For more than a decade, the Pennsylvania Sojourn Program, administered by the Pennsylvania Organization for Watersheds and Rivers (POWR), has taken people on waterways across the Commonwealth in self-powered crafts, from kayaks to inner tubes. No matter where or how people get on the water, the aim of every Sojourn is the same: to host fun, educational, and inspiring paddling trips.
This year’s Sojourns took people down remote rivers and through urban locks, teaching people about the problems these watersheds face as well as the solutions they can support. Below is a collection of stories, photos, and video from some of this year’s participants and the lessons they learned on the water.
Schuylkill River Sojourn
Rivers are places of beauty, sustenance, and recreational opportunity. Most of us don’t get to experience that, but for at least 25 years, “sojourns” have been offered by host organizations across Pennsylvania to facilitate “a temporary stay or visit” (the meaning of sojourn) to some of our most iconic and beautiful rivers. These flotillas of dozens of kayaks and canoes are organized to make it easy and SAFE for novices to get on a river, experience it, have fun, and leave not a trace!
POWR (PA’s Organization for Watersheds and Rivers), a PEC affiliate, helps to subsidize and promote these events with funds from PA’s Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. Two of the original sojourns on the Delaware and the Schuylkill Rivers are celebrating their 25th anniversary this year. Congratulations to their sponsors!
I joined the Schuylkill River Sojourn for “day 2” at Port Clinton for an 18-mile paddle through some of the most beautiful reaches of the river where it cuts through Appalachian ridges just upriver from Reading. Schuylkill River Greenway Association (SRGA) deftly and safely shepherded nearly 100 paddlers to Muhluenberg Township, showing off the River and the National Heritage Area that follows the historic canal navigation system.
The SRGA recruits community-based volunteers to provide lunch and dinner to sojourners and to share their pride of place – pride for the River and Heritage Area. That visitors came from ten states and traveled hundreds of miles to participate IS a matter of pride! Paddlers came for the day and others for the entire seven day sojourn. Many, like me were newbies to this reach of the Schuylkill. Some had returned year after year because of the special community SRGA has created.
You should try it! It was so well managed. All the guess work for an occasional paddler like me was dealt with. I rented my kayak, so all I had to do was show-up, paddle, meet new people, talk, laugh, soak in the views and the sun, and leave with beautiful memories as well as a renewed commitment to protecting and restoring Pennsylvania’s beautiful rivers and creeks. I sojourned through – and I left the better for it.
— Executive Vice President Patrick Starr
River of the Year Sojourn: North Branch of the Susquehanna River
A Few Thoughts from a Paddling Preacher
Bob Lewis, Erie, PA
About twelve years ago, my wife and I did a cross-the-state vacation on Pennsylvania Route 6, a gem of a highway. Several times we crossed over and were able to view the beautiful North Branch of the Susquehanna River. As an avid kayaker, I vowed that one day I would paddle that body of water. This was the year I got to accomplish that life-time bucket-list dream. And I was not disappointed.
First of all, I love to do sojourns – great food, meeting new people, paddling a river I’ve done before, and someone else taking care of the logistics. What’s not to like about sojourns? I don’t even mind sleeping on the ground (with a decent air mattress of course!) I’ve done several sojourns, and I’ve never been disappointed. The North Branch did not disappoint me. It is a beautiful river. Endless Mountain Heritage Region did a superb job, with a great deal of support from other agencies and talented people, in organizing and making this year’s sojourn happen.
Of all the things I like about sojourns, perhaps the thing I like the most is the people. The people who do sojourns also love the water as much as I do. They’re my kind of people – people who love being outdoors, who care about the environment, and who love to tell stories about where they’ve been.
I love swapping stories about the rivers I’ve paddled, telling my story, and listening to theirs. I’ve gotten some great ideas on where to go next to add to my growing bucket list of streams I want to paddle. I’ve met some wonderful people over the years, this year included, who I now count among my dearest friends. Sometimes plans are made to paddle a stream in someone else’s favorite river. Sometimes it’s simply becoming Facebook friends and watching what they’re doing until the next sojourn. When we meet again on another sojourn, it’s like a family reunion.
Sojourn people help each other out – getting boats on and off the water, pulling someone out of the water if they accidentally take a swim, sharing food, or helping to set up or take down a tent (especially appreciated when it rains or threatens to rain). I’ve picked up a couple of great camping and kayaking tips from other sojourners, particularly tips about gear that others have found helpful to them.
And, of course, it’s a real treat to sit down to a great meal, relax and remember the day – what we saw, what we did, the rapids we went through, the fantastic scenery we saw. Or maybe it’s sitting around a campfire, drinking our favorite beverage, swapping stories, or simply allowing ourselves to be mesmerized by the flames dancing in the dark. For me, the people I meet on sojourns are among my best memories of that event, whether I do two days or a whole week.
In case you haven’t guessed, I’m a sojourn fan. This year the North Branch of the Susquehanna was voted Pennsylvania’s river of the year. Well deserved. And the event sponsored and organized by Endless Mountain Heritage Region was among the best sojourns I’ve ever done. I, and others, are hoping this one is not the last but the first of many more to come on Pennsylvania’s Susquehanna River.
Longtime friends Keith Kocher and Greg Gass talk about how they got involved in the 2023 River of the Year Sojourn on the Susquehanna River North Branch Water Trail. Video credit: PEC Northeast Office Director Janet Sweeney
Facing the Storm
Kevin Gates, Hallstead, PA
Do you ever get the feeling that the weather is an omen of things to come? On the day we were to drive to our first campground, I labored in the hot sun to put our kayak racks on the roof of the car. It was in the 90s, and muggy, and I looked in vain for any cloud to give me some shade. It was only an hour and a half to our first campsite, plus a few minutes to stop occasionally and check our kayak straps, but the drive seemed strange and foreboding. We noticed dark clouds filing across the sky, and the outside temperature dropped and dropped, reaching 68 degrees just as the skies opened up, with the powerful drumbeat of rain on the roof while we had to stop and adjust the straps one last time.
Paddling 119 miles is a pretty long sojourn for someone who hasn’t done this before. Stroking a kayak paddle isn’t a very strenuous motion, but it has to be done over and over and over again. From the first day, we were threatened with blisters on our hands, but strangely, the blisters never developed. At the campground, and we quickly made some good friends. In the days ahead, the hours paddling down the river were filled with pleasant talk, which made each day seem to go by much quicker. There were a couple of days that were very hot, but the temperatures were cooler on the water. One day was very chilly, and none of us were dressed quite warmly enough to be out in the wind, but the temperature was warmer on the river. It proved to be our comfort zone.
Each morning our guide in charge would gather us around and explain what to expect for the day. We learned to trust him, and I think most of us would confidently follow Art if he led a blindfolded sojourn down the Niagara. On the next to last morning of our trip, Art told us that in the afternoon we would be going through the Nanticoke Rapids. He had never been through the rapids when the river was this low. Nobody from his last guided trip through the rapids had flipped, but the water was higher then.
“Just keep paddling,” he told us.
He repeated the instruction after we stopped for an early lunch: Just keep paddling.
All morning that day, and early into the afternoon, it was sunny and bright. As we approached the rapids, though, we all noticed that more and darker clouds were starting to fill the sky. The group gathered together just above the rapids to wait, each paddler getting the cue to go one at a time, always careful to follow the route of the paddler in front of us through the series of rapids. Just then the sky turned intensely dark and a light rain began to fall. My heart beat extra hard with anticipation.
When my turn to go through the rapids came, I felt a burst of adrenaline. I paddled strongly through the first set of rapids, in which the river dropped several feet to the next level, went through a calm stretch that lasted a second or two, and then went roaring into the next, bigger stretch of white water. I judged the waves to be about three feet high, and I plowed into one after another of them, each of them splashing into my boat and soaking me. A rock on the left: avoid that. I shot out of the last jet and into calm water. I paddled over to a rocky shore on the left and jumped out of my kayak so I could run back along the rocks to watch Karen come through. She was a pro!
As the last few members of the group came through, an amazing thing happened. The rain stopped, and the sky, which had turned dark and dangerous, quickly gave way to bright sunlight once more. Remember: the weather isn’t always an omen. But it does make a good metaphor for our challenges and successes!
Sure, the sojourn seemed a bit hard at times. Never, though, was it too hard. And at the end, it just seemed like a challenge well met.
Perki-Bay Expedition: A Youth Sojourn from Source to Sea
The Perki-Bay Expedition was a 5-day, 50-mile paddling excursion from the Perkiomen Creek in Upper Montgomery County to Fort Mifflin on the Delaware River. Members of the Perkiomen Watershed Conservancy’s youth conservation program paddled their way through forested riverbanks and near more industrial sites, with views of cranes and shipping vessels. The trip allowed the young paddlers to trace the interconnectedness of watersheds and the importance of keeping them clean and healthy.
Each time they crossed into a new river, they held a Paddle Wrap ceremony. Kids wound their paddle handles with a different color lanyard, so each waterway had its own unique memory right at their fingertips.
The goal of the annual expedition is to raise awareness for the preservation of the Perkiomen Creek. The Perkiomen Watershed Conservancy conducts stream cleanups, native plant projects, and invasive species removal, among other iniatives. You can learn more and get involved by visiting their website.
Allegheny River Sojourn: Lock Through Paddle
Friends of the Riverfront and 3 Rivers Outdoor Company hosted monthly workshops this summer that taught people how to navigate the U.S. Army Corps. of Engineers lock on the Allegheny River. The goal was to make paddlers more comfortable planning trips through locks and to encourage more non-motorized recreation in the Pittsburgh area. About 20 people attended the August workshop, which provided kayaks and equipment thanks to the mini-grant program. Most had some degree of paddling experience but wanted to plan longer trips through waters that required passing through locks.
There’s one more Lock through Paddle trip left this summer, taking place on Saturday, Sept. 2 at the Allegheny RiverTrail Park in Aspinwall. Register here.
Learn more about this year’s Sojourns:
POWR announces 2023 Pennsylvania Sojourn Grant Awards
Pennsylvania Legacies #193: Whatever Floats Your Boat
Interested in planning your own Sojourn? The PA Sojourn Program awards more than $30,000 in grants across the state to support local organizations and their sojourn events. On average, POWR supports between 10 to 15 paddling events each year. The Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (PA DCNR) is the prime sponsor of the program.
Consider applying for a mini-grant for 2024. Learn more about how to apply by visiting POWR’s website.