Kayaks overtake canoes as paddlers' choice in Western Pa.

 

Call it the Kingdom of Kayaks.

From the calm waters in Moraine State Park, Butler County, to the varying rapids of the Youghiogheny River in the Laurel Mountains, brightly colored crafts dot our waterways like recreational punctuation.

They are in rivers, streams and lakes, piloted by seniors, teens and time-tested paddlers. Kayak-ing seems to have become the paddle sport of choice, letting users get closer to nature, their towns or even their family and friends.

“You can do it alone or in a tandem or with a group,” says Joey-Linn Ulrich, executive director of Venture Outdoors, which has, for 10 years, rented the craft, educated users and led trips at its Kayak Pittsburgh on the North Shore. In the summer of 2013, it served a record 26,000 paddlers there and at its North Park site, a figure the group is hoping to break this year, she says.

Ulrich says in the past five years, participation has grown 30 percent annually.

That popularity holds nationwide, as well, according to the Outdoor Foundation, a Colorado-based group founded by the ...more