Kayaking with Scott

Scott loved to go kayaking and each of us had our own kayak, including Jaelyn.  Our last kayaking trip together was in May of this year.  It was quite the adventurous trip.  We planned to kayak a section of the Swatara Creek.  I remember that as we were packing up to leave home that Scott was frustrated because he had “lost” his boat straps at his parent’s house that he normally used to tie the kayaks to the vehicles.  As a result, we only had one boat strap and Scott had to improvise with rope which takes even longer to secure.  Scott was always super cautious (sometimes overly) to make sure that the ropes were tight and the kayaks were secure. 

We left our blazer at the Lickdale Campground which was to be our take out spot.  We put in the kayaks up towards Pine Grove at Swopes Valley Road.  It was a beautiful warm day and we started out right after lunch.   The creek was perfect depth for kayaking, not too shallow and not too fast.  When we kayak with Jaelyn she likes to take frequent breaks to explore, so we were about thirty minutes into the trip when Jaelyn wanted to take the first break.  We were approaching a right hand bend in the creek and straight ahead at the bend was a rocky beach-like area.  Our intent was to stop there and get out of the kayaks for a few minutes. 

All went as planned with Jaelyn and Scott as they were to the left side of the creek.  I was farther to the right than they were heading up to the beach and got caught in a strong current going around the bend.  I initially tried to fight the current which proved impossible.  As I got the kayak turned around to ride the current around the bend and then pull over, the current pushed me up against a tree sticking up out of the water in the middle of the creek (left over from the flooding a year ago).  I instantly realized I was in trouble, before I could get unstuck, the current flipped me over.  It was then that I realized that not only was the current too strong to fight against, it was also too deep to touch.  The kayak and I were swept up against a bunch of trees and flood debris from last year.  I was able to push off and float the current out to where I could maneuver myself into calm water.  The kayak was mostly submerged up against the trees and branches.  I managed to snag a few items that had floated out of the kayak when I flipped. 

Scott came to my rescue.  Thankfully, we had a dry sack in the kayak and a waterproof camera case that uncharacteristically we had snapped to the seat, so these items did not get swept away.  Scott worked and worked trying to free the kayak.  It was extremely difficult due to the current, depth of the water (Scott couldn’t touch either), and the kayak being full of water weighing what seemed like a ton.  It took Scott about an hour to get the kayak freed and the rescued items returned to the kayak. 

We were concerned about Jaelyn’s ability to kayak by herself through this section, so Scott took my kayak (his was too small for two people) back upstream, had Jaelyn ride with him, and towed her kayak through this section.  For the remainder of the trip, every time we approached an area of “rapids,” Scott would paddle ahead and coach us through the section.  At least one section, we had Jaelyn get out and walk along the bank around the worst part. 

About an hour after the flip, I realized that I lost my rings right off my hand when I flipped.  Thankfully they were not my wedding and engagement rings, but simply a cheap replacement pair that I was wearing until my original set fit me again.  I am infinitely grateful now that it was not my wedding and engagement rings that I lost.  I also lost one of Scott’s baseball caps.  We also realized that the one boat strap that makes it easy to secure the kayaks to the vehicle was lost in the creek. 

The rest of the trip passed uneventfully and was very relaxing.  We had a very good day on the creek.  After getting out of the creek at the Lickdale Campground, we began getting all the equipment together to pack up.  When Scott began putting the kayaks on the blazer, we realized that this was the first time we had tried to put the kayaks on the blazer.  Scott had put two by fours on the van to widen the roof rack to allow us to fit two kayaks on top (Jaelyn’s kayak was put inside).  This was the moment when we realized that both kayaks were not going to fit on the blazer.    This was when everything started getting interesting.  The blazer’s gas gauge was on empty which would normally not be a problem since the campground is right next to a gas station.  However, both Scott and I realized that we had both left our wallets locked in the van.  We didn’t think that the blazer had enough gas to go get the van and come back.  So, we hid one kayak in the brush and took the other kayaks back to our house.  We had to borrow cash from Jaelyn in order to get gas in the blazer.  By that time it was starting to get dark. We were able to go pick up the van and return to the Lickdale Campground to pick up the last kayak.  We had to park the van in such a way that the headlights shone on the blazer so Scott could see to tie the kayak on the top.  Because Scott didn’t have his boat straps and had to use rope, it took significantly longer to fasten the kayaks at the end of the trip.

We got home exhausted that night.  I don’t remember arguing with Scott on that trip, despite all the upsets and fiascos.  This trip was just one example of what life with Scott was like.  Nothing ever went according to plan and I learned to go with the flow and not let detours and roadblocks stress me out too much.  Scott often talked about writing down stories from all his various travels and I regret that I didn’t encourage him and push him harder to do this.  He was an incredible story-teller even if he did tend to stretch things a little bit at times.    I wanted to put this story to paper so that I didn’t forget the details, although I’m sure with the months that have passed since this happened that I have forgotten some details.  I just remember that it was a positive feeling from that trip.