Well ... last weekend i decided to go paddling on a new river for me in the USA.
I headed of to ACME, PA from work on friday to meet my friend Paul for the first time in person. Most people would think that it is strange to just show up and stay with people you don't know.
But for us Open Boaters the globe might be huge but the paddling community is small. I met Paul online a few years back on the CBoats.net website so we already had a feel for each others warp sense in terms of personality.
During a few ice cold Canadian beers, paul gave me the low down on how to get to the river and what to expect.
I left for Ohiopyle National Forest Park early saturday morning to meet up with Joe and Tony who were both from just outside Philly somewhere. Added to the mix was Sean from OH and Mike from PA and they were both new faces to me.
We had a great day running the entire river. It was really great to focus on my technical skills of catching eddys and not swimming. After paddling it was basically have a beer and figure out what to do for dinner.
Turns out it is illegal to drink alcohol in a State Park and i was let off with a warning from the ranger instead of a ticket.
Dinner was pulled pork sandwhich and more beer and this place does it right. Forgot the the name of it but you can bring in your own beer :)
After that we head over to Sean's campground to check out the local playspot for future possible camping sites on a return trip.
I headed back to Paul's place for a late night drink before heading to bead.
The next day Paul, myself, and the two boys heded back to the Lower Yough. We met up with the gang from the day before plus Jay, Pete, and a few others. More new people to paddle with. Most of us just ran the loop section as we were pressed for time and had long drives ahead of us.
It was another great day on the river. The only problem now was the path off the river started as a goat trail between the boulders until it flattened out. I actually had to take it easy and put my boat down twice.
After that it was goodbyes in the parking lot. I stopped for a quick bite to eat at the BBQ place before my seven hour trip back to Toronto including the half hour at the border.
It was a great weekend meeting new friends to go boating with in the future.
I will definitely go back and paddle that river for sure.
