The first time white water caught, and intrigued, this young
boy’s eye was at Ohiopyle, in southwestern Pennsylvania. The name Ohiopyle
stems from an extinct Native American language meaning, “it turns very white.”
Why? The focal point of Ohiopylye State Park is more than 14 miles of the
Youghiogheny River Gorge that provides some of the best white water rafting in
the Eastern United States. It contains class II-V rapids. As a kid, I couldn’t
help but want to be in them.
Coming from Oklahoma, there aren’t many white water rapids.
At least, there aren’t many white water rapids that could be defined by class.
When we got to Michigan I heard that there were kayaks at our disposal. That
child-like excitement returned. True, there weren’t rapids in Lake Superior.
However, there were white-capped waves and glass like water… all on the same
beach.
We spent the time discovering how big was too big, when it
came to waves. We used the kayaks as transportation to visit the neighbors,
down beach, for happy hour. And, simply tooling around in the bay as the sun
set, was majestic.
Now that I’ve finally got my rookie appearance out of the
way, I’m looking forward to where Liz and I will kayak next. As far as Ohiopyle
goes, it will happen sooner than later.
