make things easier than mud to unload the canoes, however there was,
as always, a muddy section we had to cross to get to the campsite proper. Our
camp was nice and we did the campfire and cooking routines, followed by
talk before retiring. “It’s starting to rain, let’s get moving” was the shout from
outside our tents, earlier in the morning than we’d have liked. Everyone got
right to the tasks at hand and had all the canoes loaded and covered with tarps
just as the rain increased. A large tarp was set up among some trees at the
edge of the bench above the river, under which all the Chupacabras settled in
to wait it out. At noon, the rain was slowing sufficiently that there were
calls “let’s go now, it looks to be clearing up.” We donned our respective rain
gear and launched into a light rain which lasted periodically for another
several hours.
The green mountainsides are all beautiful walls surrounding us on our
journey, inviting us to stop and enjoy wonder of of it all nature here. A
railroad track parallels the river on the North bank, our left, but is mostly
hidden, except when the tracks come closer to the river and there are fewer
trees to block the view. We saw only one train moving, upstream or West,
during the trip. The river, in this area flows primarily East, although the
twists and turns send it in all directions in places. All our camps along the
river, are on our right, or the South bank.
The river showed more of the same types of ripples, rapids and smooth
water till we felt close to our next stop. Friday’s camp site tempted us with
several promising places, but were either too small, too rocky, or already
occupied by other canoeists or kayakers. Russian Bear and/or Summer Sausage Sailor acted as scouts
for the sites. Floating along with the current, all eyes on the right bank, we finally came to the same site we’d been to on our last Susquehanna cruise.
This was a perfect place for our planned two night stay. There were actually
several sites available at this landing, flat, few trees and at least 5 fire pits
spread out on the low bench along the stream. Preparing the tent, Rock Hound
called “Beer Canoeist, this is the same tent site we used 2 years ago.” Watching the
camp appearing with each member doing his part to bring up the gear and set
out his equipment, it is very gratifying to see the efficiency, cooperation and
the camaraderie displayed. By this time, the sun had long banished the rain.
We soon gathered around the fire to enjoy nature and each other.
Saturday was an almost perfect day, with lots of warm sun greeting us
as we emerged from our tents. Near midday, the group decided to walk back
upstream to where there was a waterfall and a trail up the mountain. The falls
is roughly 1 ½ miles from our camp and a very pretty one it is. Several
cameras snapped pictures.
Thirteen of the group made this trek and ten went on to climb the mountain to
the trail on top, while three, Milkman, River Puss, and Rock Hound, yours truly, decided to
return to camp.
We three turned back to the trail, which shortly, within several yards,
dropped from the bench to the river’s edge bank, a three foot drop. At this
point, with Rock Hound in the lead, then River Puss and last, Milkman, we heard a loud pop,
screech and cracking, and swishing noise, as a a large tree, approximately 60
feet tall, came crashing down right in front of us. Coming to rest 10 yards in
front of us, it was out in the water 30 feet, and roughly 3 feet in diameter
where it crossed our path. After giving thanks that we were not under it, we
proceeded to crawl thru the branches and over the trunk and continued on to
camp. The other group heard the crash and thought it might have been Milkman
setting off another fire cracker.
Around the fire that evening was a spirited discussion concerning our
next outing, how we should initiate new members and other matters of grave
concern.
JStroke remarked” We should require new guys to make, say 2 or 3 trips before
he gets full membership.” Another responded “How ’bout canoeing for so
many miles.” “We could just hold a vote.” said Escargot. The talk went on this
way for some time and then went on to where would we go next year. The
spirited discussion was enhanced by rounds of spirited beverages.
Sunday morning greeted us with a light rain which had begun in the night. Some tents and other gear were packed wet into our waiting yellow craft. Nine miles to our take out pick-up point and we walked the boats up a
swiftly moving stream where shortly our bus and trailer arrived. Packing the
canoes and all our gear was an interesting chore, but accomplished in
amazingly short order. Back to Shawville, we resorted our gear and crafts to
our respective vehicles, said our goodbyes and thanked each other for a
wonderful and enjoyable trip.
With all the river rocks we walked on, stepped over, avoided, or not,
while canoeing, and parked them on, this was truly A ROCK SOLID SUSQUEHANNA.
Submitted June 24, 2019
Rock Hound, Senior chronicler
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