"Rambling On": Crooked Creek - September 27 & October 4

Rambling on.

ram·ble (ram'bel)

1. a: to wander around in a leisurely, aimless manner b: to explore idly without any special goal c: my favorite type of paddling trip

My wife, Robbin, and I have found that our best trips have been the ones with the least amount of planning and no set destination. These "rambles" could consist of an all day paddle up an outflow creek, just to see where it goes, an after work paddle down our local river before dinner to destress after a long work day, or a hike or bike ride to a special place where we can sit and listen to water cascading over the rocks and clear our heads . We throw the kayaks or bikes in the truck, grab the camera, and make a decision in route.

We are blessed here in South Western Pennsylvania with a bounty of beautiful lakes, rivers, and forests. As we meander around our area's hiking, biking, and water trails, I'll use this blog to share our experiences through descriptions and photographs. I'm not a trained wordsmith, so I'm a little concerned about fitting the second definition of ramble.

2. to talk or write in a desultory or long-winded wandering fashion

I hope you'll enjoy "Rambling On" and find it useful. I'll welcome all comments, and critcism.

-Moe-

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Crooked Creek - September 27 & October 4

September 27 was a drizzly day, but all the weather forecasters said that eventually the skies would clear. I really wanted to get the kayaks out, so I spent most of the day looking out the windows, and telling Robbin that I thought the rain was stopping and it was getting brighter out (she thought I was nuts). I got the break that I was looking for at around 4:00, but couldn't convince Robbin that it wasn't going to start pouring rain as soon as we got 100 yards from the boat launch. I was willing to chance it ,and after assuring my wife that I would be careful and I would wear my life jacket, I was off to Crooked Creek. It didn't start raining as soon as I got 100 yards from the boat launch, it waited until I was about a mile away. Fortunately it only rained for a few minutes and I was able to get a good 2 hour paddle in. I turned around to head back just after passing the tree in the third picture below. The combination of the height of the sun shining through the branches, the light conditions, and the mist coming off the water created one of the most beautiful scenes I've ever witnessed. The picture doesn't do it justice.

Robbin went with me on the second trip to Crooked Creek. We went in the afternoon, so we decided to paddle back the creek I had been on the week before, to see where it went. The creek narrowed to about 20 feet pretty quickly, and with a sheer rock face on on side and woods on the other, it seemed very remote. We felt like explorers. The only noises we heard were our paddles in the water, the wind, and a very vocal Kingfisher the led us most our journey, but stayed just out of my camera range. We never did figure out where we were and turned around when we thought we might run out of daylight on the way back. We found out where that creek led later in the evening when I looked at a satellite map of the area, online. It parallels the main creek branch but is deeper in the woods. I don't know if it's accessible when the water is low, but it is sure worth the trip when the water level is higher.