Upcoming Trips
Tuckahoe Tours LVKCC
2023 Spring Trip
May 19-22, 2023
It’s time to make plans for our spring kayaking weekend. We’ll be paddling the creeks and rivers of Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Our base will be Tuckahoe State Park, and the campsites need to be booked immediately.
We’ll be paddling from Friday, May 19, to Monday, May 22. There are campsites and a few basic cabins available for the full weekend, but they are being snatched up already. To make sure you have one, go here to book: https://parkreservations.maryland.gov/. When you book your site, make sure you select Tuckahoe in the park drop-down list. You’ll find tabs to select a campsite or a cabin (under lodging) across the top of the page. Plug in the dates – Friday, May 19, to Monday, May 22 – and select your site.
Paddlers will be responsible for making their own reservations. Talk to your camping buddies and double up on the sites. This is a state park campground and the sites are not cramped. Two vehicles and six people are allowed on each site.
We’ll do our Friday warm-up paddle on Lake Tuckahoe in the park. Saturday and Sunday, paddles will be scheduled on the nearby creeks and rivers. There will be a mix of nature paddles on well-protected creeks and distance, open water events. At one end of the scale, a trip on bucolic Tuckahoe Creek should satisfy the nature nerds. A 15-mile paddle across the wide, lower end of the Chester River and around Eastern Neck will offer a good challenge for the voyage-minded. Between the two extremes will be a trip to the quiet waters around Wye Island.
The club has booked a large pavilion at the park for Friday. We’ll do sign-ups there Friday morning starting at 10 a.m. and get together again for a cookout Friday evening.
Once you have a site booked, please send an email to Dave Dawson, dl-dawson@rcn.com with your name and phone number, your campsite number, and the boat you’ll be paddling. Also include the names and email addresses of anyone who will be sharing the site with you. If you cannot find a site and want to share one with another paddler, send Dave a note. Several campers have booked sites they are willing to share.
We’ll figure out all the nitty gritty details in the spring. But for now, you need to reserve your space.
Borderline Paradise
LVKCC 2023 Fall Trip
Sept 15-18
Reservations open this week for our Fall 2023 weekend trip to Wellesley Island State Park. It’s a huge and very popular park in the Thousand Islands region on the New York-Canada border. Paddlers will reserve their own site, and can do so anytime beginning this Thursday, Dec. 15.
The park on Wellesley Island is right in the middle of this beautiful, fresh water archipelago in the St. Lawrence River. We’ll plan long and short paddles as always. We will be camping a stone’s throw from the Canadian border, but all paddles will take place in U.S. waters so passports and covid cards will not be required. Google location here: https://goo.gl/maps/HWi1s196jxxChkXy7
To grab a site, go to Wellesley Island State Park: https://parks.ny.gov/parks/52
Click on “Camping Reservation.” Plug in the start date, Sept. 15, and set the search for 3 nights in Loop E (Eagle) if a campsite is good for you. If you want electric or full hookup, you’ll need to make a broader search. If you’ve never reserved a site at a New York state park, you’ll have to create an account when you check out. Here’s a map of the campground: https://parks.ny.gov/documents/parks/WellesleyIslandWellesleyIslandParkMap.pdf
The Eagle area will be the focus of our activities. We can launch from these sites or from the boat launch close by. There may also be a cabin available, but because two-week reservations are permitted in the fall, they may all be gone. The Chipmunk Cabins are nearby and are very basic. The cottages in the Eel Bay group are complete with bathrooms.
Two cars are allowed per site, so double up with your paddling friends.
The park is just a 4 ½ to 5-hour drive from the Lehigh Valley — an easy highway run up Route 81. The weather in September is comfortable and the water is still warm from the summer.
We’ll put together all the details next summer. The announcement now is an alert to grab a site while they are available. Those choice waterfront sites in particular won’t last long. If you reserve a site, please send an email to Dave Dawson dl-dawson@rcn.com with the site number, your phone number and the boat you will be paddling.
