Shuttle Logistics

Paddling, like hiking is a pretty linear endeavor. I suppose that lots of hikes are circular in nature and it is possible to raft "the loop" on the Youghiogheny River without driving back from the end of the trip, but on the West Branch, there is always a Shuttle. The longest shuttle was the trip back from Renovo and in 2006, we relied on Steve Hershey to run the shuttle and leave his Jeep at the put in at Shawville. For the majority of the trips, Harry's uncle, Harold "Buddy" Borger ran us back from Karthaus to Shawville.

Alan, Harry, Buddy, Chris

The other detail that Harry and Buddy worked out for the trips was where we parked the cars at Karthaus. A look at the well maintained Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission Take Out might give one cause to wonder why we don't just leave our cars in the parking lot there. Well, the Take Out wasn't always located where it is now and it certainly wasn't even close to as developed. Combine the state of the initial take out location with stories of vehicle break-ins that Harry had observed on the Shenandoah River and it might be a little understandable why Harry didn't want us parking our vehicles where they couldn't be watched. As it turns out, Buddy has a friend in Karthaus named William Paul and Mr. Paul has been graciously allowing us to park in his yard since 1982.

Even though Buddy and Mr. Paul never paddled with us, they always were an integral part of our West Branch experience. Mr. Paul continues to help us out on the trip. Buddy passed away on New Year's Day, 2001. He had battled Scleroderma for many years and was acutely ill for several months in 2000. Buddy was a good friend to us and he was also a very active citizen in his hometown, Snowshoe. He was the Mayor for a few years, served as a Snowshoe Police Officer was president of the Lion's Club, was judge of elections and was scoutmaster for Boy Scout Troop 50. Buddy was also an active woodworker and shared his catalog of items that he would make for others when he drove our shuttle.

There have been others who have helped us with the shuttle over the years. In 1988, Buddy had a conference to attend so his friend Don Gillette drove us back from Karthaus. In 2002, we "base camped" at Miller's Landing so no shuttle was needed; but the logistic stories for that year are enough to take up another post.

With the exception of 2004, from 2001 to 2005, Harry's cousin Delbert ran the shuttle for us. 2005 was the most confusing of the shuttles. We had a small group put in at the Rolling Stone bridge and at Shawville, half of us loaded up at the Shawville Methodist Church and boat ramp on river left while the other half of the group felt energetic and carried their gear down the hill the the river bank opposite us. We had used the right side of the river for years but abandoned that put in due to the length and steepness of the hill leading to the river bank. The is not much space at that spot either and we are, after all getting older. To make a long story short, coordinating the three groups was problematic and resulted in a quite lengthy shuttle. I have a feeling that we drove Delbert a little crazy that year.

After the shuttle of 2006, when Steve bailed us out, we decided to pay a little extra and have the good folks at McCracken Canoe run the shuttle for us. McCracken's is located on 970, just up from our "old" put in. The can be reached at mccrackencanoe.com.