Philly to Baltimore Kayak Paddle - Day 1

It was a day of goodbyes. Sights of the skyline were visible from the river most of the day. As I would stop for a break, I would gaze back at the City of Brotherly Love with a deep fondness. It is the life I lead in this city that affords me the opportunity to do things like this. I started from the Schuylkill Banks dock under the Walnut Street Bridge and the plan was to meet my wife, Heather, and her mother at the NJ Route 130 bridge over Racoon Creek.

The water on the Schuylkill was was calm and I timed my departure so that I would reach the Delaware as the tide was going out.

This man looks to be full of confidence.

The Hidden River was like glass.

I learned my first lesson quickly as I was approaching the Delaware River - to keep my head on a swivel. As I was paddling along, down the middle of the river near the refineries, I heard a voice call from behind me, "Hey. Hey. Hey you." It didn't make any sense to me since no one could be directly behind me without me hearing their vessel approaching. I turned around and sure enough a barge was barreling down on me. The gentleman on the bow asked if I could move over and I quickly got out of the way. As the barge and tug passed by the young man thanked me. I was a little disturbed that I didn't hear them approaching. I was glad it happened there and then though and not under worse circumstances.

The barge and tug that almost run'd me over.

I then made my way across the Delaware River for a brunch break. As I crossed I took little breaks to wave at the airplanes leaving and landing at the Philadelphia International Airport. I imagine anyone who happened to be looking out their windows could see me. In no time at all I was at the River Winds Park in West Deptford, NJ. Here I drank some coffee and ate a Clif Bar. Clif Bars made up most of my diet for the entire trip.

View from River Winds, NJ.

The last time I had paddled in this area I had seen four bald eagles and an osprey. Between this point and my final destination for the day I saw not only bald eagles and ospreys, but golden eagles as well. All were putting on a great show as I paddled along the NJ shoreline. It was pretty spectacular site and I was very happy to be there to witness it. Most of the time I was not able to photograph them as I would not notice them until they started to fly away. I am currently looking for local Audubon Society groups to see if we can do an official count in this area of eagles and osprey. Kayaking may offer the best chance to see these birds along the river.

Three smaller bald eagles are in this photo, taken near Paulsboro, NJ. These little guys stuck around and I didn't even realize I had paddled past them until I heard them calling.

I then took a break for lunch on a rock pile in the middle of the river, as seen in the photo below. This was pretty close to the Commodore Barry Bridge and I did not have too much farther to go on this day. It was a good day on the water and I was hours ahead of schedule.

Picnic Table

After letting Heather know I was due early I made my way to Raccoon Creek and our meetup spot. From here I would be picked up and taken to my in-laws' house where the rest of the day would be spent relaxing in the pool, eating well and celebrating the beginning of this epic journey.

US 130 Raccoon Creek Drawbridge

 Day 1: 18.6 miles

Philly to Baltimore Kayak Paddle - How It All Began

In May of 2013 Heather and I attended her cousin's wedding at Camden Yards in Baltimore, MD. After the reception some of us walked around the Inner Harbor area near our hotel. It was at night, a near-full moon was in the sky and the water was still. As we reached a spot where we could look out at the expansiveness of the harbor I got to thinking... The harbor is connected to the Chesapeake Bay, the Chesapeake Bay is connected to the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal is connected to the Delaware River, the Delaware River is connected to the Schuylkill River... I think I can paddle here. Heather looked over at me as I was gazing over the water and she knew something was up.

When we returned to our room for the night I pitched the idea. Heather was not pleased, but who would be when a partner comes up with a scheme like this? This was not the first time I had decided to make a trip down the Schuylkill and Delaware rivers and the first time did not go so well as documented here: http://sparkcrafted.blogspot.com/2011/08/great-adventure.html

In my first attempt I had run out of water and food and the distance, wind and waves proved to be more than I was prepared for. So I could completely understand her trepidation.

This time over the course of a year I planned and mapped the course and then re-planned and remapped the course. I had also done more paddling leading up to this trip and my conditioning was much improved.

Now I will document this trip through this blog in seven parts to equal the amount of days it took me to complete the journey. I hope the readers find it as fascinating a trip as I found it to be. It had its ups and downs, highs and lows, but I don't regret it one bit. There are many ways to travel from Philadelphia, PA to Baltimore, MD, but this way is mine.

It could be said that I may be a little obsessed with human-powered travel. I am okay with that.

What if...

What if we don't run for time? What if we don't run for distance? What if we just run? These are the questions I have been asking myself the last few weeks. Competition is one thing I understand, when you see fellow competitors and you start chasing, adrenaline kicks in and competitive instincts take over. Over the last year as I have been increasing my distances (even plagued with injuries and illnesses) I have been running longer distances outside of competitive races. On these runs I usually stop and eat or stretch or just take in the scenery along remote ridges on the trails. Instead of starting back up to better my time, I will start running again just to keep my muscles from cooling down too much.

Instead of training lately I have just been running. Not on a fixed schedule, just when life allows for it. I have been feeling better during and afterwards. My body has been healing quicker and with overall less "pain." There was a great quote I read recently in Ultra Marathoner Scott Jurek's book "Eat & Run" where Scott's running partner and pacer would say "Pain only hurts!" That is true in most cases and I have started to learn what pains only hurt and what pains mean something is wrong. It kind of amazes me that putting my body through "pain" has made me better understand my body and I think now my body understands me. There is a term used mostly by Rastafari I believe, overstanding, here the mind is unclouded and is clear to truly understand something.

I brought the question up to my wife yesterday "What if we just run?" and she replied "You can call it funning." I think I agree.

Running has evolved for me in ways I have never expected. I had never ran outside of football practice or gym class until I started training for a triathlon in 2009. I started with a couch-to-5k program and I thought that running would just be something I had to do to complete the triathlon. I had already been bicycle commuting to work and school for years, which was my strongest leg of the competition, but my run training was something I really enjoyed.

During my triathlon years, only a total of two, I was diagnosed as a pronator and started getting specialized shoes to help the condition. A friend of mine, now my running partner, recommended taking my shoes off and running. At first I told him he was crazy, but after a few weeks of the same nagging pains in my right knee and hip I gave it a shot. I went to a local high school track and took off my shoes. During the first few steps exactly what I thought was going to happen, happened. My heels came down heavy on the pavement and it hurt. Then something else happened, my feet started landing directly under my hips, my torso straightened upright and my tempo increased. Most of all that was noticeable, there was no knee or hip pain.

I started that same couch-to-5k program, but this time without shoes. I made the transition (as did a lot of other runners at the time, as the minimalist running movement was taking off) to minimalist running shoes. Running pain free made me even happier yet. I started running the six miles to work and back a couple of days a week and training for longer runs with this newly-found, to me, form.

So it has been a few years since then and it is not as though running has been pain or injury-free for me since, but it has brought me joys and happiness I had not foreseen. What's next in this evolution? Who knows, but I look forward to finding out.

Sometimes Running Means Walking

Sometimes "running" means "walking" and sometimes "walking" means "wading." At least that's what we found to be the case on our first "running" day.

After we left camp we were talking about how we didn't get much sleep the night before and how cold it was. That's when I said, "Yeah, but it is 9AM and we are not in the office." I didn't know it at the time, but it set the tone for the day to be about appreciation. Later on we can to our fist stream crossing. Due to heavy rains the day before the water was higher than normal with pretty good flow. We could see where the crossing was supposed to be, but it was completely submerged. There were two other hikers at the crossing with us and after scouting upstream and downstream it still seemed the best place to cross. We all started taking off our shoes and socks and I rolled up the pants to above the knee. As we were putting our socks and shoes back on on the other side, Kelly said "This is a good way to start off the day." It wasn't sarcastic at all, we appreciate a good challenge.

Further down the trail we came across another stream. A group of overnight hikers had given us a heads up that this crossing was out, but there was a bridge up the road that crosses the stream. We would have to bushwhack to get back onto the trail though. Luckily, we had light packs which made it easier work for us. We were able to follow the tracks of the hikers that gave us the heads up, but a point came when we lost the trail so we headed straight up to the ridge where we connected with the trail.

It was pretty obvious we were up for anything after starting the trip with a visit to Slam Man, but adding a few obstacles to the mix made the trip all the better.

 This was a great little site we stumbled upon. We will have to keep this in mind when we come back.

 They still had the sign up that the Canal Path was closed, but it had been reopened earlier in the morning.

An angry Potomac River.

View of the river from the bridge.

 View of the river from the lookout.

By Sunday we had only a third of the way to go to Harpers Ferry. We had arranged to be picked up by Kelly's wife in town. I had also texted my wife to let her know we were on our way to Harpers Ferry and she responded "Me too!" Apparently the wives had conspired to come out together. It was awesome to see them on the trail at the bridge to Harpers Ferry, although mine didn't want a hug. I don't know why as I was feeling fantastic, looking fantastic and smelling fantastic. Still it was a pretty awesome surprise.

Sleeping in Reynolds Wrap, not recommended.

Waking up from our first night on the trail we were a little tired as we only got a couple hours of sleep a piece. We each brought survival blankets for sleeping which were not enough to keep us warm. They did pack much smaller than sleeping bags or bag liners and that was their only benefit. The night before we made it a couple of miles into the Maryland section of the trail, saving the most difficult climb we would see for the morning. It was a good warm-up for the legs and we started running when the trail leveled and became less rocky. Running just on coffee and protein bars we bypassed Devil's Racecourse Shelter and fast-packed it to Cowall Shelter where we stopped for breakfast.

After breakfast we humped it up the next hill and then started running and hiking in half-hour intervals. This continued for the rest of the day with some breaks along the way and more hiking than running. It was sloppy, uncomfortable, a little painful and a ton of fun.

 

 Cowall Shelter

 I could see this on the cover of a magazine.

 Miki atop the original Washington Monument

 Kelly atop the original Washington Monument

 Kelly moon-gazing.

 A-T ruins.

This is marked as Reno Monument Road on the map.

After putting in a total of over 25 miles on the trail so far, we stopped at Rocky Run Shelter which was already occupied by three girls through-hiking north. We shared food, fire and got to hear some great stories. You can follow two of the through-hikers, Chelsea and Joules, here: chelseamfinn.blogspot.com

Another night of sleeping in Reynolds Wrap for me, but Kelly scored a sleeping bag liner from Joules. We both slept a little better that night and we looked forward to getting to Harpers Ferry, about another 16 miles away.

Leaving Slam Man

After hanging with Slam Man and his folks, we parked the car in Pen Mar Park and headed north 1/3 of a mile to tag the Pennsylvania/Maryland border and started back southward on the trail.

A half mile into it we followed a run (off the trail) south to a bridge and the sheriff's house. We located ourselves on the map and we were between the trail and railroad tracks. We headed toward the trail, but came across another property with no visible path to the trail. Not wanting to trespass, we headed back up the run. Eventually, we came across a side trail heading up the hill where the trail would be and caught a glimpse of some white blazes. I don't know where we missed our turn, but we were obviously still on the high of hanging with Slam Man. We wasted pretty valuable time, but we were still able to set up a camp just off the trail before sundown. Dinner this night would be prepared by headlamp light. The meals for the weekend were all high calorie since we figured we would be blowing through calories the next two days.

We wrapped ourselves in our survival blankets and it was pretty cold, I would guess in the low-to-mid 40's. We didn't sleep too well that night.

While breaking camp and sipping coffee in the morning we noticed a bunch of runners going by on the trail. We found out later in the day, there is an event call the four-state challenge. Perhaps something to look forward to next year?

Slam-Man!

We used Google Street View to find the Appalachian Trail head at Pen Mar Park, MD for a fastpacking trip to Harpers Ferry, WV. Next to an entrance for the trail we saw this:

A weekend of running and hiking from Pennsylvania to West Virginia promised to be an epic trip, but first we had to see what this was all about. Before heading into the woods we had to see this.

After the three-plus hour drive from Philadelphia on Friday night we pulled into the parking lot at Pen Mar Park and then immediately drove back out to see if anything from this June 2012 Street View image remained. Pulling around the corner, my friend Kelly started laughing and exclaiming "Miki, it's there!" We pulled into an adjacent parking lot of an apartment complex where a woman stood at the corner of the building with a pit bull on a leash. The woman was wearing a sweatshirt and jeans, but I could see it was the same woman from the image. We parked and in excitement I exited the car and immediately the pit bull broke free and headed straight for me. I yelled out "Dog!" while Kelly remained in the passenger's side and I jumped back into the driver's side repeating "Dog! Dog. There is a dog." Once the owner had collected the dog Kelly slowly exited the vehicle and asked if she minded if we took pictures with the mannequin. She yelled to a car parked next to her "Babe, can these guys take pictures with Slam Man?" A full-face tatooed man slid out from under the engine compartment of the car, stood up to get a good look at us and stated "I don't care." and promptly returned to his work. The owl was no longer on Slam Man's shoulder, and the girl was not wearing her knee-high stockings (at least we couldn't see them through her jeans), but nonetheless the moment had become utterly spectacular. We each took our turns posing with Slam Man.

If you ever find yourself in this area of Maryland, I suggest you pay a visit to this perfect piece of Americana. What a perfect way to start the weekend trip.

Disclaimer: The woman may have said "Sandman" which also would make sense, but we felt Slam Man was more original and well, just look at this guy.