Anxious to Get On The Water

Stumbled upon this post in another water lover's blog (link at bottom of page).  Reading it makes me want to do the same.......

Test Float On The Conodoguinet


March 4, 2010

By Perry

This summer I’m hoping to paddle the length of The Susquehanna River starting just north of PA’s New York border and finishing more than 300 miles later where the river feeds into The Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. I hope to do it in about a week. That will require me being in my kayak for 12ish hours covering about 50 miles a day. While backpacking I hike for 12 hours a day, but this is different, I have no clue if I can sit on my butt and paddle for that length of time so I’ve planned some test/training floats to see how it goes. The weatherman is promising 50° this weekend so my test float planned for the 27th has been moved up(my spring fever helped with the date change too).

Saturday: Sunny, with a high near 49. North wind around 10 mph.
Sunday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 50.

The Conodoguinet Creek bends through Cumberland County eventually dumping into The Susquehanna River at West Fairview, PA.

I see the creek every day on my work commute and it looks to be running fast and high, which is cool. I’ll put in near Carlisle, PA, cutting the trip short slightly but avoiding a dam that would require a difficult portage. The trip will be just shy of 37 miles adding a little more if I continue down the Susquehanna to City Island. I’ll make that decision as I get closer to West Fairview, based on daylight and fatigue.

It’ll be cold in the morning and the water will be cold all day. I don’t own a wet suit, but I’ve amassed some water proof gear to keep me dry and warm. Today the UPS man brought a sprayskirt, the last tool I needed to facilitate the trip. It fits my Wilderness Systems Pungo 140 like a glove (in fact it was damned hard to get on the boat – tight as a drum), keeping the water out of the boat and keeping me dryer and warmer.

I hope to be Tweeting, Facebooking and blogging along the way – we’ll see how well my fingers work on my phone while wearing neoprene gloves – stay tuned.

Perry    

http://perryzipcrew.com/zip-blog/?p=47