Sunday, November 22, 2009

The Millersburg "Narrows"






My hubby and I were both raised in the quaint central Pennsylvania town of Millersburg (I was in the burbs on a farm). It's one of those communities that everybody knows everybody and they all come out to support a local event. It's home to the historic paddle wheel Millersburg ferry and the ferry crosses, you guessed it, the Susquehanna River. If you know your geology, you know every river has ridge lines and rocks where the mountains break for the river. The Dauphin Narrows is one of the most obvious with rocks jutting out everywhere. Millersburg has them too -- but in a much more controlled manner. Ricky and I went exploring this weekend in our kayaks at the head of the Millersburg mountain in what we are calling the Millersburg Narrows. The Lehigh was running but we're both weary of driving so much and the Dauphin Narrows was a little too high (4.25 feet). Millersburg is about 17 miles from our home so we opted to stay close to home. The paddle to the M-narrows from the put in was long - maybe a mile. Not so bad going down river, but after an hour and half of playing, the paddle back up river was grueling. We need to find a closer put in. The narrows themselves were beautiful. There were long ridges, like shelves, with water flowing over them like mini 1-2 foot high waterfalls. It was very scenic, and made it very obvious to see where you could and couldn't go through with a canoe. The Susquehanna River Trails Map shows far river right as the only accessible passage. We can see why. In between those shelves, is some very, very nice flow with beautiful, controlled, smooth waves. We didn't surf yesterday, but we definitely want to get back in there and explore some more. I believe the M-narrows will be one of our new favorite destinations once we figure out a closer put in. And the best part? Two bald eagles hanging out on a rock. There was an article in the local paper a year or so ago about the eagles nesting at the head of the mountain.

2 comments:

The Wiser Weiser said...

Sounds awesome!! Hey i saw in your race sidebar that you want to do the 101---how about the SM100 instead??

Chili said...

The 101 is a mere 1 hr drive from home. I believe the SM100 (although I heard great things about it) is about a 4+ hr drive. Not sure... would have to think about it. It's on labor day weekend which is nice to have that extra day.