A Fall Paddle on the Brandywine

Sunday, October 3, 2021 

Hi Blog!

Our current campground, the Philadelphia/West Chester KOA (which is actually located in Embreeville), sits on the banks of the West Branch of Brandywine Creek. When last we camped here in 2014, we did not have kayaks. We could have rented one of the campground's canoes pictured below, but epic rain made the creek difficult to paddle. While, we have had our fair share of rain during our stay this time, the creek seems to have settled down enough for us to launch our kayaks.

The West Branch Brandywine Creek is a 33-mile-long tributary of Brandywine Creek in Chester County. It is not often we get to launch our kayaks from our campground. Since our campsite sits high above the creek, we did ask Dusty to bring the kayaks down to the boat launch.

The West Branch Brandywine Creek is a favorite layover for migrating Canada Geese. The farm fields across the creek from our campground made a great landing spot. The geese then slide right into the water. Or, in this case, quickly leave the water as noisy kayakers approach.

While, the creek had a few feet of water in certain sections, there were other sections where our kayaks just barely skimmed over the gravel bottom. The deep slow areas made for great reflective photos.

This area of the Brandywine Valley was the America's paper milling center and the major supplier to the print shop of Benjamin Franklin in Philadelphia. In 1776, the mills supplied the paper to print currency for the colonies and the Continental Congress, including the Declaration of Independence. Those early businesses gave way to the railroad line that runs along the creek. 

The folks that live on the other side of the tracks have placed their own private dock along the banks.

While peak color is not expected in this part of Pennsylvania until October 22nd, we are seeing signs of fall all around us.

As we paddled up stream, each riffle we encountered provided us with plenty of challenges, while the calm areas between the riffles gave us plenty of photo opportunities.

This quiet pool was once a favorite with the kids. We noticed an old rope and chain hanging from a tree. As we looked about, the old tire that was once connected to the rope lay abandoned in the bottom of the pool.

Hurricane Ida was not kind to this part of Pennsylvania. There are still 9 bridges out in Chester County, including the Embreeville Bridge down the street from the campground. Huge trees were uprooted and floated downstream on the flood, where they beached themselves on a gravel bar. Luckily, we were able to paddle around the deadfall without having to portage.

We were surprised to see fly fishermen on the creek. While the creek is stocked with trout in April, the stocking is done several miles north of Coatesville. As the creek levels go down in the summer, so do the number of trout. 

These said they were after bass. We told them of a big pool just downstream from the fallen trees behind them. We don't know if they ever tried that spot, but it certainly had a large number of big fish in it.

As we approached the bridge of Laurel Road, both our kayaks bottomed out. We decided that this would be our turnaround. We managed to kayak upstream for a little over a mile.

The return trip to the campground was more of a float downstream than a paddle. It was a beautiful day to be out on the water.

We drifted by so slowly, the geese didn't even bother to more.

When we first put in, it seemed there were two competing gaggles of geese. The two groups were facing off like the Sharks and Jets of West Side Story. We were happy to paddle away from all the uproar. However, when we returned, they appeared to be one large happy family.

We drifted by as dozen of geese were taking a bath. We caught this guy in mid-splish-splash!

Just past our campground is the Embreeville Dam. To the left of the dam is the old mill race which leads to the Embreeville Mill. The rains from Hurricane Ida raced through the mill race and damaged a portion of the Embreeville Bridge. It may be months before the bridge can be repaired.

We finished our paddle and brought the boats back to camp to dry out. More rain is expected, so we are not sure what adventures await us in the remainder of our stay here.