Lehigh River Whitewater: Some Links

Since I started to kayak two years ago, Lehigh River has been my major playground. It has two whitewater sections of Class 3: the Upper Gorge (Whitehaven to Rockport) and the Lower Gorge (Rockport to Glen Onoko). The Upper has more play spots and the Lower requires accurate boat control. I like them both. I’ve kayaked on the Upper five times, but I was never bored, instead, the river gave me new kinds of fun, training and surprise every time I visited it.

I was doing some research online to shovel up some facts, rapid description and area maps of the Lehigh Gorge because I have been thinking to compose several articles to depict my excitement and experience on kayaking through the Lehigh Gorge. I hope that my readers will not only share my river satisfaction but also learn more about this river and consider doing some whitewater sport as well.

Below I describe two links which I found useful:

1. Lehigh River Water Trail (http://wildlandspa.org/lrwt/)

This site is very informative. It contains river maps, access point maps, description of rapids and everything you need to know about paddling in the Lehigh River.

2. Northeast PA Kayak School (http://www.kayakschool.com/)

If you have never kayaked before and want to try it, I suggest you to take an instructional class before you head to the river since whitewater sports are accompanied with considerable risks. I personally recommend taking a class from the Northeast PA Kayak School.

The founder of the Northeast PA Kayak School, Jerry McAward, is an excellent instructor. He knows how to diagnose and fix students’ mistakes and is a fun person to be with. I also had experience with another instructor, Tim, who explains the concepts of river reading and kayak strokes in such a simple and clear way, easy for people to digest and apply to.