Greetings From SE Pennsylvania

Though I have some experience canoeing from boy scouts, I only got serious about paddling in the last few years. My wife continually pestered me about getting kayaks until I finally caved, and we ended up with two used Wilderness Pungo 120s. We quickly outgrew them, and I was completely hooked.

The next summer I got her an Eddyline Sitka ST, a fantastically fun kayak. While I was trying to figure out what I wanted to get I stumbled upon the world of solo canoes. A trip up to a (somewhat) local store for a test paddle, and I put an order in for a Northstar Trillium in BlackLite. Because I was coming from kayaking I went with the pack setup. But I’m finding that’s not working for me, so I’m planning on taking it back to Blue Mountain Outfitters to getting a standard canoe seat with seated drops put in this winter.

I also just went in with a friend on another kayak, a CLC Shearwater 17. It’s structurally sound by otherwise a mess, so we’ll be restoring it this winter. My initial paddle tells me that I don’t weight enough for it, so I may end up in his CLC Chesapeake 16 more often. My wife now frequently laments about my growing boating addiction, and I enjoy reminder her that she started it. But it’s all in good fun, she's wonderfully supportive.

The easiest place for us to paddle is Lake Nockamixon. It’s a decent size and has a 10hp horsepower limit on boats, so that’s nice. We also paddle the Delaware and Schyuykill rivers when the water levels allow. We visit my brother every summer outside of Pittsburgh and paddle the Kiski-Conemaugh Water Trail.

So far my favorite place to paddle in the Adirondacks. We’ve been up there for vacation the last two years. We managed to do Long Pond, the Rollins Pond Loop, the Middle Saranac Lake, and all of the Lakes south of Saranac Lake where we stayed.

I’ve been reading these forums for a while, particularly as I was researching canoes. I’m looking forward to being able to participate a little more actively.

Welcome! I grew up in SE Pennsylvania and spent many happy hours paddling the Schuylkill River near Valley Forge. I’ve read that it is a lot cleaner now than it was in the early 60’s.

Welcome to the addiction!

If you're paddling the Kiski-Conemaugh Water Trail, are you doing it as part of the sojourn? Traditionally, that's the same weekend as the WPASCR and you might be interested in it instead (logistics on the river are a bit harder to manage by yourself but the river is there every weekend). They were actually on separate weekends in '25 (no word yet on scheduling for either in '26)

Either way, nice to see more from PA on here and welcome to the site.

Neo, welcome to site membership! Feel free to ask any questions and to post messages, photos and videos, and to start threads, in our many forums. Please read Welcome to CanoeTripping and Site Rules! Many of the site's technical features are explained in Features: Help and How-To Running Thread. We look forward to your participation in our canoe community.

We have lots of members in Pennsylvania, which remains one of the strongholds for open canoes.

Thanks Glenn! Like I said, I'm pretty new so I have a lot to learn and I'm pretty excited about. I'm sure my wife will be excited for me to have someone else to talk to about boating, I have no doubt I've gotten tiring over the last year. I'm also excited to hear we have a lot of paddlers in PA, I'm looking to paddle some new places next year and I'm open to suggestions. The Susquehanna is near the top of my list, and maybe an adventure into New Jersey to check out the Pine Barrens.

Gamma, we usually just do day trips on the Water Trail. I visit over July 4th, last year we put in at Apollo below Roaring Run and took out at Leechburg. It was a pretty wet June out there so water levels were surprisingly good. Also, thanks for the trip summary on Allegheny River, I may be trying to talk my brother into that next year. The Sojourn looks fun though, if they take paddle boarders I'll have to send it to my brother.

Hello Neo, how are things in the Matrix?
Oops, different Neo.
Welcome to the gang, plenty of experience here, good group of guys and gals.
If you are looking to return to the ADK's and need trip suggestions, just post up your druthers and I'm sure we can come up with a near ideal fit.
I happen to prefer more intimate and obscure waters, but I have a lifetime of ADK paddling and camping experiences. I'm always happy to see others succumb to the lure of the Adirondacks.

The sojourn is run by the Conemaugh Valley Conservancy and is a series of day trips.

I've never done it personally (way too many people for my taste) but I'm sure they would welcome any & all watercraft.

And, yes, we had a ton of rain thru June so water levels were good this year. You'll want to paddle the West Branch early in the year also as it gets pretty bony by mid summer in most years. Also note that McCrackens stopped doing shuttles a couple of years ago which tends to complicate logistics a bit.

Welcome to the forum and to canoeing. There are lots of good day trips not too far away. Ive done some write ups on Bradys Lake, Francis Walter Dam, the Susq. and the Delaware among others. Naturally the Susq. and Delaware can be multi day trips. Feel free to hit me up for some info or we can meet up sometime.