Turning 30 this yr. Any suggestions on what to do for my bday? (York: credit)

[Acevaz]

I am turning 30 on 7/19. I would like to do something that is really different. ScranBarre told me about a place in Benton, PA that host an annual rodeo. It so happens that the rodeo event lands during the wk of my bday. Anyone else with ideas?

I have the dinner with family and friends thing. I am so over that. Born and raised in NYC and would like to experience some different kinds of things that NEPA has to offer.

AceVaz

[FightinPhils]

Go whitewater rafting.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by FightinPhils

Go whitewater rafting.

I love the new screen name! "MrKrabs" made it sound like you actually had "crabs!" AHHHH!!! Just be careful because there is a limit of how many times you can change your screenname. I wanted to change mine to "Scrantastic," but I was told I wasn't allowed to have any more name changes, so I'm stuck with "ScranBarre."

[SteelCityRising]

I've always wanted to go on a hot air balloon ride myself.

[thecoalman]

Find yourself a guide for a overnight/weekend/week river trip on a canoe, preferably above or below Towanda for the overnight deal. The river is probably one the most under utilized attractions in NEPA.

I used to do a 8 day trip every year with my friends starting at the New York border to Meshoppen and that was some of the best times I ever had.

From just above Meshoppen:

[FightinPhils]

Originally Posted by ScranBarre

I love the new screen name! "MrKrabs" made it sound like you actually had "crabs!" AHHHH!!! Just be careful because there is a limit of how many times you can change your screenname. I wanted to change mine to "Scrantastic," but I was told I wasn't allowed to have any more name changes, so I'm stuck with "ScranBarre."

Yeah...haven't really watched much Spongebob in a while...my son's not really into it as much as he used to be....

[geos]

Originally Posted by thecoalman

Find yourself a guide for a overnight/weekend/week river trip on a canoe, preferably above or below Towanda for the overnight deal. The river is probably one the most under utilized attractions in NEPA.

I used to do a 8 day trip every year with my friends starting at the New York border to Meshoppen and that was some of the best times I ever had.

From just above Meshoppen:

I love that picture! It's the picture of serenity. Reminds me of a similar scene where I spent many happy summers near East Branch on the Delaware.

Can you recommend a canoe company?

[thecoalman]

Well i wish i could take credit for the picture but one of my old GF's took it. Was just shortly before that a eagle flew not more than 20 feet over our heads. I've seen a lot of them on the river but that was the closest I ever got. I should note that picture is a little deceiving, the land you see to the left is not the other side of the river but an island. It's much wider at the point where that was taken.

I have hundreds of my own though, this is one of my favorites with my dog who always went on the trip. Some of you may even recognize the guy, that's a young Jason Egenski from 40.lb Head:

http://www.nepadigital.com/temp/Canoe_001.jpg (broken link)

I don't know any canoe companies, we all had our own canoes, kayaks...etc.. You don't necessarily need a canoe. Even a small row boat, if you're unfamiliar with the river it would certainly be safer but be prepared to drag it over some shallow areas. You will probably have to drag the canoe as well.

The river is like a series of shelves, you'll have long stretches of deep open calm water like that in the picture then places it will become very shallow with rapids. Generally when you get to the edge of the shelf it will be very shallow for a few feet and then descend into rapids. There are some places with some pretty decent rapids most notably that I can remember directly above and below Towanda, the ones directly below the Towanda bridge are probably the fastest. These aren't the type of rapids you would typically see in the whitewater videos but they aren't to take lightly either for a novice.

You really don't even need to go overnight, plan day trip. Drop off somewhere like falls and canoe down to West Pittston. That's the better part of afternoon.

Some tips:

• A canoe with weight in it is easier to control and more stable.
• Wear a life jacket.
• Secure all your belongings to the canoe, coolers, backpacks etc. Also secure the lid of the cooler if you have one so it cant open. I've only dumped it once in a particularly bad place that had a very large stump in the middle of a rapid above Towanda but it would have been a disaster financially and it would have ruined the trip. ***Don't tie yourself to the canoe.
• If you do flip it remember the canoe floats.
• When you get to the rapid, if you look at the water you'll see an upside down V or a funnel, aim for the middle of the V no matter where it is. In the middle isn't always the deepest point.
• If its windy, you may want to consider doing it a different day. With enough wind you'll go backwards esopecially if you don't have a lot of weight in the canoe.
• Roughly speaking when the river is low for every 20 minutes you drive up the river by car you can expect about 6 hours on the river.