Big Elmer, Leroy, Mark A. and Charlie H.

Noooo! Don't Scoop!

Just a few more pictures from the Allegheny River tonight. Nothing like milking an entire week of posts out of a half-day paddle!

That's the clamshell grab from the dredge barge Big Elmer that's threatening (not really) TQ in that picture.




I'd mentioned that there was still a little industry up here, although not enough to warrant locks being open on Thursday -- this outfit, Glacial Sand and Gravel, looked to be the main one on a stretch of the Allegheny that's primarily lined by the locals' summer cabins. Well, summer trailers, really, this isn't the wealthiest part of the country - nice trailers, though, clean, well kept -

Oh, here, in fact I'll show you. Here's a picture I took because this was, hands-down & by far, the grandest place we saw on this stretch of the Allegheny.


Take a closer look at the neighboring place, though:

That's pretty typical of places that line this section ("pool" is what they call the stretches between dams) of the Allegheny. Not half bad, huh? Doesn't it look like a fine place to go kick back & relax in the summertime? I think so. Porch swing. Big tree. River right there. Mmm. Nice. Not everybody had quite this much land, but they all looked pretty appealing.

OK, back to the industrial bits -

In the first picture, did you notice the recycling? There's a whole stretch along here that's bulkheaded with barges that had outlived their usefulness as floating goods transport. Ran 'em up on the bank, sank 'em & there they stay.


Some of them had some good sized trees growing on them, they'd been where they were a while.


Leroy. Brown, but not the one with the song. This one's a gravel barge. Still in use, and not as a bulkhead.


Tugs Mark A & Charlie H, tied up to Leroy. Maybe ready to head downstream on Friday, when the locks are open.


And that's it for tonight, and I'm just about done with my Allegheny River pictures. I just get such a kick out of paddling someplace totally new and different.

Although I'm also excited that I might go to paddle in an old familiar place this weekend - the club is doing a trip up along the NJ Palisades. That always used to be one of my favorite paddles back when I was storing my boats on the Hudson, especially in the fall. Had a great hike there with TQ last fall, and it would be awfully nice to get back there in a boat again.

Only thing that makes it a "might" is I'm having a very very very long week at work, and I don't know if I'll be able to roust myself out of bed to meet at the club at 7:30 am - even with the clock switch.

Wonder if anybody could be cajoled into a stop for Japanese goodies on the drive home. That would be quite a motivator. Somehow, though, I doubt that would be quite as appealing to the rest of the gang.