October 14, 2007

Various locations

Scouting the Schuylkill River

(shot with Sony DSC-S85)
(view other photo essays)

In preparation for future kayaking expeditions, I took the opportunity afforded by yet another spectacular fall weekend, to find and scout-out the public boat access points on the Schuylkill river. On an earlier trip, I had discovered the Flat Rock boat ramp in Gladwynne. The next two up the river were in Norristown and Valley Forge.

West Conshohocken

My first stop, however, was in West Conshohocken. Here,
there's a nice park along the riverbank, but no public-access
boat ramp.



The river is quite shallow at this point;
and it's not very far downstream to Flat Rock.



It's the area immediately behind this dam that's
inaccessible. That's the Blue Route bridge towering
on the horizon.



The dam, itself, is extremely dangerous. What's called
a "crib" dam, it's basically a box made of wooden timbers
filled with rocks. Over time, the timbers rot and
heavy flows carry the rocks downstream.





Access to the river behind this dam is impossible,
because all the waterfront land is privately owned by
heavy industrial companies. PECo has a facility here.
There's chemical and manufacturing companies on the eastern
and western shores. Philadelphia Newspapers Inc.
has its printing plant up past those bridges.
The nearest public access would be in Bridgeport,
where the water is usually too shallow for boating.
It's frequently too shallow for wading!



This is the mouth of Balligomingo creek, below the dam.



Local birdlife.

Valley Forge

My next stop was in Valley Forge where
Old Trooper Road dead-ends in a riverfront park.



These ladies had come out with their kayaks to enjoy
the warm autumn afternoon.



I always like to observe the techniques used by
other boaters. These kayakers seemed to have quite
a bit of experience with their equipment.





They were methodical and efficient and they
declined my offer to help carry their boats.



This is the view downstream from the Valley Forge boat launch.



And this is the view upstream.

Norristown

I left the ladies to enjoy their day and headed back downriver
to the Haws Avenue boat launch in downtown Norristown.
Haws Avenue looks forbidding as you thread through narrow city
alleyways and down what looks like a dead-end ramp out of
"On the Waterfront."



The little concrete park turns out
however, to be very popular with local families and
fishermen in boats or enjoying the shore.



This is the view downstream from Haws Avenue.



And this is the view upstream.






This is Barbadoes Island, with its PECo generating station.
Somewhere on the other side of the island, on the western (southern)
bank of the river in Bridgeport, the Upper Merion crews
have their boat house.






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