Category: Canoe Trips

The Erie Canal 2024

by Maggie, posted in Canoe Trips, Erie Canal

There is always the excuse that life is too crazy to keep me from catching up on my posts this year. But it is only an excuse. Truth is I watched too many crime shows on TV to escape the painful political scene that unfolded throughout the year. Though it was also simply a crazy year. It was thankfully also one that was interrupted in the pleasantest of ways by another water paddle with Karen.

For many reasons, we did not take the path we intended. Last year (2023), we explored the Upper Connecticut River Lakes, the headwaters of the Connecticut River which powered so much of New England’s industrial revolution. Today it still provides electricity and tourism and incredible scenery as it winds its way down the border of Vermont and New Hampshire, though Massachusetts and Connecticut, and into the Long Island Sound. I managed some posts of those adventures with our spouses before the end of 2023. It was our intention to paddle the whole length of the Connecticut River in one fell swoop in 2024. Now, we are hoping to do it next year, in part or in whole.

I’m cutting it pretty close as I have one more day to post some stories about our alternative route this year on the Erie Canal. This was a first for us. Getting in a river in the middle and getting out before it ended. Our story has been to start at the headwaters and end where a river pours into a new body of water.

River, you may ask. But we thought you went on the Erie Canal? Approved to be built in 1817 and completed in 1825, the original canal was 363 miles long and was carved out of much of the Mohawk River which still at times runs alongside the canal or merges with it. It is kind of a river and a canal at the same time.

The Mohawk River served as a transportation artery for the Seneca Nation long before Europeans like Hudson charted the territory. Dugout canoes were their vessels. With European colonization and expansion, The Erie Canal was a major artery for western expansion and development from Troy, NY, on the Hudson River, to Buffalo, NY, on Lake Erie. From Lake Erie the possibilities of commerce, travel, and expansion were nearly limitless even in an era of mules and barges and steamboats. It remains a major waterway, mostly for outdoor tourism, today. It is well maintained by a series of locks and dams and is run by the NYS Canal Corporation.

Why the Erie Canal? We picked it this year because it was easily accessed by both of us and seemed like it would require less effort. The latter was not necessarily the case, but our choice took us on an historical journey more robust that the ones we travelled on other rivers. The big rivers we have paddled have their share of history but on the Canal the history seemed more compact, and markers and information laid out by the Erie Canal Way National Heritage Corridor were packed with details that neither of us, having lived in New York State for a combined 70 years or so, knew.

What was similar in our journey this year to our weeks of paddling the streams of Western New York, the Alleghany River, the Ohio River, and the Susquehanna River, is that wherever we went, the beauty was amazing. People were beautiful and kind and had interesting stories to tell. Kindness is sometimes experienced simply by another woman recognizing our desperate need to use a toilet and letting us into a clubroom that would normally have been locked to us. On all rivers, there is industry along with natural beauty but even the industrial scenes have their own beauty: the steel, the carefully laid carved rocks holding the sides of the canal up, the locks. Of course, we still find the natural beauty the most pleasing as we depart from our day to day lives each year to find a new adventure in our friend Wonder, the red canoe.

Tomorrow, I will share some details for our days on the canal and try to conclude this season by midnight so we can start planning 2025.

End of day two

by Maggie, posted in Canoe Trips, Ohio River, River locks

My apologies to those who may be trying to follow our journey on the blog. I have had some technical problems. But for now let me tell you we have had to splendid days on the Ohio River. Each daywe have peddled 25 miles so we have paddled a total of 50 miles. The river over all has been very good to us. The weather overall has been very good to us. We had a bit of a thunderstorm today but we were able to take cover for about 30 minutes and then get back out on the river. Late in the afternoon the wind kicked up so badly that we had to spend about 2 1/2 hours on a river café.  Somehow we managed! We have found great people along the river as usual. Last night we stayed in an RV resorts. Tonight we found a bit of dryland to camp along the river.  Perhaps our favorite quotes of the trip so far is the young man at the RV resort last night who when we referred to ourselves as old said “there’s not an ounce of old between the two of you!”  We took it as a great compliment. So I’m going to sign off now. It’s very hot and humid and we’re going to try to sleep a few hours before setting off very early tomorrow morning and what we hope will be calm waters.

A Paddling Festival

by Maggie, posted in Canoe Trips, Ohio River

logo-ohioriverwaySeldom in the years we have paddled have we run into other paddlers.  We have seen a few kayaks but that was way back on the Upper Allegheny.  A couple of years ago we came across some guys who paddled out onto the Ohio River with us for a little while.  They were just playing around and keeping us company for a bit.  It was fun.

Now, as we plan the 2015 adventure, we have learned the the city of Cincinnati has a paddling festival in the middle of June so we are hoping to join a whole bunch of other paddlers and maybe even join a race. Click here for information on the Ohio River Paddlefest.

It’s fun to think of doing something like that.  John and I lived in Bainbridge, NY, on the Susquehanna River for three years but I didn’t paddle then and seldom thought of the river.  Bainbridge was the end of the General Clinton Canoe Regatta held every May.  I can’t believe that I was not interested then.  Maybe someday Karen and I will do that canoe race which starts in Cooperstown, the headwaters of the Susquehanna.

I’m sure there are many canoe events that we have never heard of…but we have a commitment to get down the Ohio River so the other festivals may have to wait a few more years.

The Chadakoin River and the end of the adventure for 2014

by Maggie, posted in Allegheny River, Canoe Trips, Cassadaga Creek, Chadakoin River, NY

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Paddling the gentle waters of the Chadakoin
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Paddling out from the Celeron, NY, boat lauch
In the end, we did get on the water. And we were still within the bounds of the Ohio River watershed but the trip became a metaphor for me and an important one. Jordan drove us from Kennedy down to Chautauqua Lake and helped us get the canoe in at the docks in Celeron, famous for being the birthplace of Lucille Ball. She would have been proud at our persistence and amused at the ill-fated, to date, nature of our experience! The lake was calm in that area and off we pushed from the dock. Jordan managed to get some photos of us on the lake and in action. Since we usually do not have an audience, these kinds of photos are few and far between. While the previous day we had shot down the swollen headwaters of the Allegheny going 2 miles in 18 minutes, today, we would do another 2 miles in a leisurely three hours. We paddled from the lake into the Chadakoin River where the lake flows out and down eventually into the Allegheny River. It was lovely. We watched for wildlife including herons and turtles, ducks and geese. We paddled up a tiny creek and when we could go no further we stopped and had our lunch in the canoe. Then I ventured out, prepared for the march in Karen’s rubber boots, and tried to see what lay beyond a small dam. I did not get far so we paddled back out to the river and down to the power plant in downtown Jamestown. I lived near Jamestown and worked in Jamestown for 17 years and never knew the beauty of the river that ran through it. Of course, much has been done in recent years to create a river walk and improve the whole area. My hats off to those who worked so hard and continue to work on that project. This slow paddle was just what my body and spirit needed even though I had thought that I wanted the excitement of either the big Ohio River or the rushing waters of the upper Allegheny. Sometimes, you just have to go with the flow, even when it is slower than you thought you wanted.  What will 2015 bring us?

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Some beautiful mystery flowers in marshy areas.
 

Next try

by Maggie, posted in Allegheny River, Canoe Trips, Cassadaga Creek, Conewango Creek, Marden Cobb Water Trail, Uncategorized

I’ve not yet aged to perfection.  I still have a little of that accomplishment/acquisition blood in me. Having had our exciting though short-lived trip down the upper Allegheny, I wanted to do something major even if just a little major. I wanted to go up to Kennedy to get on the Conewango Creek upstream from where we had joined it years ago. We had already decided that the Cassadaga Creek presented too many issues of getting in and out or finding our way through the marshy parts. The Conewango is larger. And on Saturday when Karen’s son Jordan (getting to be baptized into the tradition of transporting us to or from paddling as Kyle and Chelsea had in the past) drove us to Kennedy, we learned it was not only larger but also significantly overflowing its banks.
We found that the road to the public ramp was closed because of the flooding water and, in case we were considering something stupid, a state trooper showed up just then to tell us the whole area was under water and we might consider getting in at Frewsburg.  He must have known that we were all wondering what would happen if we drove around those barricades and found a way to get a canoe into the creek!
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Two things: We had already paddled the Frewsburg part of the creek and we took this as a closure to getting onto the water that day.  At least that is what we thought at the time.

Finally getting to see the headwaters

by Maggie, posted in Allegheny River, Canoe Trips, Connecticut River

IMG_3252[1]I only remember seeing the headwaters of one river before last year.  It was the Arkansas River.  That’s when I learned that rivers seem to be named for where they end, not where they begin.  That’s an interesting notion to me!  Somehow I had always thought that the headwaters of a river would be grand and obvious.  The Arkansas starts in Colorado and the headwaters are a mere stream, of sorts, going through a meadow.  This proved to be the same with the Allegheny.

After completing our flume/luge-like experience, our friend John was kind enough to oblige my desire to see where the river really started.  I had googled it and found a sign indicating the headwaters.  I wanted to see that sign and so he guided us back up river about 30 minutes to the meadow where the waters trickle together to begin the stream that becomes a river with deep waters and deeper history.  The stream was tinier than Cassadaga Creek, that small waterway we had started on years earlier.

I still find it amazing that great things have such humble beginnings and I wonder if we will be able to someday say that we paddled to the other end of that river where it dumps its muddy waters into the Mighty Mississippi.IMG_3249[1]

Making the decision

by Maggie, posted in Allegheny River, Canoe Trips, Ohio River

Meteorologist Mark still reported that the rain would stop early or mid-day on Friday so we decided to plan to go to the headwaters of the Allegheny and put in at Coudersport, PA. We packed Thursday night, realizing that with the exception of the amount of food and water we usually take, packing for one overnight is as time-consuming as packing for a week. But we knew it was worth it. Friday morning, we headed out to the headwaters to meet John, a friend of Karen’s who would take her van and pick us up the next day. We passed over many creeks, some of which we had canoed years ago, and realized that the previous two days of rain had significantly added to the water level. Hum. When we picked up John he seemed impressed that we were going but not concerned. As we made our way up the road to Coudersport, John started noting the river’s level. About every five minutes he said: “Wow, the river IS high.” After about five of these comments, even I became concerned.

Arriving at the put in point, the river was, according to Karen, at least a foot higher than when she and Mark were there the previous Sunday. It was raging down the narrow channel which was only about 15 feet wide. Should we or shouldn’t we? The preparations til that point had involved a lot of consideration and many miles of driving. We recalled our discomfort some years ago when we put in in Pittsburgh when the river was near flood stage. We had a blast in the end…and did we ever put miles on our trip that year! This time was different; very narrow with tree branches overhanging the river and rocks and trees in the river.

To go or not to go? We went. Of course. It was very different from our experience on the Ohio in Pittsburgh. We shot down the river like a flume at Disney Land with Karen in the rear trying to steer and me following orders as best as I could.  It was both terrifying and exhilarating.  We had little time to think of how to handle the bends in the river and the overhanging trees.  A far cry from the paddling on the Ohio River in 2013 when, on our last day, we had to really push it to get one mile in one hour due to strong head winds.

John said he would try to get some photos of us passing under the covered bridge, a bit under two miles downstream. So, we pushed off and the water ripped us downstream faster than we had ever gone. We knew there would be none of the familiar quiet, contemplative conversation or opportunities to take photos. We were in for some of the most intense 18 minutes of our lives. As Karen said, we were out of our league. She in the stern was trying to steer us around obstructions and shout orders to me as to which side I should paddle. “Don’t paddle for speed,” she shouted, “just for control.” I laughed at one point when she politely asked: “Would you paddle hard on the left now?” I yelled back because it was hard to hear: “Forget the polite words. Just tell me: ‘Paddle hard on the right!'”

About 2/3 of the way to the bridge, Karen pronounced that we should not be doing this. I, perhaps surprisingly to her, acquiesced quickly. For one thing, I pictured at some point having to grab something with my recovering left arm and permanently damaging it. For another, I thought my daughter Chelsea might appreciate me living to September 27th when she and Brent would be married. While we had already made decisions to detour from our appointed paddle on the Ohio River, it was humbling to realize the need to do it again. But this was clearly not the time or place to be on this body of water. In retrospect, we might have been about to put in farther down river where it was wider. We still don’t know where we would have been able to camp because everything was so soggy along the river. For some reason, this leg was just not meant to be.

Fortunately, John was right there at the covered bridge waiting for us so after ducking under the bridge and bashing into it a bit, we were able to paddle hard and get aground again. It was exhilarating and fun, to say the least. However, if we wanted to shoot down waters like that, we should have been in a raft with helmets on!  Not in a canoe.

Remembering the Past

by Maggie, posted in Allegheny River, Canoe Trips, Marden Cobb Water Trail, Sinclairville

Our second day of adventure in 2014 took us back to where it all began in 2001.  It was a short drive to Red Bird Corners in Sinclairville, NY, and one of the public access areas to the Marden E. Cobb Waterway Trail. My family used to live 1.5 miles up hill from this crossroads. I remember thinking one day when I was driving home that one could put a canoe in the creek there and paddle for months and get to New Orleans. It took me some time to find out that Karen was up for that adventure though we knew right away that we could not go all at once. The trip would have to be many years long, a segment at a time.

When we walked to the creek’s edge, it was clear that a lot of rain had fallen. The creek was swollen and moving fast.

Old friends back at the edge of Cassadaga Creek where it all began.
Old friends back at the edge of Cassadaga Creek where it all began.

The swollen waters at Red Bird Corners
The swollen waters at Red Bird Corners

Karen studying the map for where to go next. Upstream to Cassadaga?
Karen studying the map for where to go next. Upstream to Cassadaga?

We wondered if we could get in above that point, perhaps even at Cassadaga Lakes, so we went on a drive to various put-in areas and found the water everywhere was over the banks, making once dry land into marshy land. We could not see how we would get in or get out. Finally we ended up at the lakes behind a fire department building where there was a place we could put in but the journey ahead somewhat resembled the Okefenokee swamps. Karen wondered if we could even find the main channel. And the wind was blowing hard upstream, a scenario we all too well remembered from our last day on the Ohio River last June. It is really NOT fun to push against wind in a canoe.

Completing our reconnaisance, we drove to Allegheny Outfitters in Ashville, NY, and treated ourselves to some new neoprene gear. Karen purchased some pants and I purchased a shirt. It’s always fun to add a new item to our gear. I remember the first year we purchased something special for our trips. We bought paddling gloves. I felt so professional! Since then we have purchased or been given wet suits and booties, tiny cook stoves, new sleeping bags and, of course, the canoe and paddles. It dawns on us periodically that we are seasoned canoeists! There were yet challenges that would confront us the next day that reminded us to stay humble, gear or no gear, experienced or not. We went back to Karen’s that afternoon and prepared ourselves for a two day trip starting at the headwaters of the Allegheny.

Exploring other waterways…

by Maggie, posted in Canoe Trips, Niagara-on-the-Lake, River locks, welland canal

I arrived in Western New York on Wednesday, May 14,2014. Karen met me at the Buffalo airport and following a brief visit Welland Canalwith her sister and family who happened to be flying in for a family wedding at the same time, Karen and I headed out for a fun diversion. I introduced her to the Welland Canal. Since we knew we would see no locks on the Ohio River this year, I thought it would be fun to visit the locks on the Welland. If you live anywhere near Buffalo and have never visited this feat of human engineering, you have missed something amazing. Rising 326.5 feet from Lake Ontario to Lake Erie, the canal has 8 locks, some of which are twin flights so you have two locks, one right after the other, like a flight of stairs, lifting these huge vessels higher and higher as they transport 40,000,000 tonnes of cargo annually. Check out the website.

IMG_3224From there we made our way to Niagara-on-the-Lake where we had eaten many years ago returning from a workshop in Toronto. We enjoyed an Irish dinner in a pub. It was there that the predicted rains began in earnest. Karen had to drive for a while in pouring rain as we headed to Jamestown. We did not know at the time that the rain would force us to make some other detours from our detour. Karen’s husband Mark is our personal meteorologist and reported when we returned to their home that the rain was to keep up on Thursday and into Friday morning. With that news, we decided to postpone our trip to the headwaters of the Allegheny and instead check out the possibility of a day trip down Cassadaga Creek, the stream on which we had started some 600 miles earlier in 2001.

Going with the flow….

by Maggie, posted in Allegheny River, Canoe Trips, Connecticut River, Marden Cobb Water Trail, Ohio River

IMG_3244When we began this journey, we were both in our 40s. The idea of reaching for a goal like paddling in a canoe to New Orleans from Western New York seemed like something we could actually grasp some day. Of course, we laughed about the idea that “someday” would be when we were 90 years old and just barely able to push the canoe into the Gulf of Mexico. For me, the trip was about accomplishment and acquisition. Each year I wanted to paddle further each time we went out. Even though events like moving to New Mexico, and back six year later, or dealing with the death of parents kept us from getting out on the water as much as we wanted, the goal of getting there someday was always the prevailing metaphor.

In the last three years, I have felt a distinct shift. The aging process is part of that shift but even more is the process by which we do not acknowledge the new frontiers of aging. For instance, in an effort to be ship shape, I joined a gym in January 2014. I was getting stronger and muscles I did not know were there were popping out. And then one day, after swimming 1/4 mile doing the crawl, my back seized up. It had been up and down for several weeks. I had taken drugs which, along with a little stress at work, landed me in the ER one Friday afternoon. I went to physical therapy which I think helped but it would take a long time. Finally, a week before my departure to meet Karen in Columbus, Ohio, I called and told her I could not/should not do a big trip, far from medical care, not knowing how I would fare.

So, what our minds won’t do for us, our bodies eventually will. They will tell us to change our ways and our thinking. My body sent that message loud and clear. But because we have learned over the years that this is no longer about achievement but about process, we have learned to go with the flow. It has even become a deeply spiritual journey for both of us. So, we opened ourselves up to other options for the week we had both set aside.

We decided to try paddling the upper Allegheny River, ABOVE where we had put in years ago at the Kinzua Dam. We were excited because the river is wild there instead of dammed for navigation. There are little rapids to make the trip exciting. It had been many years since we paddled the wild part of the river from Warren, PA, to the first dam. Karen and Mark had done some reconnaissance a few weeks earlier and reported that the water was high but there were places to get in a bit downstream from the headwaters. So we were set to go on Thursday and start a new kind of journey while still adding to contiguous miles we had already paddled. It all seemed perfect. We were adjusting.  And that is what life is all about.