Well...not starting out in Bridgeville proper. There's a waterfall right beside the old Woodville House (1775), and it's just a little to high to go over in a kayak. I did see a video online long ago of people going over it in canoes, but I wasn't feeling that adventurous. I've been told that the creek divides and there's an alternate route which bypasses the waterfall on the east side of Washington Pike, but I haven't scoped it out. So I put in behind the giant office park across the road from Woodville House. The water levels were perfect--relatively deep in many places. I only bottomed out two or three times and only had to get out of the boat to pull it off the rocks once--and that was because I chose the wrong course. It would have been possible to paddle the whole distance without ever getting out to pull your boat off the rocks, which is unusual for a trip down Chartiers Creek.
It was beautiful to be on the water today! There were fish jumping and wild ducks and hordes of Canada geese. Birds were singing and redbuds and magnolias were blooming. Since the creation of Uber, now I can just leave my kayak under the Mansfield Avenue Bridge in Carnegie, Uber back to my car and then drive in and pick up the kayak. It totally revolutionizes kayaking for me. When my Uber came, I left my kayak in the care of two teenage kids who were under the bridge *smoking.* I told them they could paddle around in it till I got back in my car. Nice kids, though in hindsight I might have put them at risk by allowing them to play around in my kayak for half an hour. Neither of them had ever kayaked before, I didn't have a lifejacket on board, and they were pretty spaced out...
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