I paddled the Chartiers Creek oxbow from Heidelberg to Carnegie again today. What a great ride! It's not exactly scenic. The creek passes between glowering old mills in various stages of decrepitude. It runs very near Interstate 79, which screams with traffic, and under a variety of rusted out bridges. And yet, the water was cool and dappled with sunlight. There was a great blue heron, a lot of wild ducks, and a gaggle Canada geese that I just kept chasing further and further downstream. I'm learning the ways of that stretch of river. I'm discovering where the deepest passages flow over the gravelly streambed. I didn't bottom-out once this time, and the water levels are pretty low. It took 20 minutes to travel from home, tie up the kayak at Heidelberg, then drive over to Carnegie and park; 20 minutes to hike up the railroad track back to the kayak; 50 minutes to let the currents carry me to Carnegie and my waiting car; 20 minutes to get back home--out and back again in two hours. I feel like the rockstar of solo kayaking. It's so weird that you can walk down the main street of Carnegie with a bright orange kayak on your back, and no one even glances at you.
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