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The 55 mile run from Franklin to East Brady is a popular trip. The river courses through the picture postcard scenery of the Appalachian Mountains with beautiful trees and wildlife including black bears. The river otter has also been reintroduced to the area and is a lot of fun to watch. “The Allegheny River is clean and great for swimming as well as fishing for large and smallmouth bass, walleye, catfish, and muskie,” said Dick Garrard of Foxburg Canoe. The river near Tionesta is also highly |
recommended for canoeing and
fishing.
The Allegheny River islands
offer unique, canoe-accessible only
places to camp, but there
are many open camp sites and
private campgrounds along the
shoreline as well.
The
Clarion River
connects with the Allegheny
just below Foxburg. It starts at
East Branch Lake in Elk State
Forest and flows south through
Ridgway, Cook Forest and
Clarion.
According to Gail Hepler at
Pale Whale Canoe in Cooksburg Continued on next page |
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| Escape the heat and find a cool breeze as you paddle along a scenic river or creek in the Wilds of Pennsylvania. The region boasts many waterways great for nature spotting, fishing, and reliving the history of the region. The West Branch of the Susquehanna makes a wide curve through Pennsylvania’s Lumber Heritage Region. In the 1800’s and early 1900’s, the river was a lifeline for our burgeoning country, transporting timber on rafts for homes, shipbuilding and mining. On the West Branch between Shawville and Keating, you can get a feeling of wilderness and view parts of the magnificent forests that define the region. According to Dave McCracken at McCracken Canoe in Clearfield, “This upper stretch is one of the nicer camping rivers in Pennsylvania and it’s not nearly as populated as some others in the area.” Game fish in the river include catfish, perch, crappie and some trout. Curwensville Lake, formed by the Curwensville Dam on the West Branch, has some of the best muskie fishing anywhere. | The West Branch of the Susquehanna was recently named “River of the Year” in Pennsylvania because it’s the most improved waterway in the state. Bald eagles, osprey and blue heron grace the air and feed along its riverbanks. Early morning and twilight are probably the best times to glimpse these beautiful birds. But, “Two boys in a canoe just last week were lucky enough to see a bald eagle catch a fish on the river in the middle of the afternoon,” McCracken said. Other regular visitors to this stretch of river include elk, whitetail deer, raccoons, porcupines and bobcats. To the west, the Allegheny River, the largest river in the region, flows through Tionesta and Foxburg. The river starts as a spring on a farm in Potter County and travels south to Pittsburgh where it joins the Monongahela to become the Ohio River. Many explorers and settlers paddled the Allegheny and it became a busy commercial waterway for transporting goods and supplies down river. The river is influenced and controlled by Kinzua Dam and always has water for canoeing, even in the driest season. |
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Let’s GO! NW Pennsylvania Great Outdoors Magazine of People, Places & EventsNext Page |
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