Canoe Trips

[Richard A James]

How many thousands of canoe trips must we have had from all three of the Camps over the years?  Just imagine the number of skeet and golf balls that were harvested from the waters around Fred Waring Shawnee Inn!

I remember a canoe trip that Dave Reed and I planned at Miller - Hagan that was all planned around couples.  We called it the First (and last) Annual Chapter and Chapterette Canoe Trip.  The basic premise being that our girl friends and boy friends of those times were "chapters" in the overall "book" of our lives.  Deep thinkers huh!  My canoe partner was Maureen Sylvester.  I can't remember if she was still a camper or a CIT at that time, but her age certainly kept me on the straight and narrow at that time.  Dave Reed's partner was Lauren ???   I believe that Curt Matchett and Dave Veil were on that trip as well.  We stopped at the old Miller site and spent a good bit of time there.  I think that ended up being pretty much the make out spot on the trip.  Maureen and I spent our time by the old alter that I think was behind the old Pioneer Unit.  In retrospect, I am surprised that the Camp management let us organize that kind of co-ed trip.  Mind you, it was all pretty innocent, at least on my end.

Can anyone else recall any of the details of that trip?  Any other especially memorable canoe trips?  I know there was at least one trip (from old Miller) where a canoe got horse-shoed on the river near Foul Rift.

[Bradley A. Mathews]

In 1973, I was part of a Canoe trip that started from Narrisburg, N.Y. and ended at Camp Miller-Hagen. This trip was sponsored by Mike Kaufman. Bob Springman and I were paired in a canoe together, don't recall all the individuals that participated in that event. While Bob and I were sleeping, we heard a growl type noise and saw these eyes in the dark. It was Our assignment to guard the canoes, so we were stationed near the river to keep watch. We thought it might be a Lynx, but eventually we speculated that it was more likely Raccoons. Whatever it was, it got into some of the foodstuffs. The length of the trip was supposed to be approximately 70 miles, don't remember exacts. We sure got our exercise in that double overnighter. Dave Hawsey was another member of that particular trip, maybe Scott Matchett too, but I don't recall.

[Lynn Sherwood Giles]

Yes, indeed. Lots of great memories of the Poconos. Still have that house in Pocono Mtn Lake Estates!

[Lynn Sherwood Giles]

Janet Riester walsh said:

Is Dave Hawsey your cousin??

Lynn Sherwood Giles said:

David Hawsey was working on the Hagan-Miller waterfront. He spotted a distinctive orange mahogany canoe floating down the river. Called the guys in the canoe on over and called the cops! They were apprehended downstream. It was the Sherwood canoe that had been recently stolen from Pocono Mtn Lake Estates. Our hero! We got the canoe back that day. Mahogany is a heavy material! Hard to imagine them loading that canoe up. Thanks cousin!

[Janet Riester walsh]

Is Dave Hawsey your cousin??

Lynn Sherwood Giles said:

David Hawsey was working on the Hagan-Miller waterfront. He spotted a distinctive orange mahogany canoe floating down the river. Called the guys in the canoe on over and called the cops! They were apprehended downstream. It was the Sherwood canoe that had been recently stolen from Pocono Mtn Lake Estates. Our hero! We got the canoe back that day. Mahogany is a heavy material! Hard to imagine them loading that canoe up. Thanks cousin!

[Lynn Sherwood Giles]

David Hawsey was working on the Hagan-Miller waterfront. He spotted a distinctive orange mahogany canoe floating down the river. Called the guys in the canoe on over and called the cops! They were apprehended downstream. It was the Sherwood canoe that had been recently stolen from Pocono Mtn Lake Estates. Our hero! We got the canoe back that day. Mahogany is a heavy material! Hard to imagine them loading that canoe up. Thanks cousin!

[Jay Herr]

At the bend in the river near the Shawnee Inn was a favorite spot to dive for golf balls. My first time there was shortly after I got glasses, and I wasn't used to them yet. Yes...I dove in for the golf balls and came up without my glasses. Made for a blurry week at camp.

[Gay Staudenmaier Moceri]

At one of the Hagan reunions, we were leisurely canoeing down the Delaware after a stop for lunch at the rocks just north of Hagan. It began to pour. And lightening! There we were in aluminum canoes on the river in a lightening storm. Sue Davit, former B&C DP, just kept screaming, "Paddle; paddle as hard as you can!" I don't think that was what we taught the campers! LOL

[Judy Meseroll Scalzitti]

When I was a camper at Miller -Hagan, in the Unit, I believe, I was on a canoe trip with Susie Wagner as the Hagan counselor(don't remember the Miller counselor). We stopped at Shawnee Inn, because it ws pouring rain and we wanted to get out of the storm. We took shelter in the golf cart storage shed for about 30 minutes. When it was evident that it wasn't going to stop raining, we headed back down the river bank to our canoes to get moving in order to meet our pick up time down stream. Susie stepped on a glas sbottle and cut her foot really badly. A staff member of the Shawnee Inn, came by in a Golf Cart and once we flagged him down, he took Susie to the First Aid building for treatment. We were told to meet our counselors across the foot bridge and we went over to the Inn, walked in the front door and came to face to face with a white carpet! We jumped from each large colored dot on the carpet until we reached the Front Desk only to be looked down upon by the Inn staff and asked to go around to the Service Entrance! A little humiliating . . but we found Susie, and, got the canoes loaded on trailers from camp and headed back to camp. Quite the trip!!!

[Gay Staudenmaier Moceri]

I spent two years in Hagan's B&C department. Lots of time spent on the river. Lots of calluses on my hands after 8 weeks on the water. I remember one canoe trip to Kittatinny where one of the old, brown, canvas canoes hit a rock in the rapids and cracked! Many, many painful memories of carrying those canoes down the million steps to Hagan's waterfront. Wouldn't trade one minute of it though.

[Dave Veil]

Rich,

Dave Reed's friend was probably Lauren Millard. No, I was not on that trip and no, neither Kurt nor his brother Scott Matchett were ever anything more than friends.....