Although no one in our party fished, we did notice on the river maps that the early sections of river were designated for special trout fishing rules and regulations. This would support a theory that fish are also plentiful in the area. Of course your various small birds and song birds. Among them deer, an eagle, some red tail hawks, turkey flying across the stream in front of us, signs of beavers everywhere, small (and larger) fish, crows, Wood ducks, as I mentioned earlier….King fishers. If you want to see wildlife, I suggest a quiet, smooth paddle through these waters. We didn't see the animals, because they saw/heard us first. And it was too early for turtles, but yet we would come across logs along the waterway that were wet and dripping on top, but we never saw the animal which had obviously just been siting there moments ago. mostly the Kingfishers were deciding to leave their branches before we were within a couple hundred yards of them. You had to be either very quiet, or very lucky to see anything close up. But these animals acted like real wild animals. Sometimes geese will act like you aren’t even there in more developed areas. We noticed that the waterfowl were a bit more “spooky” than we were used to. We also talked about the wildlife we were and were not seeing. It did look pretty good, but the myriad of pipes poking out of the ground into the stream bed, and the occasional whiff of sewage you might get (real or created by swampy area) always makes you wonder how good it really is? We also talked about water quality then and now, and how it’s apparently improving now. You can learn more about that event HERE. The rivers were really the only way to move anything in a manner even close to “efficient”. That kind of talk always leads to considering what the “river past” might have been like? I relayed a story I had recently read about a civil war reinactment on a section of river not far from here, commenorating Colonel Kane who used the river to move troops more quickly into position after moving too slowly to be effective over ground that was thick with PA timber, and few roads. In addition to our typical subjects, we talked about the river we were experiencing. Once on the water, we quickly settled in to a nice paddle rhythm and good conversations. We left Morgan’s car in Mahaffey, and then drove the van and trailer to the Cherry Tree to put-in location. The road meandered, and the combination of farmland and hills, valleys and river basin was really magnificent to enjoy. As it was getting light, we were driving on very lightly travelled roads the mist of early morning lifting in the river valley. The drive out to the launch was about as delightful as vehicle shuffling can get. Geese squawking as they take off from the lake and fly to future waterways unknown.
#CHERRYTREE LANE OLD BRIDGE FULL#
highly recommend the quiet and spring peepers in the trees and a crackling campfire view of the lake beyond and full moon above. We were the only folks camping that weekend and it was kinda special. The other months when there is enough water are winter months, and this would not be fun (or maybe even possible) in most of those months due to ice.Ĭrowds - We really enjoyed having the water and our “home base” camp of Curwensville Dam Park to ourselves. As it was, my 10’ and 12’ Necky and 14’ Wilderness Systems Kayaks took some good drags along the bottom, and those were boats without gear onboard. To paddle with less water would likely cause frustration, and also damage to boats. There is enough water - Any less than the levels we experienced would be frustrating for most paddlers and would necessitate fairly frequent portages through sections too shallow to paddle or navigate. Plan on shedding some layers of clothes as the paddle day progresses. By early morning, the sun was warm enough to warm our bodies a bit…and that was nice. We even saw a few renegade Snowdrops blooming along the way. And it was clear, and hopeful with small buds on the trees and skunk cabbage starting to sprout out of the soil. Even though I usually consider March the “ugliest month of the year”, this section of river was still lovely, and the water was cool, but not cold. No leaves on the trees - so that you can see this surroundings better and more light gets into this section of river.