Kayaking Small Streams The Yellow Breeches Creek, Cumberland County, is a great location to start your small stream kayak experience. It offers miles of easy paddling along with a water trail that highlights the paddling opportunities on this stream and provides maps that point out easy access. by Carl Haensel photos by the author Slip your kayak into the water off a country road in rural Pennsylvania, and your cares soon fade away. The forest glides by you on either side as you slip over riffles and float under bridges. Eight or ten miles pass in an afternoon as you explore a watershed far off the beaten path. A day like this spent kayaking on a small Pennsylvania stream is a day to be savored. Here are some tips, tricks and highlighted sections where you may find your own small-stream idyll. Paddling on a small stream What is small stream kayaking? For our use, a small stream in Pennsylvania is one that is less likely to receive Mixing fishing with kayaking is a great option while paddling small motorboat traffic and is best navigated by paddling. There Pennsylvania streams. Often, there are top-notch opportunities for are many streams that fit these criteria throughout the fishing for smallmouth bass, trout and other species. Target deep- Commonwealth from short, steep, rapid filled creeks water areas with good cover for fish such as large logs or other to placid, winding pastoral streams. While all paddlers submerged debris in the water. should be prepared when they hit the water, paddlers on small streams need to take extra care, because they are out of the way locations. Throw a fishing rod and a small often alone on the water. A dry change of clothes and a cell pack of lures or flies in your boat, and you may find a phone in a waterproof, sealed container can be priceless new top-notch fishing hole. Look for large pools on small on a cold day. If possible, always paddle with at least one streams to produce well. These are often found just below partner to help you in an emergency. A sharp eye looking rapids or bridges. Railroad bridges can offer particularly downriver is important on many small streams since good fishing opportunities since they can be harder for changes often occur just around the bend. If you see a car-bound anglers to find and access. Among the many section or stream that you are unsure about, take the top-notch kayak fishing options that anglers will be time to land your kayak, get out and scout ahead on interested in are large trout streams including Pine Creek, foot. Anglers may wish to take note that small streams in Penns Creek and the Little Juniata River. Many streams Pennsylvania often offer great fishing opportunities in also offer excellent smallmouth bass fishing. 6 Pennsylvania Angler & Boater • May/June 2012 www.fishandboat.com Kayaking Small Streams in Pennsylvania While old bridges and logjams may be scenic in the sunset, like this spot on Swatara Creek near Hershey, they can also be hazardous to paddlers. Steer a wide path around strainers and avoid paddling next to bridge pilings. Small stream kayaking safety While kayaking can be a blast on small streams in Pennsylvania, safety should always be your number one concern. On small streams, capsizing your kayak is a very real possibility. Always wear your life jacket while kayaking, and be ready to take the plunge when it happens. Wear a helmet and a paddling jacket to protect you from injury and hypothermia on the water as well. Prepare for your trip by checking the water level on the stream that you’re going to paddle. If you can, consult a local paddling shop to ask what the best water levels are for your destination area. A knowledgeable shop may also be able to give you pointers on the best sections to paddle and safe put in and take out points. While some streams can be paddled most of the time, some are only floatable after some rain. These streams, usually smaller ones, should be attempted Kayakers paddle the Lackawaxen River, an excellent eastern only by more advanced paddlers. Flooding streams can be Pennsylvania paddling option in Wayne and Pike counties. dangerous, bring in debris, alter channels and create strainers. Strainers are one of the biggest safety concerns on small streams. A strainer is any obstruction like a tree that allows What’s the best boat? water to pass through it but not objects such as a kayaker If you’ve got limited options, the best kayak to take down or boat. If you see a strainer blocking a stream that you are your local stream or river is the one that you can access. If paddling, bring your boat to shore, get out and assess the best you’re choosing a kayak, test paddle some to see which are way to navigate around it. Often, this may involve portaging comfortable. Both sit-inside and sit-on-top kayaks can work your boat around the strainer. Rapids, narrow chutes, bridges in small stream situations. Smaller, shorter sit-inside boats and low-head dams are among other dangerous impediments have greater maneuverability and can keep you dryer with on small streams. All should be given a wide berth or portaged spray skirts. Mid-length recreational sit-inside kayaks are a around as appropriate. For information on hazards on the great option for most reaches. Very short whitewater kayaks water and recommendations on dealing with these dangerous can be useful on more technical small stream routes best situations, refer to the Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission’s suited to experienced paddlers. website at www.fishandboat.com. www.fishandboat.com Pennsylvania Angler & Boater • May/June 2012 7 Where to paddle There are literally hundreds of small streams in Pennsylvania that are great paddling options. Start by exploring familiar streams that are close to home. Choose your route by looking at the length of the stream that you would like to paddle. Then, find appropriate, safe locations to launch and retrieve your craft. If you cross private lands to boat, remember to ask for permission. The average length of a paddling route on a small stream in Pennsylvania is about ten miles. This should take about five hours to boat, depending on how often you pause, fish or relax. Some streams may be faster since they flow quickly due to their higher gradient, like Pine Creek in Pennsylvania’s Grand Canyon, Tioga County. Find the best ones near you by consulting your atlas, paddling shop or “Keystone Canoeing” by Edward Gertler. This book details hundreds of paddling routes in Pennsylvania and gives realistic estimates of the skill needed to navigate many small streams. Another option to explore to find paddling streams near you are Pennsylvania’s Water Trails. The Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission along with the Pennsylvania Department of Within a four-minute drive of millions of Conservation and Natural Resources has created and maintains Pennsylvania residents, the Tulpehocken a list of designated water trails in the Commonwealth. Most of Creek in Lebanon County is just one of many these trails have maps and informational brochures that detail southeastern Pennsylvania streams that offer locations of accesses, hazards, local amenities and more. While good kayaking. Like many smaller Pennsylvania Pennsylvania’s 21 water trails cover many large waters, small and streams, there are dams to be portaged. Be medium sized streams like the Yellow Breeches Creek Water Trail, prepared to exit the water to safely bypass these Swatara Creek Water Trail, Upper Juniata River Water Trail and dangerous obstacles. others are listed. These small streams are good streams to start your kayaking experience. Check them out on the Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission’s website at www.fishandboat.com. Pennsylvania Water Trails 21 14 1 5 18 7 17 15 6 8 2 19 11 12 3 16 Water trails are recreational 4 10 20 9 13 waterways on a lake, river or ocean 17a between specific points, containing access points and day-use and/or 1. Middle Allegheny River Water Trail 12. Swatara Creek Water Trail 2. Three Rivers Water Trail camping sites for the boating public. 13. Conestoga River Water Trail 3. Youghiogheny River Water Trail 14. North Branch Susquehanna River Water Trail Water trails emphasize low-impact 4. Upper Monongahela Water Trail 15. Lehigh River Water Trail use and promote resource steward- 5. Clarion River Water Trail 16. Schuylkill River Water Trail ship. The Pennsylvania Fish & Boat 6. Kiski-Conemaugh River Water Trail 17. Delaware River Water Trail Commission (PFBC) and its water 7. West Branch Susquehanna River Water Trail 17a. Tidal Delaware Water Trail trail partners invite you to explore 8. Middle Susquehanna River Water Trail 18. Pine Creek Water Trail these unique Pennsylvania water 9. Lower Susquehanna River Water Trail 19. Juniata River Water Trail trails. For more information on 10. Raystown Branch Juniata River Water Trail 20. Yellow Breeches Creek Water Trail water trails or a Southcentral Region 11. Conodoguinet Creek Water Trail 21. Conewango Creek Water Trail Guide, visit www.fishandboat.com. 8 Pennsylvania Angler & Boater • May/June 2012 www.fishandboat.com Get the complete story and read what you’ve been missing! Do you like what you’re reading? Do you nd Pennsylvania Angler & Boater online articles a valuable resource? If so, why not become a regular subscriber to Pennsylvania Angler & Boater and receive the entire magazine delivered to your doorstep. With each printed issue, we place only a small portion of our feature articles on our website.