Sunday, August 10, 2014

Joie de Vivre

... man, did so much paddling the past two days that have blisters on the fingers... several miles on the SUP on Friday and open boating on the 'Youghiogheny River' yesterday - hadn't been on the river yet this year - needed at least one trip to keep a personal record intact which is now up to thirty-eight seasons straight of paddling the 'Yough' in at least one section...

... just did an easy trip on the 'Bottom' section - a few Class I "riffles" with a few decent surfing holes along the way (one of Class II) - pretty nice - never more than three miles from the front door - have done it a million times...

... buddy Rob Hyatt along for the ride - that's him for scale showing a large log that was stranded atop this river boulder during some early spring high water - saw a similar log once atop a boulder probably twice this size along the 'Lower Yough' - have a picture of it somewhere - will post it if found...

... a "panorama" viewing from the 'South Connellsville Beach' - usually pretty crowded - only one local "beachcomber" (in red shorts) at this time... that large boulder across the river ('JB Rock') has a decent boulder climb facing the river - pretty high with no landing, however - a little "hairy" - bet most people don't know that the 'JB Rock', named for the letters 'JB' painted near the top, stand for 'Jim Bailor' who painted his initials up there back in the 70's - he died last year around this time - a very good athlete and outdoorsman - a fitting "tombstone" in our opinion... R.I.P "Woo"...

... were more butterflies than people...

... a little further downstream and the 'Way Cool Piers'...

... good shot of the 'Way Cool Arete'...

... close up - a pretty fun "boulder climb" (Ref. 'Way Cool Piers') - still some railroad spikes used for slinging webbing if ya' were concerned about taking a thirty-foot plunge into the "drink" and opted to use a rope - lots of fun stuff on all the piers - note the 'water snake' sunning himself in the lower horizontal construction joint...

... another angle showing the "face climbing" - typical on all the piers - the snakes still there...

... the snake close-up... he booked deep within the stones when I paddled around to get a shot of his head...

... saw this small white caterpillar workin' his way up into the treetops - he went about twenty-five feet from the ground to the first leaf...

... the 'South Connellsville Dam'...

... just below the dam we were heading down through the 'Ice House' river section when we startled a small 'Bald Eagle' which flew up slowly from the shore and along the treeline less than two hundred feet away - you could really make out his colors - solid white head and tail feathers with a bright yellow beak - by the time I managed to pull out the camera he was circling high overhead and joined by a "mate" - this is the best shot I could get of the two - pretty cool to see...

... another shot I like for whatever reason - the eagles are the two (very) small specs just below photo center, framed between the clouds - look closely...

... a final shot of some 'Indian Paintbrush' which blooms along the riverbanks this time of year...

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