Juniata River June 25 & 26, 2010

I had my first paddle on the Juniata River.  We camped at Buttonwood Campground in Mexico, PA.  This is about half way between State College and Harrisburg.  The campground is geared towards Kayakers with rentals, shuttles, and their own ramp access to the river.  On Friday morning we went up stream to water trail mile marker 36 just above Mifflintown at a PA Fish and Boat Commission ramp.  We paddled back down to the Campground which is at marker 30.

The water was moving at about 3 mph ( per gps ) so you could float along at a pretty good clip.  It was stinking hot!  There are few rapids and no hazards in this stretch.  

Day Two we put in at the campground ( mile marker 30 ) and paddled down to marker 26.  In this stretch you are more likely to see eagles ( which we did see 1 that day ).  The 4 miles on this stretch seemed to go much quicker than the 6 miles the day before.  

A fun paddle, I would highly recommend it.  Very popular spot for kayakers.  In fact, the day after we put in above Mifflintown, they were preparing for a launch of 87 kayaks at the same time the next morning!  We had  children in tow on both days and had no problems.