OK, so there wasn’t fall foliage for the much-anticipated Gateway Clipper leaf-peeping tour on the Allegheny River in Armstrong County earlier this month because of unseasonably warm weather.
Then, Lock and Dam No. 6 in Clinton closed unexpectedly for repairs, causing organizers to reroute the trip to launch from Freeport instead of Kittanning.
The lock gates needed maintenance, said Carol Vernon, a spokeswoman with the Army Corps of Engineers. The gates have since been repaired and the lock likely will be operational this week, she said.
The change in venue did throw a few people off, tour organizers said.
“The change of the launch location was a big deal for some people who wanted to walk out of their doors in Kittanning and then onto the boat,” said Chris Ziegler, president of the Armstrong County Tourist Bureau.
But instead of cruising around Kittanning and Ford City, the Gateway Clipper cruised from Freeport, passing through Lock and Dam No. 5 at Schenley, then upstream close to Clinton and back to Freeport.
As for the lack of fall leaves for the Oct. 9 Gateway Clipper tours in Armstrong County, Ziegler said, “You roll the dice because you plan a Clipper tour months in advance, and there’s only a three-week period to see fall leaves.”
People still enjoyed great views of the river, Ziegler said.
The three tours sold out in 10 days in the summer, with 250 passengers for each of the two fall leaf cruises, then one dinner cruise with 200 passengers, she said.
“It was a success,” Ziegler said. “We got people to the river who had never seen it from that perspective. Some of them were older people from that area who hadn’t been on the river for years.”
Freeport-area residents welcomed the cruise. Someone even set fireworks off at their docks for the passengers to see.
Plans are underway for another Gateway Clipper tour in Armstrong County in 2022.
Although it tentatively will be scheduled in the fall, Ziegler said she won’t bill it as a fall peeping tour.
Ziegler would like the tour to launch again from Freeport next year, given the logistics of the tours.
“We’re going to need a bigger boat,” she said.
