South Branch Patapsco River, Maryland
Sykesville to Daniels, 12.7 miles
(Minus 10" on the Marriotsville Rd gauge)
OC1 - Canoeswithduckheads, Mobey, Brian, Mike, (c2g)

Tom had been hankering to get on this branch of the Patapsco for a year
and having immensely enjoyed paddling the North Branch during a week of
highwater dawn trips in '05

http://www.paddling.net/places/showReport.html?1147

I was looking forward to another high speed low drag Patapsco flush.

Scouting the river during Saturday's rain remnants from the leavings
of tropical storm Ernesto Tom and Brian declared there was sufficient
water put in at Sykesville, paddle down to the confluence with the
North Branch and on to the dam at Daniels.

No on-line gauge exists for this section, but the gauges for upstream
tributaries Cranberry Branch and Beaver Run, having nearly doubled in
volume, boded well for a fas****er da
Our morning departure was delayed as we waited for Jim Obert and we
eventually declared him a no-show after 45 minutes grace. Since Tom had
brought a loaner canoe for Jim we decided that this would count as
minus 12.7 miles in Jim's paddling tally for the year, possibly
leaving him in the minus column. No Duckhead has ever finished in the
minus column before, and Jim is sure to earn a very special Duckhead
award.

Jim, note that the Wye Island Race is 12.4 miles - you could avoid
the embarrassment of the first ever negative mileage award by joining
the Duckhead Racing Association on the 16th. The Malecite record is
2:26:04, set by Brian and I in 2003:

http://www.paddling.net/places/showReport.html?731

Shuttling upstream to the River Rd put in at Sykesville we arrived to
find a suspiciously low river - the previous month's drought had
rapidly sucked up the water from Ernesto and the level appeared to have
fallen as fast as it had risen.

There was, however, little question about putting on in any case;
we're here, with boats, shuttle is set and it's still early in the
morning. We've been wanted to float this section and for me it marks
the 12th new river of the year. Time to sacrifice some vinyl to the
river gods.

Gertler's Maryland and Delaware Canoe Trails remarks "If you like
your streams tiny and your whitewater rocky and twisty, then head for
this stream after the next hard rain".

Or perhaps, if floating on the heels for a long drought, during a hard
rain. We are scraping and occasionally walking the boats almost
immediately. Realizing that we have 12+ miles to go the sacrifice of
vinyl for expediency is a no brainer and we begin attempting to thread
low water rock gardens (class 3- when the river is running) even when
it is apparent that no logical route exists without pinballing off
boulders and boofing off exposed rocks.

I begin wishing I had brought a beater boat instead of the new Odyssey
14, although the Odyssey's shallow draft probably offers the best
choice of any boat on my rack. (Note: taking the Odyssey off the car
this morning I realized that I now have a shallow water beater boat -
the Ody is well and truly a battle-scarred veteran now.)

More critically I wish I had brought a beater paddle, an old Mohawk or
Norse, as I'm beating the crap out of my wood Bending Branches and
wincing at the occasional sickening "THWACK" as I can not avoid
blade-on-rock encounters, especially during backpaddle maneuvers in the
shallow rock gardens. Methinks I'll be scheduling a weekend of paddle
maintenance this winter.

Threading our way downstream, a little hull pinballed off here, a
little hull boofed off there - if we need to Hansel and Gretel our
way back upstream we can just follow the trail of vinyl breadcrumbs -
we pass the Marriotsville Road Bridge and note that the painted river
gauge is a good 10 inches below the zero mark.

McKeldin Falls soon appears.

http://www.trainweb.org/oldmainline/oml/237wfalls6.jpg

We scout a portage on river right. A long, ugly portage on river right.
Recalling that Gertler had recommended portaging on river left we
investigate and find a short ugly portage. Ugly is ugly, but short is
better than long.

A brief lunch break below the falls and we're back at it. Back at it
and immediately faced with yet another low water no-logical-route rock
garden. No one wants to commence boat walking this soon after portaging
the falls, so we again force a passage.

Tom, who has stood tall poling anything and everything thus far forces
a bit too hard on the last drop and we pause to empty 200 gallons of
water from the Uberboat. Tom needed to rinse the Mobey vomit from the
Uberboat's floor anyway (over the side next time Mobey, over the
side, not in the boat).

I can't blame Mobey though; all this damn poling nonsense makes me a
bit nauseous too. Again, for the record, it's all DougD's fault.
He's a highly infectious carrier of the poling disease, the Typhoid
Mary of mid-Atlantic standers. Virulent Doug.

The confluence of the North Branch appears on river left, running very
low and full of strainers, as the upstream Liberty dam is releasing but
a trickle. The South Branch is low but passable; the North Branch would
be a boat dragging hike. Good choice Tommy.

Another couple of miles and we pass the biker bar at Woodstock, debate
stopping in for a cold one but opt to continue on. A shady cobble beach
soon beckons downstream. We pull over for a last leg stretcher and
there soon appears a blue Prospector - c2g, standing tall with pole
in hand has worked his way upriver to join us for the last few miles.

Quite a fine day Gentlemen; 12+ miles in seven hours. I am hoping we
can better that time by a bit during the Wye Island Race in a few
weeks. Maybe we need one more 12 mile training run next weekend.

Tom's soft focus photos of a hard focused day:

http://sports.webshots.com/album/553878718KssxhU

wrote:

Quite a fine day Gentlemen; 12+ miles in seven hours. I am hoping we
can better that time by a bit during the Wye Island Race in a few
weeks. Maybe we need one more 12 mile training run next weekend.

Tom's soft focus photos of a hard focused day:

http://sports.webshots.com/album/553878718KssxhU

Hmmm Mike, looking at those pictures, I wonder if adding tracks or
wheels under the canoes wouldn't be wise...

I like the sign in one of the pictures though (Swimming prohibited),
that implies deep enough water to actually swim in! :-)


--
Wilko van den Bergh wilkoa t)dse(d o tnl
Eindhoven The Netherlands Europe
---Look at the possibilities, don't worry about the limitations.---
http://kayaker.nl/

Wilko,

You see just the surface. You must look within where liquids run deep on a
McCrea paddle.

Al K

Hmmm Mike, looking at those pictures, I wonder if adding tracks or wheels
under the canoes wouldn't be wise...

I like the sign in one of the pictures though (Swimming prohibited), that
implies deep enough water to actually swim in! :-)


--
Wilko van den Bergh wilkoa t)dse(d o tnl
Eindhoven The Netherlands Europe

Al K wrote:
Wilko,

You see just the surface. You must look within where liquids run deep on a
McCrea paddle.

big grin



--
Wilko van den Bergh wilkoa t)dse(d o tnl
Eindhoven The Netherlands Europe
---Look at the possibilities, don't worry about the limitations.---
http://kayaker.nl/

The potable liquids too ran awful shallow that day.

I was packing light to begin with, for a high speed low drag trip, and
forget my soft-sided lunch and drinks cooler when I left the house. I
bought a large bottle of water and a bad cold cut sub from a
convenience store en route to the put in, hoping I could cadge a, um,
"refreshment" or two from one of my companions.

Unfortunately my companions had likewise packed for a high speed low
drag day, hence the allure of a cold one at the biker bar.