Unlike the traditional late winter icebreaker trip with snow and ice and biting winds we had a beautiful April-like day on the Casselman River near Confluence PA. DC paddlers Alf, Miki, Mark, Larry and John drove up and connected with Pennsylvania paddlers Jim Pruitt and Wayne Lentz for the Markelton to Fort Hill section at Markelton 3.05’ or 1210 cfs, a nice level. We were five kayaks, a C-1 and an OC-1. This part of Pennsylvania features traditional farms on the rolling hills. The solid lines of beautiful hundred year old barns contrasted with the sleek modern windmills lining the ridges.
The Casselman was the perfect river for an early season tune up. The rapids are long and continuous without being punishing with a few modest surfing waves and a million eddys to catch. The rock of the river bed is horizontal slabs of sandstone. Rapids that look like riffles and wave trains from the top conceal ledge drops and pourovers downstream. We all had lots of route finding practice and hard ferries above holes but no flips. This boof thing might have been useful. The earliness of spring was evident with the swelling buds of the azaleas and dogwoods.
The six mile trip took 2:55 including a lunch stop on the stone slabs river right just upstream from the old Western Maryland Railroad bridge, now carrying the GAP trail. On the advice of Jim Pruitt, many of us bought Pennsylvania launch permits online before the trip. These permits are required for use of the parking lots and access points at Markelton and Fort Hill. Facilities are simple and nice. I would gladly pay $ 10/year for changing rooms, toilets, parking lots and convenient river access elsewhere.
Jim Pruitt volunteered to be a point person for local paddling in SW Pennsylvania so the Thursday Group now has a link to local information on the other side of the continental divide. If it refuses to rain here we can go west. Trip was rated 10/10.