{"id":2574,"date":"2010-03-01T23:19:45","date_gmt":"2010-03-02T04:19:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/moshannonfalls.com\/?p=2574"},"modified":"2010-06-26T09:07:36","modified_gmt":"2010-06-26T14:07:36","slug":"canoeing-the-sinnemahoning-creek","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moshannonfalls.com\/canoeing-the-sinnemahoning-creek\/","title":{"rendered":"Canoeing the Sinnemahoning Creek"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Sinnemahoning<\/dt>\n
Sinnemahoning Creek<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

I like to paddle and I’m willing to travel to do it. I’ve traveled many hours on the road just to\u00a0get in\u00a0a few hours of paddling, but despite my willingness to travel there are plenty of creeks near my hometown in\u00a0Central Pennsylvania\u00a0that I haven’t paddled. Sinnemahoning Creek in Cameron County<\/strong> is one of those creeks.<\/p>\n

On June 27, 2009, I finally decided to\u00a0paddle the Sinnemahoning Creek with a local paddler from the Keating area. In my 25 years of paddling I’ve driven along the Sinnemahoning Creek<\/strong>\u00a0more\u00a0times than I can count (at least twice for everytime I’ve paddled the West Branch of the Susquehanna and that’s about thirty times) and everytime I drove\u00a0along the Sinnemahoning\u00a0I got the feeling that I was missing something, maybe a paddlers best kept secret that I should be aware of. After all, there isn’t much written about paddling the Sinnemahoning but it does run right between\u00a0the\u00a0Quehanna Wild Area and Elk State Forest, which is some Pennsylvania’s most scenic landscape, so there has to be something to it.<\/p>\n

Boat\u00a0Access at Driftwood Pennsylvania<\/h2>\n

We got on the\u00a0Sinnemahoning in Driftwood, about 9AM. The\u00a0Sinnemahoning forms here by the confluence of the Bennett and Driftwood\u00a0branches; the Sinnemahoning meets the West Branch of the Susquehanna about 12-15\u00a0miles below Driftwood.\u00a0If you’ve ever been to the Benezette or Medix area to view the Pennsylvania Elk you’ve likely been to Driftwood. It’s a small logging town that has seen better days.\u00a0I don’t think there’s an official boat launch at Driftwood\u00a0so the best spot to\u00a0access the creek is at the new bridge, you can’t miss it. At this point the\u00a0view of the Sinnemahoning looks very inviting, much like a smaller version of the West Branch of the Susquehanna.\u00a0And\u00a0because we would be\u00a0paddling through part of the\u00a0Quehanna Wild Area<\/a>, I was excited\u00a0about discovering new campsites for future canoe camping trips in this Pennsylvania Elk territory.<\/p>\n

\"sinnemahoningcreek3\"Paddling Sinnemahoning Creek<\/h2>\n

The water level was\u00a0about an inch too low for our trip which made me a little hesitant\u00a0because I was in my 14ft kayak; there is nothing\u00a0more frustrating\u00a0than paddling a kayak in low water. But the distance was only around 12 miles (approximate), something\u00a0we could\u00a0do in a few hours even if the water was a little on the low side.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The water on this creek is clean and cool; I am told it has great small mouth bass fishing\u00a0during the summer months although the few fisherman we encountered were not having much luck. The Sinnemahoning area has very little industry and relies on outdoor tourism and recreation as part of\u00a0its local revenue; therefore the\u00a0landscape is very clean and well managed.\u00a0It’s very Pennsylvania. Much of the creek had steady current with\u00a0only a few\u00a0slow pools that required some work to get through. We also met occasional riffles and swift narrow channels to break up any slow going monotony.\u00a0We managed to finish our 12 mile trip in only three hours but we did work a little to get through it. I didn’t see any elk or discover a camp site for future canoe camp trips but I did see a Bald Eagle, whitetailed deer, interesting landmarks and landscape features,\u00a0and a few fishermen.<\/p>\n

Boat\u00a0Access at\u00a0Keating Pennsylvania<\/h2>\n

So as canoe trips go the Sinnemahoning was a good trip because\u00a0I got\u00a0to experience some of Pennsylvania’s beautiful natural scenery. But this creek isn’t\u00a0the ideal\u00a0canoe camping\u00a0trip<\/a>\u00a0because there\u00a0is continuous Highway 120 on river left\u00a0and no established campsites. If you want to canoe camp in the\u00a0Sinnemahoning area\u00a0try the West Branch of the Susquehanna<\/a>; it’s more\u00a0remote and has plenty of camping opportunity.<\/p>\n

I will\u00a0definitely\u00a0put the Sinnemahoning Creek on my list of canoe fishing trips.; although I\u00a0think the best Sinnemahoning Creek fishing may be on the First Fork Sinnemahoning which meets the main Sinnemahoning\u00a0Creek near the community of Sinnemahoning.\u00a0A good\u00a0takeout point on this trip is\u00a0at Keating, on\u00a0the right side of the new bridge. Beyond that is the West Branch of the Susquehanna and no close takeout points that I’m aware of.<\/p>\n

The Sinnemahoning is a very easy canoe trip <\/a>perfect for fishing and\u00a0family style\u00a0canoeing.<\/p>\n