Canoeing

ByMatt

This weekend I went canoeing down the Juniata River with my girlfriend, Erin. We had a blast. We only got rained on once while on the water, and then we waited it out under a tree to minimize the soaking. We put in at the riverside park in Huntingdon, PA and took out about twenty miles downstream at Newton Hamilton. See the map. Look at the river rather than the road.

The wildlife was awesome. I had 44 bird species. Highlights include a Bald Eagle, 24 Common Merganser, and lots of Wood Ducks. We also saw a family of River Otter playing on some fallen trees along the bank. They were cute.

We camped on islands in the river. The first night we were sandwiched between the road and the railroad. Trains kept coming by every 10 minutes or so. Really, I think I’ve seen more trains that day than in my entire life. The second night was much quieter. There was a party going on upstream with a live band. We could hear them pretty well and they were playing good music too. It was a nice treat.

The trip was so much fun and I hope to be able to ride the river again before heading up north.

Similar Posts

  • A Tale of Two Hikes

    I was left home alone this weekend. Erin had gone down to Boise and Ontario, OR for a regional meeting of one of the support groups she attends. She was also taking Lana down to Boise to be transported to her new home with a trainer in Wyoming. So while she was gone for three days, I was in charge of watching the animals. This unfortunately meant I couldn’t go out for any extended trips. No backpacking. No camping. So I did what any responsible adult would do when he’s got the house to himself: I threw a party. Well,…

  • Evolution at Snowbird

    This year’s Evolution meeting was held at the Snowbird resort in the beautiful Wasatch Mountains outside of Salt Lake City, Utah. This year, I was fortunate enough to attend this meeting and present a talk on the correlation (or lack thereof) of boldness behaviors and swimming behavior in an open field. Of course, while meetings are great for presenting research from the lab, they’re also great for learning about other research and meeting people and making connections. This was my first trip to the Salt Lake City area, and despite staying at a hotel down in the valley, I really…

  • White Pine Loop & Bomber Too

    Last week, Clara and I had a day to ourselves, so we had a little adventure on a nearby trail. The white pine loop is a 3-mile hike from the White Pine campground off of Idaho Rt. 6. A one-mile (one-way) out and back spur takes us to the site of a WWII bomber crash site with some pieces of the wreckage still littered throughout the woods. But rather than write a lengthy post with a few photos, I’ve decided to try a video series that I’m calling Adventures with Clara to highlight just how adventurous she is.   [map style=”width: auto;…

  • Attempting to Snowshoe

    This past weekend, we had a nice day on my day off for once. So I took advantage of the sunshine and warm weather to get out and hike. Or so I thought. I’ve been waiting to take my snowshoes out for a real winter trek, and the timing has been bad. I set my sights on the Gold Center trail, which leaves at the base of the mountains behind Clarkia and climbs its way up to the ridge just below Grandmother Mountain. I’ve always wanted to hike this trail, and winter seems like the best time to do this…

  • Float Trip 2012

    View Float Trip 2012 in a larger map Every year, the graduate students from the University of Idaho’s biology department embarks on a float trip on the Snake River. It’s an annual tradion that carrys on well before my time. Actually, I’m not sure when the tradition began. In 2010, the float trip was held shortly after I arrived in Idaho. By that time, the daytime temperatures had cooled and I was not feeling up to floating in the river. In retrospect, I wish I had gone my first year. I made up for it by going last year. Actually,…

  • Seattle

    In the 5 years living out here, I haven’t been to Seattle other than to catch the ferry over to the Olympic Peninsula. So when four of my college buddies from Drew mentioned they were converging in the city for a race in September, I jumped at the opportunity to pay a visit. So for a weekend in September (11-13), we loaded up the car and headed westward for a few days. Although Seattle is “the big city” around here, it’s nowhere near as big and daunting as some of the truly big cities of the world. Downtown is only several…