Susquehanna River Water Trail

[kayak karl]

planing a 5 day trip on the Susquehanna River. northern section. any advice or info would be great.
TY
KK

[thecampingman]

Sounds great! Tell us more. Are you taking gear & provisions for all 5 days? Group or solo? I'm not experienced enough to give any but basic comments. (camped out twice on overnite trips)
My son-in-law goes on lake hopping trips in Canada. Goes thru 5 lakes, porting between the lakes. His biggest problem was food. First trip they took all the food & beer. The group never left the cabin, drinking beer & partying all week. So the next year they took only food to be eaten with fish. (It was supposed to be a fishing expedition.) His reasoning being, "If you don't fish, you don't eat." That backfired too, because he said that after 3 straight days of fish to eat, nobody could eat any more fish. So they lived on macaroni & cheeze!
I don't think the story relates to you, just thought it funny.

[kayak karl]

Sounds great! Tell us more. Are you taking gear & provisions for all 5 days? Group or solo? I'm not experienced enough to give any but basic comments. (camped out twice on overnite trips)
My son-in-law goes on lake hopping trips in Canada. Goes thru 5 lakes, porting between the lakes. His biggest problem was food. First trip they took all the food & beer. The group never left the cabin, drinking beer & partying all week. So the next year they took only food to be eaten with fish. (It was supposed to be a fishing expedition.) His reasoning being, "If you don't fish, you don't eat." That backfired too, because he said that after 3 straight days of fish to eat, nobody could eat any more fish. So they lived on macaroni & cheeze!
I don't think the story relates to you, just thought it funny.

i plan to carry food for all 5 days. dehydrated, snacks and foil packets of spam, tuna and chicken. total would be about 10 lbs. i just received my map set. Susquehanna River runs from Pa/NY border and dumps into the Chesapeake Bay 444 miles. i could just k\cut east at the canal to the Delaware River then north 4 miles and i'm home. NOW that would be a trip ;)

[kayak karl]

got my maps and guides and am going to do this in last 3 weeks of Sept. '10. does anyone know of journals or blogs of parts or all of this trip. any info would be appreciated.
http://www.outdoors.org/publications/outdoors/2008/features/water-trail-revival-final.cfm

[SteveH]

i plan to carry food for all 5 days. dehydrated, snacks and foil packets of spam, tuna and chicken. total would be about 10 lbs.;)

That sounds like a good plan for the food, but please tell me what you will do about drinking water?

[rcurry]

Now that sounds like a paddle trip! Please photograph and document it so those of us who will (so far) only attempt small scale trips can live vicariously through your travels.

Photo idea!!: Right before your departure after you have collected all the items that will be traveling with you, lay them out like a collage in a driveway alongside your kayak, before items are placed in dry bags. Place everything so it is visible to photograph. Take various pictures in order to post up and give descriptions for a tutorial that could be used by novices like me. Of course this is only a self serving :D idea, but it really could be helpful to a lot of us.

Keep posting about your upcoming trip. I think it’s fascinating.

[kayak karl]

That sounds like a good plan for the food, but please tell me what you will do about drinking water?

unlike hiking and worrying about the next source when kayaking (salt water different) its always there. i have a 120 Sawyer Filter http://www.moontrail.com/sawyer-sp120-inline-water-filter.php with DIY bag. i stopped using this in winter because it kept freezing. i swithced to PolarPure http://www.polarequipment.com/. this got 3.5 months and 900 miles on trail.

i am now looking into Steripen http://www.steripen.com/outdoor.

when i cook i don't treat at all just boil water longer.

and when i hit beach where there is clean water i empty 3 liter bladder http://www.cascadedesigns.com/platypus/hands-free-hydration/hoser/product i fill up and "camel up" on extra water.

[kayak karl]

there are two starts. west or north branch. haven't made up my mind.
rcurry: thanks for the advice. i did this on my AT hike http://www.trailjournals.com/KarlRothenbach/ and it's great to look back on. hiking has lowered my gear weight. if you carry it on your back you think twice :) for this time of year my base weight (all except food and water) is 9 lbs. i think i might put a blog on this site. your idea of photos is great.
thanks,
kk