Soaring Eagles, Scurrying Salamanders
By Denise Janus

We got up, got ready and hung around camp with some of the re-enactors to answer questions from the public about the project.  Early on in the morning, Dr. Renata Wolynec, professor of anthropology at the Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, presented us with a framed print of GeorgeWashington confronting the French Commander at Fort LeBouef, and a copy of George Washington’s journal.  Thank you so much Dr. Wolynec, your hospitality and gifts mean so much to us!  Later in the day around 2 we decided it was time for the next leg of our journey — canoeing LeBoeuf Creek!  We put in at LeBoeuf Lake and canoed about 14 miles and finally ended up in the French Creek.  And wow, the scenery is the best change of pace from the lake!  We used our two modern canoes on the creek because the replica canoe is too big. It would have scraped the bottom, because the water levels are the lowest they’ve been in three years.  We also met this morning with Darran Crabtree, who works with the Nature Conservancy and who is familiar with the French Creek. He provided excellent advice and knowledge about canoeing it.  He also taught us about the uniqueness of the French Creek because of the many endangered mussels that make their homes there. We had to be careful not to scrape bottom too much because we didn’t want to run over the mussels. They surface this time of year to spawn and we didn’t want to upset them too much.  We also were warned about the wildlife we’d see, including a lot of bald eagles, and we did see one in flight!  Mike and Chris also spotted a couple of huge Hellbender Salamanders, who are really secretive so it was amazing that the guys were able to spot the salamanders before they scurried off! We had to portage around a lot of log jams which wasn’t as laborious as it sounds, canoeing in the river is a spectacular change and it has defiantly recharged us!