French Creek in the Summer

I simply cannot say enough to praise our wonderful French Creek. As a result of hard work by the French Creek Project and French Creek Conservancy, this treasure of a waterway is home to 27 different species of freshwater mussels and provides habitat for a myriad number of fish and wildlife.

We paddled a section of the creek again last Friday. A small group of us put in at Rt. 97 near Union City, PA, and paddled 9 1/2 miles to Rt. 6 near Mill Village. Along the way we caught a glimpse of a Northern Harrier, some deer and as usual, an eagle or two. I can never get enough of this creek, especially this particular section.

I first paddled a portion of this stretch back in the early 80s when my friend and canoe mentor, Jim Gardner, introduced me to it. With very few houses or cottages along the way, the creek meanders through woodlands and farm fields. The birdsong never fails to delight us, with warblers, cedar waxwings, various hawks and many redwings all contributing their various squeaks, squawks and trills. The cedar waxwing: what a great bird this is! They perch in the tops of the trees along the banks and flit out to chase down and grab a mouthful of insects, landing back in the trees to devour their catches. We usually see hundreds of them along the stream. Kingfishers often fly out and rattle their presence as they head along above the water, watching for a careless fish to swoop down upon. Merganser mamas swim along with their little broods trailing behind, trying their best to climb aboard mama's back to hitch a ride.

I'm going to cut this short...I suddenly have the urge to get out a canoe and go paddling!

A Wet Day on the Allegheny River

I don't know if we had more water under us or above us today...but the "above us" water quickly became "under us" water!

Dave, Bev, Grace, Charlie and I met at Buckaloons Monday morning at 10:30. After unloading the boats and packing in our gear, we set off on our adventure on the Allegheny. It didn't take long for the darkening skies to spit at us. But the current was swift and that helped to offset the "gale force" headwind we encountered during one of the early rainfalls. We hugged the shore along Thompson Island to block the wind a bit. But after awhile, the rain died down along with the headwind and we made some real progress. We found a nice little boat access in Althom where we were able to set foot on land to enjoy our lunch and share a bottle of Straub beer, which is brewed nearby in St. Mary's, PA. After we headed back downstream, we were treated to close views of eagles and mergansers. One female merganser had 19 babies with her! I suppose mergs are like Canada geese in that they steal each other's babies! We also watched a deer running along the RR grade for a few hundred yards, and paddled beneath a mature bald eagle when it lit back in a tree overhead after flying up initially at our approach.

We had gone about 2/3 of the way when the sky blackened and finally burst. No more spitting, these clouds meant business and they really peed on us bigtime! We headed for shore and knocked on a cottage door, but no one was home. So we sheltered under their carport, while Dave stood for awhile under his Tupper. We thought he was being brave and strong and showing us what a Real Man does in a storm...but when he finally joined us under the carport, he let it be known that he had ulterior motives involving the lack of an available outhouse and a privacy issue!

After about 45 minutes, the rain dropped off to spits again. I left my remaining bottle of Straub in the carport in thanks to the cottage owner and we pushed on. Before long we saw a sign stating that Tidioute was still 4 miles away. I marked the time, and we finished those 4 miles in about 45 minutes. The bright blue of our launch at the Tidhouse was a welcome site to 5 weary paddlers.

After 15 miles of dampness and wind, we all agreed that we had a great time! Bev and Grace handled a section of rollicking standing waves admirably in their tandem kayak, with a few odd noises of...delight? trepidation?

Charlie and I enjoyed meeting and paddling with Bev, Grace and Dave. What a marvelous day!

North Park Hikers--38 years and growing

Yesterday I had the wonderful pleasure of returning to my roots: walking with the Thursday morning nature group at North Park in Allegheny County, near Pittsburgh, PA. I used to hike with them back in the '70s when I still lived in that area. It was like turning back the clock. My wildflower email friend Dianne brought my old buddy Esther from those early days and, along with about a dozen other "newbies," we walked the old Braille Trail. We saw many wildflowers, some of which are accompanying this article.


Indian Cucumber-root, dead man's fingers, Indian pipe, rose moss, as
well as too many to mention (some in bloom, some not). Esther, who is now 90, still trots along the trail like a 40-year-old! Her vast knowledge of wildflowers, mosses, fungi and general nature bubbles forth as she points out various stages of plant life along the roadside and trail. Rose moss has a rather straight and boring growth habit until the rain hits it, when the tips fluff open into rose-like "blossoms." Dead man's fingers, a fungus that appears like blackened fingers reaching up from the grave, start out as little white threads.

Our walk was highlighted by the birdsong: the melodious Wood Thrush, the pan flute-like song of the Veery, Bobwhites whistling, and the twittering of many swallows.

What a great day it was!