[Ambridger]

My understanding is that no vessel can be floating freely in the lock chamber. Boats will either be "secured" to the bollard on top of the lock wall, or should there be more boats than bollards, kayaks / canoes would park sided-by-side and hold onto one anothers boat, while at least one boat is "tied off". I put "tied off" in quotes, because I'm told not to literally tie the rope to your boat, rather hold onto the rope and let it play out and collect back in as you are raised / lowered in the chamber. 75 feet is needed to cover the distance of the raise / lower in the lock chamber. There is a good Youtube video, "Locking Through: A Guide for Navigating Pittsburgh's Locks and Dams" ... it shows kayaks locking through. This trip will be dependent on weather; if there is rain in days leading up and flow is too high on the day of, I will change the trip to something near-by (hopefully). Locking through is the point of / attraction for this trip; it will be an up and back, with a lunch stop on an island up-river of the dam. As trip leader, I will note this trip is not for novice paddlers, as one must have good control of their boat, and I believe USACE will require PFD's to be worn ... and if they don't, I will. There is a paddle club, Morgantown (WV) Area Paddlers, (on FB) that does a few lock trips each year, and that was the genesis for the idea of this trip.