The Schuylkill River Heritage Area held it’s 10th Annual Schuylkill River Sojourn in June, taking a record 250 participants on a 110-mile, seven-day guided canoe/kayak tour.

Not only did the sojourn have record participation—up from 195 registrants in 2007—it also featured unique programming at evening campsites and lunch stops. The Schuylkill River Heritage Area partnered with the Philadelphia-based American Philosophical Society Museum (best known for having educated the Lewis and Clark expedition) to create programming tied to the museums exhibit titled “Undaunted: Five American Explorers, 1760-2007.”

Sojourners paddling 14-18 miles per day became field explorers of the river. They kept journals in handcrafted books, collected and pressed plant specimens daily, and sampled the river water at every major stop.

Since its inception in 1999, the sojourn has attracted more than 1,500 participants and garnered support annually from more than 70 public and private partners. It is a fun and educational event that draws attention to the river as a valuable natural, recreational, historic and economic resource.

Paddlers not only discover unfamiliar places, but, through entertaining evening and lunch programs, they learn about the river’s role in history and its continued importance as a source of drinking water for over one million people.

6/20/2008