Kayak Launch

Columbia River Park is a great destination for locals and visitors looking to enjoy some outdoor recreation. Our canoe, kayak, and boat launches are open to anyone with Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission permits. You can also rent kayaks from Chiques Rock Outfitters or go on one of their guided tours. Susquehanna National Heritage Area also hosts guided paddles, information about witch can be found at http://www.susquehannaheritage.org/events/

The Susquehanna River is incredibly old; geologists estimate her age to be about 340 million years. Geologic time frames can be hard to fathom, but to put it into perspective, the river is older than:

• Pangea (335 million years old)
• The mountains through which the Susquehanna flows (325-300 myo)
• Dinosaurs (245 myo)
• The first flowers (125 myo)
• Almost every other river on Earth

Therefore, humans have only existed for the tiniest fraction of the river's history, but the river has touched the life of every human that has ever existed in this part of the world.

From this spot in the park, you can see remnants of many people's activities on the river. The first people on the river, the ancestors of the Native people known today as the Susquehannock, used dugout canoes to cross the river and fished from her banks. Today, visitors and locals use the launch on which you are standing for canoes and, another Native invention, kayaks.

As you look at the river, there is a small stream on your right. Parts of that culvert served as a canal from the 1830s until 1901. By the early 20th century, passenger and freight railroads mostly replaced the canals; three of the four bridges that predated the bridges you see before you featured railroad tracks to support the area's industry.

Speaking of past bridges, the small, regularly spaced islands that run along the Veteran's Memorial Bridge are actually all that remains of the famous 1834 bridge that Union troops destroyed in 1863 to stop the advance of the Confederate army. Today, you can paddle out to the piers on kayaks and canoes; you may even find some hidden geocaches, if you know where to look!

Bernard, Lou. The Susquehanna : One of the Oldest Rivers, www.pawilds.com. May 3rd 2021. Accessed September 3rd 2021. https://pawilds.com/the-susquehanna-one-of-the-oldest-rivers/#:~:text=The%20majority%20of%20it%20is,over%20300%20million%20years%20old..