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Vikings on the Susquehanna?
We found this picture and note in the in-basket:
"Here's a photo from the Mazzerese group last weekend I thought you would enjoy. We had a real blast."
There just might be times when we don't want to know what our rental customers are up to?
Seriously, we love receiving notes and photos like this from our river going patrons. If you happen to have any fun photos from past trips with us, please send them in. |
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Big Water, Little Boat
Creek? Yellow Breeches.
Boat? Fluid Vaya. Paddler?
Paddler? BMO regular Tony Reilly, following in Dad's footsteps.
photo by Dad: Pat Reilly
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This clearly falls within the "Stupid River Tricks" category. Don't try this at home -- leave this to the "professionals": Topher, in this case. Does anybody have a bottle of 303; let's make this a little more interesting?
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Photos by: Tom Wilhelm |
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Here's one of the local 'kids' enjoying himself way too much. |
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Bob B. on Codorus |
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Several years ago BMO suffered a loss when the family pet anole died. Bill (named because he had a habit of constantly chasing the female anole, Monica) dried out pretty quickly, and since Mary hadn't gotten around to burying him and he looked so cool, she decided to use him to start a dreamcatcher. Kris donated a salamander, a mouse, and a snakeskin he found outside a neighborhood bar (thanks, Kris!); various butterflies, dragonflies, dobsonflies, and other flying creatures were added by our employees, a customer (who asked to remain anonymous, but had a very vampirish look) brought in a bat, and the collection grew rapidly, including one of the notorious 2004 17-year cicadas (we swear we can still hear him!) Mary's always on the lookout for anything new, dead, and lightweight to add -- her family is relieved that they finally know what to get her for Christmas! |
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Mary's Dreamcatcher |
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| Here's a blast from the past! Mary's son Greg (who's now college age) giving a new meaning to the term "Squirt Boater" |
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Greg Squirtin |
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Doug and the rest of his crew assure Mary every year that they work themselves to the bone on the Annual Schuylkill River Sojourn. This photo from 2004, however, seems to show someone with entirely too much time on his hands. (Moral: If you choose to sleep suspended, be VERY sure you have complete trust in your campmates!) |
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Putting Tie Down Straps to Good Use |
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Canadian Style Greenland Paddle |
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Go away for a couple days, and you never know what's going to show up! Lately it was this "one of a kind" (at least we think so!) Canadian Style Greenland Paddle, courtesy of Mike McCrea. (Figures -- what else would you expect from someone who formed, and proudly paddles with, a group called the "Menacing Duckheads"?) |
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War Canoe Full of Duckheads |
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And speaking of Duckheads, here's a whole boat load of them, competing in the Wye Island Regatta which entails a 12.6 mile trip around Wye Island on the Chesapeake Bay. This year (2006) was their third year of using BMO's Bloody Mary (the war canoe) for this race and they've been quite competitive, especially in rough conditions. For more information about the race, here's a link: Wye Island Regatta (opens new window). |
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History of the Bloody Mary |
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Right at the end of Sledding Season in 2001, Blue Mountain Outfitters purchased the Bloody Mary: our 22', 8 man, War Canoe. Our virgin run was on the Susquehanna River (of course), it was darn cold out, the wind was so strong that you had to protect tight fitting, nit beanies from blowing off, and, you guessed it, the wind was in our face. This behemoth is great -- we had 7 people on board and we pushed through that wind with no problem -- any other canoe would have been going backwards.
Part way through the trip we ran into Reilly, so we put him on board the big boat and towed his kayak down the river. When we got to the Dauphin Narrows we decided to try a little wave surfing -- it was smooooth. Eddy hopping and attaining weren't a problem either.
With everyone in one canoe, no one gets left behind and no one races ahead -- in fact, for people who usually paddle solo or tandem, it is strange that no matter how hard or easy you paddle , multiple conversations are always present.
After the several more shakedown runs we put this boat in service as a river tour boat. Depending on conditions, we run this boat with one or two of our people as crew and 6 or so clients. Everybody gets a paddle. We've been able to provide river access to a broader range of people under a broader rage of conditions and do it the way it should be done -- by paddle power.
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This is one of our favorite non-paddling activites: sledding on Second Mountain. We've had a few knees and fingers get banged up, but nothing too serious.
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Texas Dan Sliding Down Second Mountain |
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New Years Day 2001 |
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The Blue Mountain crew does an annual New Years Day trip each year and we think that we're up to about 9 years in a row without any swimmers (intentional or otherwise), except for a little polling activity at the takeout in 2006. This is not to say that there weren't some close calls and that a bit of luck wasn't involved. |
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New Years Day 2006 |
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fun & games