Tidal rivers!
You get the choice of working against the current, or timing your passage to take advantage of a push. Like having your cake and eating it, too!
On the Bike…
– Last Updated: Mar-24-11 8:08 PM EST –
We try to go out early before the wind picks up, then turn for home with a tailwind as it 'freshens'. We tend to use the same strategy for kayak day trips in the sounds.
Paddling/Poling upstream/downstream
is sort of like running on your driveway. It can be done. It can be fun. But it gets old fast. I resemble this remark.
If it’s getting old…
…your river is too flat.
or
You need to find other rivers to explore.
So
Is there a solo canoe that will be as fast/faster than my oldtown (tandem with strong paddlers) but that i can paddle from one side. I dont want to sit dead ceter and hit/switch that is just a wet kayak.
when leave Point of Rocks …
– Last Updated: Mar-25-11 10:25 AM EST –
...... in the past paddling tandem upriver w/your buddy , where did go to , how far upriver did make it ??
Did you get past the Brunswick bridge ?? Did you go farther ??
What is/was the river's gage at Point of Rocks when you've paddled upriver there in the past ??
How long did it take you to go upriver , wherever you went in the past from Point of Rocks ??
I
I dont go when river is high. Never check the guage but i go past the iver and eye ball it during thee week. At the bridge i like to be able to see the two rocks sticking out (near maryland side luanch)
We would usually go at least to brunswick or further but in low water there are a few places we would have to get out and drag i usually go on the va side of the big island and there is a rocky “rapid” section i have to pullthe boat up most times. On my own ballasted i can barely make it to the “cut” in the first big island.
Never timed it
But we woukd be out 8am-2/5 pm. But lots of messing around/floating back id say 2-4 hoirs actuall upstrwam paddling
if this was Facebook
I’d “like” Steves and Tommys comments. Man, I can and do pole the same section for months. Good rivers are different nearly every time you’re on them, seasonal similarities of course. When my main stretch gets too low, I drive 5 more minutes and do the squeezed in section, check out the tubers, smile at the young girls who ask if I’m “upstreaming” or say “that’s crazy/wild/nuts/whacky…” and look for currency the drunks who flipped their tubes lose.
Since I am a poler,
…I don’t know much about solo canoes - but I think the answer is “yes - if you are a good enough paddler”.
But you could build yourself a good canoe pole for about $50 and possibly realize the same gain. In fact, it could be that you can get up those rocky rapids you’ve been dragging through without stepping out of the boat.
I think it would be a pretty long …
– Last Updated: Mar-25-11 7:55 PM EST –
..... paddle from Point of Rocks upriver to Brunswick , it's just over 6 miles ... plenty of rough to get through at lower levels . I don't think we could avg. a mile per hour in our tandem on that stretch going upriver ... other stretches two miles per hour because of deeper water .
We paddle up and down river (Potomac) , but mostly for fishing , in different stretches . Know the length from Edwards to the ledges/rocks 2 miles short of Harpers (not all paddled , some in Jon boat) , and further up Paw Paw - Little Orleans - Hancok .
I'd think 4 on the gage at Point of Rocks would be ideal for upriver paddle ... 5 is probably pushing it to close to danger level ... 2-3 is probably a bit too boney .
20 ft of 3/4 " rope
And good river shoes is how i get through shallows. The scratched up bottom of my glass boat will attest to that. Brunswick takes all day up/back
went out from VA side at P.of Rocks …
… and headed upriver during a spring high water a few yrs. back (gage was 13.5’ there) . Not much of the islands showing at that level , all brown water … that was in a 15’ PolarCraft Jon with a jet outboard .
Was just up there during this past flood water (we spent the day checking the river from Great Falls to Harpers) … did same last years flood waters .
Have you by chance seen the aquaduct at Mouth of Monocacy since last springs flood waters (wondering if last spring’s log jam got cleared) ??
http://waterdata.usgs.gov/md/nwis/current/?type=flow&group_key=basin=cd
http://dnr.maryland.gov/boating/pdfs/upperpotomac.pdf
No
But the monnacy is a nice paddle havent been on it in a few years but i used to like it alot. Water is too high for me now