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.