Rich and I had planned a trip south on Easter weekend to get our first spring season paddling in, but Rich’s shoulder is still bothering him a lot so he wasn’t able to go.

I left Cornwall around noon yesterday solo, planning on meeting up with fellow paddlers in warmer climates.

I met up with Jeremy this morning and we headed on down to Holtwood on the Susquehanna. This section was running high, and we actually had to run shuttle instead of being able to attain back up to the put-in. We paddled with Garret, Sam and Brenton, and were joined later by two other eager paddlers whose names I didn’t catch.

Holtwood was just as I remembered it, except with more water. I would describe Holtwood as a whitewater playground. This section of the river is SUPER-wide, and there are fun surf spots that form at different levels in different places. For an idea of its vastness, check out Jeremy’s Holtwood Surf Guide here: http://www.chasingrain.com/surfguide/index.html

Garret surfing Playspot

Sam showing us how it’s done

717 crew making their way back up the eddy

Even though I had plenty of gear, somehow when I grabbed my kayaking bag from my house in Beachburg, it didn’t have any of my underlayers in it. So I was early spring paddling sans fleece/rashguards. Ken had sent me some neoprene layers, so I wore a thick neo-shirt under my new drydeck! It worked fine, I was warm and only started feeling the chill of the air after being out for a few hours when I was starting to get tired.

We finished the great day on the river (my face is sunburnt bright red by the way) with an awesome steak dinner courtesy of Jeremy’s awesome parents, and I enjoyed a toasty night in my old stomping ground, the Airstream Van.