I prayed for a hurricane, really I did, and then we got a tropical storm. It slammed directly into the Lehigh watershed, dropping some ten inches of rain in about a day and a half. Ironically, I was off to Maine to work at the Fryeburg Fair for a week and I missed it. Mike called me as I was driving up to New England and told me the crew had plans to go, I was bummed.
Fate works in strange ways, though. The river was up high, way higher than we'd ever run it (although I have rafted it at 4000cfs - we did 20 miles that day in the same time it usually takes to do 10!!) but I didn't give that much thought when I was on the phone with Mike. When I returned, this is the story I heard:
Well, we met at the mall parking lot as we usually do, and Keith had no boat! He was so accustomed to borrowing my old Whiplash that he just completely spaced, and I guess that was enough of a kink for them to call off their plans. It was probably for the best, as the river was high, the water was cold, and no one put themselves into a dangerous situation.
Good decision making is the key to staying alive in backcountry adventures.
A week later we tried to catch the tail end of the high water provided by the storm, but instead we got a scratchy run down Muddy Creek, PA, a tributary of the Susquehanna. Paddled with a new guy that day, John, who is an experienced paddler close to our level. We had a great time and we shot this video at a four-foot ledge known as Snap Falls.
Dropping Huge Waterfall!
Fortunately for you viewers Mike edited out the 45 seconds of me paddling back-and-forth trying to build up the nerve to go over. It's funny how anxious you get before and then look back at and see how trivial it is and how it flashes by in an instant.
Happy Halloween!
A couple weeks later we found that the Army Corps was letting a reasonable amount of water into the Lehigh and we planned a Halloween trip. John joined us again and we made a new acquaintance, Joe, when we met at Rockport. Andrea shuttled us up to White Haven so we could paddle the upper (she did not paddle, thanks again for the shuttle!), and we shivered in the 37˚ weather. We warmed up once we got moving, but I kept my moves on the conservative side, just didn't want to risk a cold swim. Here are some pics courtesy of John.
Don't I look great in a wetsuit?
Joe and I at the lunch stop.
Merrily, merrily, merrily . . .
Thanks for the wrap up posts. We had a great year! Credit for the Halloween pics should be courtesy of Mike.. ( ; (at least the top two)
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