Susquehanna River, Island circuit from Cold Cabin Put in, 8.5 miles
March 13, 2005

Paddlers: Topher, Marcus, McWood, Vic, Canoeswithduckheads Tom, Mike
McCrea
Decked boats: Bell Rob Roy, Sawyer Loon, Kruger Sea Wind, Clipper
Sea-1, Old Town Sockeye (and an Impex Diamante sea kayak).

A slightly delayed launch - Topher and Marcus decided to drive due
east across York County Pennsylvania by way of Maryland - saw us
slipping a collection of decked canoes into the Susquehanna at Cold
Cabin on Sunday morning.

A paddle-what-you-brought initial boat assignment allowed me the
pleasure of commencing the day's paddle into the wind and current in
the Clipper Sea-1. Heading upriver (and upwind) I paused at the mouth
of Muddy Creek and turned about to see my companions as wee specks on
the horizon, closing slowly. The Sea-1 has a lot of giddyup into a
headwind.

A more sheltered canoodle up Muddy Creek, today running crystal clear,
was followed by a challenging attainment up a shallow water riffle and
we beached the boats along a sandbar fringed with waist-high snow
blocks for the first of several leg stretcher sessions of bankside boat
blather and BS.

And for our first hull trade. I swapped the Sea-1 with Topher for the
Rob Roy, Marcus swapped the Loon with McWood for the Sea Wind. Tom
stuck with the Sockeye, as he would all day (we kept telling him how
good he looked in that boat) and Vic didn't count since he's a
stinkin' kayaker. Er, I mean, well, OK, yeah, that's exactly what I
meant.

Reboarded and new boated we floated back down Muddy Creek, paused to
admire the remains of the old stone aqueduct that once carried the
Susquehanna and Tidewater canal over the creek's confluence with the
Susy-Q and then continued our ascent of the river along the York County
side.

No sooner had we reentered the river than a spectacular bald eagle alit
from a tree overhead, soared fifty feet upriver and perched again,
framed against the blue sky and steep river valley hillside. Schweet.

Our upriver passage took up past the PA Fish Commission Muddy Creek
access (permit required) and into the rocky narrows between Upper Bear
Island and Peavine Island. One feature of this area that has always
fascinated me is the abundant whorl holes. Small whorl holes in the
making atop the rockfaces, filled with water and small stones. Giant
whorl holes at river level, some large enough to paddle into, the work
of eons.

Continuing upriver against stiffening current we managed the attainment
between Crow Island and Upper Bear and edged our way east towards the
tailrace.

The rapids dropping over a series of small ledged before us was too
tempting a surf for some of our boat testers. Topher put the Sea-1 nose
first into the rapid and surfed until a sudden kick out submerged his
stern and poured a bit of water over the gunwales. Tom scampered atop a
nearby rock for a photo op and somehow reemerged wetter than any of us.
Tom is, as we all know, a bit unbalanced.

Heading downstream now we soon found another sunny beach on the east
side of Upper Bear - a perfect spot for some lunch, some bailing and
some always enjoyable boat blather. And another boat switch, as Topher
took over the Sea Wind and McWood took the Sea-1.

The squirrelly downriver currents along the Lancaster Count side of
Upper and Lower Bear Island are also a fine testing ground for boats,
and Topher was quick to appreciate the Sea Wind. I'll have to
confess, I, and I think Topher too, came into this test paddle with a
vaguely preconceived notion that, OK, the Sea Wind is probably a nice,
competent hull design, but, well, you know, it's just a boat, at its
most basic just another thing that floats.

I'll eat that preconceived notion. It is certainly the penultimate
expedition canoe. Those decades of Kruger's constant experimentation
and refinement are demonstrable in the boat's performance,
capabilities and outfitting. It is no question a helluva boat.

Of course it's also $4000. And to fully realize some of the designs
capabilities you would want two Sea Winds to catamaran together.
Ca-ching, $8000. You get what you pay for.

Coasting with the current we passed the southern tip of Lower Bear and
entered into my favorite spot along this island tour, the hidden grotto
on the northwestern tip of Big Chestnut Island. A small, inauspicious
slot in the cliff opens up into spacious cove surrounded by high rock
walls fringed with hemlock. Beauty.

Out of the hidden grotto we completed our island tour with a circuit
between Little Chestnut, Wolf and Hennery Islands and put ashore to
trade boats one last time before making a diagonal open water crossing
back to Cold Cabin beach.

Nice day. Nice place. Nice boats. Nice company. I was amazed that we
saw not another boat afloat of any kind.

And I guess I need to shop for a better seat and a foot control rudder
for that Sockeye. It's time to bring it back into the shop for a
re-rebuild. It's a nice enough hull and could be morphed into a fair
to middling decked tripper with a few parts and a little TLC.

I'm psyched to see some photos of the day - all those decked boats
oughta look mighty nice.