Quote:
Originally Posted by paul isaac
I was fortunate enough to get out Wednesday for a paddle -pedal on East Sandy. This was the first trip that was not brown water. I started the paddle in Van which is the eastern most bike trailhead. The water was clear enough to see about 3 feet deep. Likely the lowest water lvl I've paddled. I would venture to say it was about as good as it could get for a rec boat. Yes I hit a few rocks but then i enjoy negotiating rock gardens. Van is a pretty easy put in but the take out has to be desired. The trip from Van to the mouth is 11-12 miles but the current is always there. The pedal back is about 7 miles all uphill but the grade is negligible. Not a strainer to impede the paddling but one spot I ended up taking a shallow channel around a couple braided islands. Other than Mays Mill and a few cabins it is a fairly secluded valley. I will see this one again the sooner the better
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Glad that you got out - that's a fun run and the weather was pretty sweet.
After reading your report I checked the gauge height for Wednesday. It was above 3.5 ft all day, up to 3.8 ft. If the level was low it confirms a suspicion of mine that the gauge has somehow changed. For years I've been looking for 3.5 or above, and felt pretty safe heading over to paddle at that level (unless the Oil Creek gauge was dropping fast). Now I'm thinking I'll be looking for a bit higher level to make the trip - maybe start out at 3.75 ft.
Thanks for the info Paul.
Steve Z