Hi. I am thinking about swimming from the N Side near the Clemente Bridge to WA Landing. I hear that there are several downed trees in the water that could make this difficult. I am hoping to get in contact w someone from TRRA or Kayak Pgh who knows the waterway there and can give me the scoop. Thanks!
Sarah, I've seen at least a couple of trees within, say, 30 yards of the shoreline, in the first 1/4 mile upriver of Kayak Pittsburgh. They are usually exposed to some degree, although I'm not sure how visible they'll be from swimmers-eye height.
There are several trees in the water. I don't know how many as the kayak has a pretty small profile in the water, so I'm sure I skid right over most of them without noticing. I'd stay out from shore a good distance. If you're training on a weekend or evening, I'd be happy to go down there and kayak out in front of you and alert of any impending dangers.
take dan up on this, having a kayak with you for safety and to help fend off Drunky McBoaterson on his way to tie up and get shitfaced at the bucs game is a good idea.
I am the ring leader for the Pgh Tri Club open water swim group. We swim every Friday from TRRA on WA Landing at 6:30 when there is no CSO warning posted.
I was thinking if a group of swimmers met at 4:45 p.m. or so before the group swim we could swim from the Kayak Pgh ramp upstream to the group swim on WA Landing. The date I have in mind is Fri 8/27. It's only 2.1 miles.
I could prlly breast stroke over the trees, I'd guess. It'd be nice to know when they are coming.
I certainly would not turn down a friendly Kayak escort. 
Right now my plan is to be sitting somewhere alongside the C&O enjoying a beer at 4:45pm on 8/27. If I flake out on that trip I'll be down for a paddle.
Besides the trees there are plenty of ducks, people fishing, and random trash in that area. If you keep a decent gap between you and the shore, it should be fine. I haven't had too many problems with motor traffic in that area - they stick to the middle or far side for the most part.
Sarah, I might have met you last week and not even realized it. I came about twenty minutes late with somebody else and it took me an incredibly long time to complete the swim to the bridge and back. You know any good swim instructorsclinics around here?
Pierce, yes that was me! Your friend and I swim together at Pitt. The person I was talking to at the picnic table (Suzanne) does swim clinics for beginning swimmers.
http://www.steelcityendurance.com/
Or you can come tomorrow morning at 5:45 a.m. to Team Pitt masters with Jessica and me. It's fun, truthfully.
i work at kayak pittsburgh and can give you information about the water between 6th st and 31st street, what do you want to know?
Cool, Mark! Hooray! Ok, first thing, I am a fairly experienced open water swimmer, so I know what I am doing. Just so you don't think I am jumping into this...
Here's what I am curious about:
* the depth about 25 - 50m from shore, which is where I will likely swim.
* the location and potential danger of submerged fallen trees and other stuff;
* how active that barge area is in the little industrial cut-out deal off the trail there between Heinz lofts and the industry on River Rd.
* how active the boat traffic is there -- I usually only see rowers.
I am aware of the trash and ppl fishing, and of course the Allegheny white fish, lol.
Thanks!
the depth in that range is anywhere between 3-15 ft, just depends how the bottom has stacked up there, average is probably 6-8ft. on clear days (AKA days when the water isn't full of sewage and its safe to swim) you can usually start seeing the bottom at around 2 ft, so you'll know if its close, i think the max depth in the area is less than 20, and even in the middle i think its only dredged to 10ft
there are 3 or 4 places where there are trees, if you want I could probably get you a free kayak (unless you don't mind paying, then you can do it anytime) after 3 any day next week and they are fairly obvious, i know some people that do serious swimming there have people that kayak beside them
you don't have to worry about barges at all where you will be swimming, they almost never come inside the series of bridge supports on that side of the river, giving you a good 200ft+ between you and ANY motorized boats following the law... the old scrap place that i think you are referring to closed up shop last summer and hasn't opened at all this summer, i haven't seen it used at all but that doesn't mean it isn't.
boat traffic depends on the weather, you'll never see boat traffic on the inside of the series of bridge supports closest to the northside, on a busy day (good weather, or weekend) you'll probably see about 10 boats an hour... holiday weekends and really nice saturdays its a good bit more, most weekdays its less than that though dawn till dusk, you'll probably have about 2 boats an hour that make waves big enough to be annoying, and rarely ever any that are big enough to be difficult
Sweet! I'll be out of town most of next week and the week after, although that's a super-generous offer and I thank you. Probably I'd just pay since I'd like to support Kayak Pgh anyway, tho.
It's good to know other swimmers have thought of this. I think the swim from there to WA Landing is totally do-able. I am encouraged by this info. Thanks again!
I'm painfully aware of the sewer issue and always check the ACHD and SOAK status before swimming.
Maybe I'll get lucky and encounter some happy kayakers that don't mind keeping an eye out for us when/if we go to swim.
on any given nice day if you just sit around a bit there are probably boats going out at least every half hour... the next10 days there is a summer camp that goes out @ 1 every day.
i appreciate you paying kayak pgh (i know not everyone can... but it pays my bills!)
Kayaking looks like fun but I have to admit it scares the daylights out of me. I dont know if I could do it.. is there like a beginners class or something?
I would like to try and im thinking it could be something else I could do to get moving.
Various people (including me, rarely) teach beginner kayak classes for VO. There's no reason you can't do it. The Kayak Pittsburgh boats are barges, they're slow and stable and very well suited for beginners.
It's solid exercise, it can be fun, and it's a good way to build up some muscles that cycling won't. But if you want to burn the most calories in the least time, the best way to do that is to use the biggest muscles you have.
Lyle,
not so much burning calories as getting moving. What is VO?
yeah it is the stable thing that scares me. I have this vision of tipping over and drowning upside down in the water.
I really just want to find more things I can do outside. Im tired of being a pale soft inside person.
@dback, if you arent wearing a skirt its really easy to get out of a kayak, even upside-down. as far as i can recall, none of the kayak pittsburgh kayaks have skirts, and even if they did, its generally optional.
VO = Venture Outdoors.
You may indeed tip over. But these kayaks have open cockpits and you come right out, just like you would if you tipped over in a canoe.
Also, if you take one of the beginners' classes, there are plenty of experienced paddlers and swimmers standing by to help.
@cburch, The KP kayaks don't have skirts, and it's not even optional... Which is fine, as their open season is so short that it's not cold enough to bear using one anyway.
well I feel much better about this, I am so gonna have to try this out.
@lyle, that's what i figured.
Mark,
I saw that camp leaving the ramp a week or two ago. It was total bedlam. One of the kids had capsized and was swimming back to the ramp, half of the group was going downriver away from the counselors, etc. It was hilarious.
I am thinking of trying this on Fri 9/3 leaving around 5 pm from Kayak pgh over to WA landing. Any swimmers or kayakers out there interested in coming with?
Heavy storms/poor water quality cancel.
dbacklover - kayaking is AWESOME. You won't tip. You have to try REALLY hard to tip a kayak. I took a class once where we had to practice rolling over (and then rolling back up), and it was a LOT of work to get upside down - that was in a pool, white water scares me (too fast) but rivers and oceans are awesome.
sarah_q and all the other open water swimmers - you guys have guts. Once in summer camp I was floating along in a creek watching the dragonflies land on my tummy when something *fuzzy* brushed my leg. I only vaguely recall the screaming and flailing and half drowning that ensued. Turns out I was only in about 18 inches of water (I thought it was 4 feet) and it was moss. But I just knew at the time it was a rabid underwater raccoon come to drag me off to an abandoned beaver den where it would torture me by devouring me one excruciating bite at a time. The thought of swimming anywhere near creepy downed trees (which are obviously homes for evil vindictive water nymphs, coming to steal swimmers' souls) gives me the willies, even sitting in my dry office at work.
Sarah - you said it's about 2.1 miles, right? I've been meaning to go to another river swim, so I'd be interested, assuming nothing comes up. Especially since the large pool at Trees STILL hasn't re-opened.
But I just knew at the time it was a rabid underwater raccoon come to drag me off to an abandoned beaver den where it would torture me by devouring me one excruciating bite at a time
someone watches way to many movies
I too find underwater trees creepy and I am freaked out by water life. But I love swimming. I am freaked out by buses, getting doored, idiots on cell phones, etc. but I still ride.
Jessica, yep, it's a little over 2 miles, and upstream, so that adds an extra bit-o-fun.
Then I was going to go ahead and swim to the 40th St bridge and back with the tri club. I figure we can beg a ride off someone back downstream to get your car (or in my case bike) where we left it.
You have to try REALLY hard to tip a kayak.
Hm, that depends on the kayak, and the person. I bet I could put you in a kayak that you have to try really hard to keep upright. I don't know why your class used such stable boats to teach rolling when it's so much easier if the boat wants to roll. Maybe that's just what they had available, or maybe they figured that learning with the harder boats makes the skill really stick.
And given the same kayak, a heavier person will displace more volume than a lighter one, which affects the stability of the boat. I say this not to discourage dbacklover, but simply to reassure him that in the event that he does dump, it's not because he's supremely incompetent, or because people were lying to him.
Incidentally, the weather forecast for Friday includes t-storms. I can't kayak with you this friday anyway, but if you get rained out, I might be able to make the rain date.
I hope it doesn't rain! I am training for a 5k swim in a few weeks. Once it rains it takes forever for the rivers to clear up again.
However, I love OWS and I would def take any kayaker up on an escort offer at any time. Thanks so much!
fyi: VO has a beginner's paddle event tonight. The fee is less or roughly the same as the KP kayak rental fee for the same duration.
ejwme ...evil vindictive water nymphs...
It's OK. The nymphs are all down with Sarah, even the bad-tempered ones.
I suspected she had powers beyond most mortals 
I definitely watch too many movies... I think i'll try looking at it from Lady in the Water perspective rather than Swamp Thing.
It doesn't look like there's much water in that channel by the rowing club, below is a picture I took yesterday from the top of the walkway by the club ...
Wow, what happened? It's not usually like this? Thanks for the heads up!
Also that weird pipe in the foreground is not too appetizing, is it?
Pittsburgh only got 1.68" rain in all of August, about half of normal. The last big rain was Aug 14-15, and not at all since Aug 23. It's just dry.
Source: http://www.weather.gov/climate/index.php?wfo=pbz and get the CF6 and CLM reports for August.
Ha, the pipe - I didn't notice that till you mentioned it. It must be related to the big trucks with pipes coming out of them by the rowing club. They've been there for a week or two. Its crazy but maybe they've been sucking water out.
Are they Alcosan trucks? Those are vacuum cleaners.
They weren't Alcosan, some company I can't remember the name of. Somebody else that rides that trail might know, you can't miss them.
We can walk on water. Ha!
Alcosan usually pumps crap into the river, not suck it out. Literally.
So the water is low... that's what I am making of this. I am afraid to swim around the other side of the Island due to marina boat traffic. Hmmm...
TRR said the channel is passable and they don't have any boats going out tomorrow night so we should be in the clear to hang in the middle of the back channel.
