Tulpehocken Creek, PA

See slideshow of Tulpehocken Creek trip

Today I explored Tulpehocken Creek just south of the Marsh Creek Lake dam at Stilling Basin. First I reconnoitered the Reber's Bridge access area in hopes that I could put in there and paddle upstream to Stilling Basin (I always prefer to do the upstream half first!). But the trail to the river looked long and steep and muddy and treacherous, so I abandoned the idea. I took photos from Reber's Bridge, and found a beautiful gravel trail along the river on the other side of the road from the parking lot--I found out later it's the Union Canal trail and it goes about 4 miles from Reber's Bridge towards downtown Reading, where the Tulpehocken flows into the Schuylkill River. I'm definitely coming back some day this winter to either walk or bike the trail.
I ended up launching from Stilling Basin at the dam and paddling downstream back to Reber's Bridge, where I took photos from the water side. From the water, I found a good launch spot at Reber's Bridge--it's still a trek from the parking lot, but a little easier than the first one I found. The creek was flowing quite briskly, and paddling back upstream was challenging--I definitely got my workout! I ended up wading through a couple of the shallows where it wasn't deep enough to get a good pull on the paddle to move against the current. Only excitement was almost losing the boat at one point when I was concentrating on keeping my balance on some rocks and the current snatched the boat away. But with a couple of gazelle-like leaps, I rescued it (OK, maybe more like a panicky elephant).