click the pic for the other Rock Garden gallery

the Rock Garden

Paddlers in the Connewago Canoe Club called it the Rock Garden; a string of boulders strewn across the Susquehanna below Wrightsville. It looks like an oceanscape from a far corner of the Pacific, complete with gulls of various kinds (among others: ring-billed and the great black backed, the largest gull in the world), terns, herons, cormorants, plovers, sandpipers and occasional eagles. Duck hunters set blinds on a few of the islands. Fish hatchlings and fry hang out in the shadows of the rocks, escaping larger predators. The water is often clear enough to snorkel a bit (four or five feet of visibility, excellent for this river). In the spring, the River can be high and pushy in this area. In summer, it's a lazy river out of an old song. Drift through it on a kayak, canoe or putt-putt quietly in your bass boat, but don't take a jet-ski in here! Not only will you disturb the many birds, but rocks lie hidden just beneath the surface, ready to trip the unwary rather spectacularly!