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May 20, 2002 |
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West Branch Delaware Canoeing
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Spring brings many things to look forward to - warm weather, wildflowers and animal sightings, trout fishing, turkey hunting, and a fresh spirit. But also high on the list is the beginning of the canoeing season. The ponds are free of ice once again, and the streams are flowing steady. On May 7th we treated ourselves to the first great canoe trip of the year - a fun float down the West Branch Delaware River.
After work we met up with our friends Dave, Justin, John, and Kris, at Justin's house on Route 10 about a mile north of Delhi, where Fall Mill Creek meets the Delaware. Our plan was to float from there downstream about 10 miles to Dave's house in Hamden, hopefully finishing before dark. We loaded our paddles, PFD's (personal floatation devices, or life jackets), coolers, and cameras, and put in the water by 5:30pm. It felt great to be on the water again! The average canoeing speed on flat water is about 2 mph, but on the river there was a steady current and the water was up a bit from recent rain, so we floated at a steady clip, probably about 4 mph. Later in the summer the Delaware gets noticeably lower and it's tough to float over riffles without scraping bottom, and there are long flat pools that require steady paddling, even downstream.
We weren't on the river more than 15 minutes before we had our first excitement. One minute Justin and John were paddling along just fine, and the next minute they dumped their canoe and were standing in the river, soaking wet, grabbing for gear that was floating away. They were trying to negotiate a riffle and both leaned too far to one side, tipping the canoe. The rest of us immediately made sure they were both ok, then of course we had a good laugh at them. Before continuing on we carefully assessed the weather, the remaining length of our trip, and the comfort level of the two guys who fell in. It was not exactly a sunny, warm day and so the threat of hypothermia can be very real. They both felt fine and weren't cold, and they wanted to keep going.
We were having a great time floating along at a good pace, curving the canoes through some great turns and split channels, and taking in lots of great scenery in the rolling hills of Delaware County. In the Village of Delhi we heard the laughter of kids playing soccer, and just downstream we saw a large raptor in the top of a tree over the river. Some guessed it was an eagle, but it proved to be a large osprey. There was an amazing hatch of caddisflies and mayflies coming off the water on the big pools. We weren't fishing ourselves on this trip, but there were a some trout rising and we saw a couple of fisherman at the DeLancey Bridge (a popular spot for anglers). Most of the river was free of obstructions, but we did come to a turn where a large fallen willow was jutting out across three fourths of the channel, leaving a narrow gap to pass through. Unfortunately our two hapless paddlers, Justin and John, got hung up in the tree and ended up dumping their canoe again as they struggled to get free. To add insult to injury, one of their paddles was dropped and lost, and the other one broke. Luckily we had two spares for them to use for the remainder of the trip. Any humiliation they had at being the only ones to tip their canoe quickly evaporated away as we came upon the best sighting of the trip - a mating pair of mature bald eagles! The male was in one big sycamore tree, the female in another, and there was a huge stick nest between them - all directly overhead as we silently floated by with wide eyes and big grins. An incredibly beautiful and rewarding site for sure. As if that weren't enough, we saw another huge osprey near the Hamden covered bridge.
A steep bank of beautiful, tall, dark-green hemlocks marked the last stretch of river before beaching our canoes at Dave's farm. It was perfect timing, as we made our destination with enough daylight left to casually unpack and load our canoes on the waiting vehicles. We even beat the impending rain clouds. Our wet friends were able to change into warm, dry clothes, and Justin put the finishing touches on a great day by having a delicious dinner of fresh bread and hot chili waiting for us back at his house.
- Chris and Aaron
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