Selecting a Canoe

We looked at a variety of Canoes before deciding on the Wenonah Spirit II in Royalex. We purchased our canoe from Oak Orchard Canoe in NY (Near Rochester). They had a great selection of canoes and accessories and were more than helpful (and patient!). Our only mistake was using sponges for a roof rack. Don't do that. Spend the extra money and buy a full rack for your car or truck.

We also bought bent-shaft paddles. No serious canoeist should hit the water without a quality bent-shaft. Mine is from Foxworks Paddles and Nathaniel's is a Mitchell. My Guide model is light, strong, and well-shaped. Under really hard paddling I notice a bit of flex, so this isn't a good racing paddle. But the paddle withstood the rigors of this trip with very little damage apparent, despite some rocky stretches and class 2-3 whitewater.


I put a deposit down on the Bell Northwind, based on my online evaluation and pure numbers. Once we saw the canoes, while very impressed with the Northwind's quality design and construction, I just didn't feel 16.5 feet would be adequate for carrying each of us and 10 day's worth of gear.

So the Wenonah Spirit II made it home and replaced the 1980 Coleman RamX 15' we had used on and off for years (I bought it at a Sears near Utica, NY and we spent many pleasant hours floating on lakes around Griffiss AFB).

The Basics

The West Branch and Main Stem have unique characteristics that must be known before a canoe is slid into the water.

The Susquehanna, while mostly wide and shallow, can quickly flood dozens of feet above normal river levels (check out high water marks in many of the river towns along the way if you don't believe this). Check river levels on this site (or here) before heading out. Realistically understand your personal and equipment limitations.

You should know how to paddle a straight line, how to see and avoid rocks and strainers (trees or limbs across the water's current), how to navigate, and how to tred lightly and camp with minimal impact.

You don't need to be an Olympic rower, but you should be capable of paddling four to eight hours a day, otehrwise shorten the trip lengths or allow for more time. We practiced on a local Pennsylvania Boat and Fish commission lake and on the lower Youghiegheny River (On the Class 1-2 section south of Connellsville, Pennsylvania).

We will only discuss the West Branch from Shawville to Northumberland (162 miles) on this site, and the Main Stem from Northumberland to Harrisburg (56 miles). Hopefully others with experience on the other sections will submit information that can be added to this site. If you'd like to submit, click here

The Basics: Selecting a Canoe

There are dozens of canoe manufacturers and each has many styles, shapes, and materials to choose from. We'd like to suggest you consider Capacity, Durability, Seaworthiness, Weight, and Stability as key qualities for a Susquehanna River canoe.

• Capacity: If you will be canoe-camping along the way, you will need to carry at least three days worth of food and water, as well as shelter and related equipment. While ultra-light packing has its use in backpacking, there's really no need to bear the expense and inconvenience while canoeing. There are only a few portages on this trip, and prior planning can assure you don't have to carry days worth of food around each portage.
• Durability: The Susquehanna is a wide, shallow river, which means you will hit, slide over, bump into, and otherwise encounter rocks. You will have to get close to shore and beach the canoe each night, and will drag it over rocks and rip-rap (especially at the Williamsport and Sunbury portages). Though we like cutting through the water, the peace of mind that comes from rolling over rocks in a Royalex canoe cannot be dismissed!
• Seaworthiness: There are a few decent rapids on the West Branch (and even a couple on the Main Stem). While none will challenge a dediacted whitewater rat, keep in mind that unlike a whietwater playboat, you will be carrying gear, won't have floatation bags, and will sometimes come upon rapids not marked on the map. You will need a canoe that can take the cross-cut waves, the head-on three-foot swells, and the variois side-waves generated by winds, rapids, and boat and jet-ski traffic.
• Weight: If you portage, you will want the lightest canoe possible, though a lightweight canoe usually skimps on other desireable qualities. Our trip encountered three portages. Only one (The Hepburn Street Dam in Williamsport) was made harder by a heavy canoe. The other portages (Lock Haven and Fabridam in Sunbury) are unload-lift-reload exercises.
• Stability: The Susquehanna is a Big River. Some parts will require 30 minutes to cross from one bank to the other. A squirrely canoe will make you miserable. You want a canoe that tracks reasonably well, has good primary and/or secondary stability, and helps you maintain reasonable forward progress. You want to expend your paddling energies propelling the canoe in the direction you want to go, not fighting the tendency of the canoe to go where it wants to go. Also, you want to be able to change clothes, eat, grab a water bottle, check a map, rummage for rain gear, et cetera. If every time you make a move the canoe acts like it's going to dump you, you will tire much more rapididly than in a canoe that keeps itself upright. Good canoes focus on secondary stability (sometimes at the price of primary stability). This means they may wobble a bit right and left, but at a certain point fight any further right or left wobble. You will have to determine how much initial wobble you are comfortable with.

Disclaimer

Rivers are the most fickle geographic feature on a map. Water levels rise and fall, boulders shift, dams are built and breached, and one man's pleasure cruise is another's nightmare. We will try to explain our descriptions and experiences as fully as possible, but in the end the choice to go downriver is yours alone.

Background

In early June, 2006, my son Nathaniel and I paddled from Shawville on the West Branch to City Island in Harrisburg on the Main Stem in 7 1/2 days. We planned the trip for about six months, and purchased a Wenonah Spirit II in Royalex (17' with tractor seats) to replace our aged Coleman RamX 15'. This site documents the trip and hopefully provides pertinent information to others who may be considering all or portions of this same trip.

Canoeing the West Branch and the Susquehanna River

This site was established to provide information and guidance to those considering a canoe trip on the West Branch and Main Stem of the Susquehanna River. When you are ready to make the trip, be sure to invest in the West Branch River Trail Guide, available here. and the Susquehanna River Trail Guide, available here.

The Susquehanna River is large, ancient, shallow and thus largely un-navigable river that flows south and east through Pennsylvania and a small portion of Maryland. At Northumberland, Pennsylvania, the Susquehanna’s two main branches combine to form the wide river paralleled by busy Route 11/15 on the west shore.

The North Branch begins in upstate New York at Lake Otsego where it flows through Cooperstown, home of the Baseball Hall of Fame.

The West Branch rises in Western Pennsylvania, in northwestern Cambria County, amid coalfields and abandoned farm lands of the Allegheny Plateau. The river drains a large watershed within the Plateau, cutting through water gaps or meandering around to find a way through the successive high ridges that bisect Pennsylvania.

The West Branch is the best canoe-camping river in Pennsylvania. While a few other rivers offer multi-day