{"id":3111,"date":"2010-06-24T12:54:56","date_gmt":"2010-06-24T17:54:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/moshannonfalls.com\/?p=3111"},"modified":"2010-06-24T18:01:58","modified_gmt":"2010-06-24T23:01:58","slug":"canoeing-the-frankstown-branch-of-the-juniata-river","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moshannonfalls.com\/canoeing-the-frankstown-branch-of-the-juniata-river\/","title":{"rendered":"Canoeing the Frankstown Branch of the Juniata River"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Frankstown<\/a>

Canoeing the Frankstown Branch of the Juniata River<\/p><\/div>\n

Located between\u00a0Alexandria and Altoona, PA, the Frankstown Branch of the Juniata River is one of those\u00a0local rivers that\u00a0somehow seemed to be just a little too far out of the way to paddle. But\u00a0on\u00a0June 12th, 2010 our small group of three decided to paddle the small river, we had two adults in one canoe and\u00a0one child in a\u00a0kayak.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Vehicle Shuttle
\n<\/strong>\u00a0The 40 mile drive from home to the river took much longer than we anticipated; I’ll blame it on the slower weekend traffic and a long rest stop at the Sheetz in Bellwood, but once arriving at the put-in the trip quickly began to take form. One very nice feature of canoeing<\/a> this section of the Frankstown Branch of the Juniata River<\/strong> is the very short (approximately 20 minutes) vehicle shuttle; it’s short because the river\u00a0flows nearly perpendicular to Route 22\u00a0then loops back again to meet Mt Etna. This river has to be the easiest and quickest shuttle of any river I’ve paddled, but you still get a nice 12 mile canoe trip.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Paddling the River<\/strong>
\nThe\u00a0section we paddled was\u00a0approximately 12 miles and took us about 4 hours, not a bad average considering we were in no hurry. We\u00a0launched\u00a0at the Flowing Springs canoe launch, near Canoe Creek State Park, and ended the trip at Mt Etna. At Flowing Springs the\u00a0river is slow and it does flow parallel to the highway for a few miles\u00a0allowing the annoying sounds of traffic and the sight of some commercial property to invade what you might expect to be a more scenic paddle. This section is also\u00a0paralleled by the Lower Trail Rails-to-Trails bike path.<\/p>\n

The first hour into our trip we paddled consistently to keep a decent pace in the warm dead water, but as the noise of the highway grew distant we noticed the\u00a0shores of the river\u00a0growing steeper, the landscape growing greener, and the\u00a0river flowing\u00a0faster. Once we were about\u00a0one hour into the trip things began to\u00a0get\u00a0more interesting with occasional obstacles and fun riffles.<\/p>\n

\"Canoe<\/a>

Canoe Full of Water<\/p><\/div>\n

While doing my river research I was told\u00a0to expect some class 2\u00a0rapids\u00a0just before approaching\u00a0Williamsburg.\u00a0And although I didn’t see what I considered to be class 2\u00a0rapids there were a few\u00a0areas with some tricky current that required some attention. And it was just before Williamsburg when\u00a0a rock\u00a0spun us\u00a0backwards and flipped us in about\u00a01.5 ft of water. Unfortunately it wasn’t the cool refreshing\u00a0kind of swim that canoers\u00a0enjoy on a blistering hot day, but more\u00a0of a painful\u00a0body slam onto a rocky stream bed complete with small\u00a0scrapes and multiple bruises on my body, and a very soggy lunch. Our nine year old kayaker had no problem negotiating these riffles and rocks in his new recreational kayak.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I was worried we would be exposed to the sun’s intense heat the entire trip but as we\u00a0paddled into\u00a0the more remote\u00a0section of\u00a0river\u00a0we had\u00a0a\u00a0pleasant\u00a0surprise by\u00a0the\u00a0green forest canopy above that shaded us during most of the remaining trip. And as the landscape changed from commercial to a seemingly forest view we were met with wildlife and natural landscape photo opportunities. And the tricky riffles and rocks were there to greet us often enough.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Paddling through Williamsburg is your typical “canoeing through town experience” with remnants of old commercial and industrial\u00a0interference upon the river, but once through Williamsburg the scenery again\u00a0turns to the natural landscape\u00a0I anticipated\u00a0from\u00a0my view into the valley during the vehicle shuttle.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Canoeing<\/a>

Frankstown Branch Juniata River<\/p><\/div>\n

If you are in the Altoona area I recommend canoeing the Frankstown Branch of the Juniata River, and take your fishing rod because the Juniata is\u00a0popular for fishing. Be prepared for casual canoeing with a few tricky riffles and rapids and maybe some\u00a0fun class 2 rapids under higher water conditions.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n