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| Location: Date/Time: Conditions: Water Temperature: Flow Rate: | French Creek from French Creek, NY to Wattsburg, PA (Leg #1) April 4, 2004 · 12:30 to 18:00 EDT 37° F, Snow storm, 20mph wind, 17° wind chill, excellent canoe weather 8^) 40° F 370 ft³/sec, 28 year average for this day, 390 ft³/sec |
Where do I begin? Watched the weather forecast get progressively worse in the days leading up to this trip. Finally it got to the point were we said, hey, it doesn't matter we're going! Conditions were as predicted, snow storm, 35 degrees with 20 mph wind providing a balmy 17 degree wind chill. It was quite an adventure especially when Ray and Adam dunked into the 40 degree water. Yes, the dunking duo have started the '04 canoeing season in style! We're all proud of you guys! | |
 Here's a comparison of this same panoramic shot "the spa" to one taken last summer. This is, by the way, where the dunking duo did their thing. | ||
 | Me, Jen, Ray and Adam at the Marvin Rd. bridge ready to go. Nice gloves huh? The scenery was incredible with all the snow on the trees. |
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 | There were many times when the wind was just howling. Had to close our eyes at times to keep the snow out. Paddling was mandatory during these times so we wouldn't get blown upstream. |
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 | This is the last turn before the rapids and concrete wall section. You never know how big the rapids are going to be until you round this turn. Unfortunately, they were pretty small to non-existant this day. |
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 | Just a few little rapids at the very end. We did put our life jackets on just in case as they can get really huge and dangerous. We had so many layers on that we probably would have sunk anyway. |
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 | And once you've successfully navigated the rapids you're not done yet! Must avoid the concrete wall of doom. This is looking upstream at the rapids right after we successfully avoided the wall. |
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 | This is an incredible shot. Click on it to see the heart-shaped watermark that frames these two. Almost looks like a studio-type filtered shot. Still snowing and blowing. Watch out for all of the canoe-sucking trees dotting the edges. Always stay in the middle. |
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 | A little snow on the dry bags, a little homemade Elderberry wine in the plastic bottle! I thought for sure the Looney Police would be waiting for us at the end to take us away. |
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 | An interesting shot here, we may just have to use our canoes as sleds sometime! It's an Old Town Guide 160 in case you're wondering. |
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 | I told you it was windy! No actually they're going about 80 mph. I like this shot. Looks like a few more canoe-sucking trees might end up in the creek in the future. |
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 | Here's a shot looking upstream at the tree that caused Ray and Adam's dunk. Fortunately the water is only knee deep here so they just stood up and walked out. Of course they then had to put on dry clothes. I call this picture, "Hey Ray, put your crack away". |
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Ok, they're all dry now and ready to give it another shot. Actually the sun even popped out a few times. This is another tricky spot. The flow of the creek pulls you toward that stump sticking out, you really have to thread this area perfectly or you're going swimming. Somehow they made it through without dunking. |
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Looks like another storm coming in. We're about 30 minutes from the end anyway. This is another area where experience pays off. You have to be able to control the canoe regardless of where the flow is pushing you. These trees take no prisoners. |
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Almost done now, just a few more hairpin turns. And here's the end of the run in Wattsburg, notice there are no mental health officials waiting for us. It was a nice run and quite different than the usual boring warm trips ;^). As long as you're prepared for the conditions and have extra clothes, then it's fine. Sure beats sitting around in a warm, dry house. We'll do it again, probably with dry suits. |
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