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Canoe Trips




Welcome to our canoeing section. We have been canoeing casually for about 15 years and finally took the plunge and bought our first canoe in 2002. It's an Old Town Discovery 169 and we love it. It's constructed of Old Town's patented Super Link 3 composition of foam sandwiched between high density polyethylene layers. It's very strong and abrasion resistant but it is a little on the heavy side (hey, you can't have everything). The seats are molded plastic instead of the flat aluminum seats we were used to when we were renting canoes. What a difference in comfort! It wasn't cheap but we figured that we'd only ever buy one canoe so amortized over 30 years or so it really was cheap. Plus by not renting anymore it will pay for itself in a few years. I highly recommend this canoe as a general purpose canoe.


Historic French Creek starts in rural southwestern New York State and runs through Northwestern Pennsylvania down through Meadville to Franklin PA where it dumps into the Allegheny River.
It is our favorite (only) creek nearby large enough to canoe in. So far we've canoed about 30 of the 70 miles, but someday hope to have canoed each section all the way to the Allegheny River. Each leg so far has been roughly 4 to 5 hours of actual canoeing. We make frequent stops to stretch the legs and go exploring so it often extends to 7-8 hours. Add in the travel time and all of the car positioning, unloading and loading and we're up to around 9-10 hours. So far it's been very rural through cow pastures and forests. An occasional bridge or house here and there, but mostly no signs of life (other than the cows).
Map of French Creek

The following sections are our own designation based on our travels.
  • Leg #1: French Creek, NY to Wattsburg, PA - 6.9 miles
  • Leg #2: Wattsburg, PA to Union City Dam - 8.5 miles
  • Leg #3: Union City Dam to French Creek Canoe - 8.7 miles
  • Leg #4: French Creek Canoe to Miller Station Rd - 8.4 miles
  • Leg #5: Miller Station Rd to Cambridge Springs, PA - 7.8 miles


Another trip we like to take is canoeing in the lagoons at Presque Isle State Park. It is a great way to spend an afternoon with the family. Half of our canoe trips are here. There is much to explore back in the lagoons and the kids really enjoy it. We often see turtles sunning themselves on logs and many different species of birds. It is nice to take the kids away from the video games and go explore nature.

Satellite image of the lagoons




Click to experience some of the trips we've taken in our canoe.

2002

2003

2004

Regatta '02

Regatta '03

Regatta '04





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