East Brandywine River, PA

See slideshow of East Brandywine trip

We launched from Kerr Park in Downingtown and paddled about 9 miles south to Shaw's Bridge Park just south of 842, a beautiful trip that took about four and a half hours. It's amazing that you can paddle straight through the middle of Downingtown and barely be aware of the town around you, thanks to the well-planned parks lining the river. We didn't see another soul on the river the whole way, not even a fisherman on the bank. There were two exciting moments in the trip: first, shooting the pass-through in the low dam just south of Downingtown. There's a big lovely rock waiting right in your path as you exit the flume. And second, trying and failing to sneak under a fallen tree barring the way: by the time Caleb realized he wasn't going to squeeze through, his boat had decided it was going with or without him (without), above water or below (below). And his paddle took off downstream. He was a good sport about the dunking, and posed with the tree after he got dried off and I had rescued his paddle. The rest of the paddle was serene and relaxing.