Trip Report by Rob Lepczyk
In the last episode, Day One of Poe Paddy Round-Up 2016, we arrived Friday morning, drank beer, got lost on dirt roads, fished, drank more beer, set up camp at Poe Paddy State Park on Penns Creek in Pennsylvania, then fished more, then we settled in and partied by the fire for hours.
The rain started at 4 am Saturday morning. It woke me up when it pitter-pattered on my camo, hammock tarp. When we all arose, it was still raining. Some of us woke up before others. Coffee was brewed, and plans were made. While avoiding the rain and nursing our hangovers, Charlie hatched the bright idea to go into town for breakfast. At first, we resisted but broke quickly.
We, Charlie, Navigator, JP and myself, drove out on the dirt roads around 9:30 am, in search of potatoes and eggs. It was still raining. We just sorta’ ended up in Millheim. But, success! We found good coffee and homemade English Muffins. Charlie got an extra treat, a favorite guitar player of his wandered in with the rest of the band to get breakfast. Charlie admitted he knew they lived there and was hoping he would see them.
This is also where the idea of the Ratskin Canoe was hatched. What was initially a caffeine-induced idea to clean up the cites of America of its rat problems, and we figured hipsters would buy the Ratskin Canoes due to the weirdness.
Wandering down the street, we found what became a favorite of TeamRatskinCanoe, Penns Valley Meat Market. This was like stepping back in time, and we loved every minute of it. We bought them out of peppered jerky and smokey beef tips and headed back to camp.
We got sidetracked on the way back. Little Poe Creek got in our way. We spent hours wandering the stream, I won’t try to describe it, I’ll let the photos tell the rest of the story.
We got back to camp much later than anticipated, the party then began: Brookies and Beer for life!
Rob Lepczyk is a former Tenkara USA endorsed guide who has a love for the land and all that it provides. You’ll likely find him minding his small farm and homestead in central New York.
This article was originally published in the Fall 2016 issue of Tenkara Angler magazine.
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