The Brave and Bold: Those who braved the waters of the Perkiomen Creek on the first-even Perkiomen Creek Sojourn.

About this time of year, I always get jealous.

I get jealous because it's Sojourn Time and now, this year, a brand new one has been added to the local schedule, so now I have two things to be jealous about.

My schedule and familial duties prevented me from going on the first-ever Perkiomen Creek Sojourn, May 17, but now that I've ready Crystal Gilchrist's press release about the event, as I've said, I'm jealous.

Gilchrist is the executive director of the Perkiomen Watershed Conservancy and it was her organization that sponsored the jaunt as a way to boost awareness about the creek and its watershed.

And it would appear, judging from what she wrote and the weather reports for the day before, that one of the things the kayakers became aware of is how to handle themselves in high water.

It's pretty and it's vital but the Perkiomen Creek is also the largest tributary of the Schuylkill River and it's not to be taken lightly.

In fact Gilchrist's release notes that nine of the 31 people who signed up decided their respect for the creek was too great to try their hand at mastering discharge rates of 1,000 cubic feet per second.

For the mathematically challenged (put me at the head of that line), allow me to provide here the graphic picture provided by Crystal. -- "When the USGS gage indicates that the water is discharging at 1,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) that means that 1,000 packages of water, one foot wide by one foot high by one foot deep are passing a given discharge point on the creek every second. Where the creek is wide, there is space for these 1,000 packages to spread out and pass the discharge point side by side. But where the creek is restricted in width, the cubic foot packages of water must pile on top of each other and speed up in order to get the same 1,000 cubic feet of water past the discharge point in a second. In these locations, the water is moving very quickly and with great force."

In other words: "Weeeeeeeee!!!!!!"

Understand, this can be dangerous. In 2000, the year I muddled through the Schuylkill River Sojourn (seven days, not seven hours!) a man and his son drowned trying to paddle the Perkiomen.

However, that is the same year I learned that it is much more fun to paddle a fast-moving watercourse than to struggle against the wind and current to log just a few miles and a desperate need for shiatsu massage.

I hope the folks at the conservancy do another sojourn next year and I hope this year's sponsors -- Keenan, Ciccitto and Associates in Collegeville -- found it rewarding enough to continue to foot the bill.

If they do, no doubt everyone will come to the same realization as the folks at the Schuylkill River Sojourn, which is celebrating it's 10th anniversary this year -- that one year can be the opposite of the next.

In 1999, it was so hot and the water so low on the Schuylkill (sponsored by the Schuylkill River National Heritage Area) that there was more carrying of canoes than paddling.

The next year, when I went, it rained so much I was shivering, but there was little wading and the swift water carried us to our camp sites hours ahead of schedule.

If you want to get a taste of what a sojourn is like, this year's Schuylkill flotilla paddles June 7 through June 14 and arrives in the greater Pottstown area June 9. If you're curious, join the paddlers when they land for the entertainments planned for them and talk to them about the trip. Believe me, they are always willing to talk about it -- often breathlessly.

On June 9, stop by Allegheny Aqueduct Park on River Road in Gilbraltar and you can also hear presentations, starting at 7 p.m., about historic exploration or surviving in challenging conditions.

On June 10, they'll arrive in Pottstown's Riverfront Park and from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., you can hear a free performance by East Side Dave and the Mountain Folk Band.

If birds of prey are your thing, mark June 11 on your calendar when a presentation of live birds of prey will be offered by Antonia Davis of Mill Grove at St. Michael's Pavilion in Mont Clare, starting at 7 p.m.

According to Sue Fordyce at the heritage area, this year's sojourn may be among the biggest, with "hundreds of people every day."

It's great to see these events taking hold and taking off. As someone who has paddled the Schuylkill and the upper Delaware, I can tell you it provides a whole new perspective on these great resources right in our own backyards.

The Perkiomen Creek is the largest tributary of the Schuylkill River, which is itself the largest tributary of the Delaware River.

So a canoe and kayak sojourn down the Perkiomen is no small thing, especially when it occurs for the first time.

As someone who has participated in a sojourn (the 2000 Schuylkill River Sojourn to be specific) I can vouch for the value of taking the time and the trouble to take a little ride down a little river.

As I wrote in a short write-up that will appear in The Mercury shortly, there is no better way to get to know a stream than from the stream's persepctive.

A recent documentary on PBS quoted an activist concerned about pollution in the ocean as saying, "the ocean is downhill from everything."

This same theory applies to our rivers and streams.

And perhaps few streams in our area are currently struggling to handle as much "up-hill" run-off as the Perkiomen, now at the heart of the once the fastest developing regions in THE fastest developing counties in Pennsylvania.

Even in this lagging market, housing construction continues on property in the Perkiomen's watershed that was once fields and woods, no doubt soon to be named after the natural resource it destroys.

One of the most remarkable aspects of my experience on the Schuylkill River Sojourn was how amazed everyone was, myself included, how pristine the river seems when seen from its surface -- even in urban areas like in Norristown.

And this for a river that was once so polluted, it became the subject of the first major environmental clean-up in the country.

I can only imagine how lush and verdant the Perkiomen will look from the water. I suggest all of you with the time and the $65 to spend take the Perkiomen Watershed Conservancy up on its offer.

To register for the sojourn, which is sponsored by the law firm of Keenan, Ciccitto & Assoc., call 610-287-9383, or visit their Web site at www.perkiomenwatershed.org