Switching it Up

After a few days of rain and watching the creek gauges, I decided to convince a few an evening paddle was in store instead of the usual Wednesday night ride.

Not everybody is racing this year and I’m completely out of shape, so why not do something different and just as fun?

After work we loaded some boats.

Then met some others and got on the water.

There were five of us in all. Two kayakers and three in canoes. Mark and I went together again, but this time I let him steer.

The conditions were a little different than last time. Last time the gauge was at 4.95′, pushing 848cfm, and 44°F. This time the gauge was at 3.65′, pushing only 341cfm, and 51F.

We decided these were the low end conditions worth paddling. Nobody ever had to get out, but the boats bumped the bottom more than we would have liked.

Jamie cruising along in his white-water kayak – wishing he hadn’t done that rollover in the cold water with the cold air.

We reached Downingtown about 8pm, and that was only half the trip. The fire department was out in the creek doing rescue drills.

Through the dark they asked us how we were doing. We said as long as they weren’t looking for us, we were doing just fine.

Luckily from Downingtown to our take-out the waters aren’t as technical, though we did paddle over the second dam (or bulkhead as they’re also referred to) in the dark. There was a nice chute (i.e. breached area) on the left side that spilled us all safely down. The first dam wasn’t so smooth. Though it was in the light, the transition from top to bottom was a little bumpier. We made it anyway.

As we paddled under 322 and the trestle bridge, we could see the Wednesday night group riding across 300′ above us. We yelled up and all there lights turned to the side and down to see us. It was kind of cool seeing each other on our separate adventures, though theirs was finishing and ours had almost an hour yet to go.

We made the take-out safely, piled into Mark’s car like wet clowns and shuttled back to get our cars to pick up the boats and head to the bar.

A late night for Wednesday, but different and worth it for the mid-week adventure.

– b