After a lost year recovering from a medical complication that almost ended her life, Katy Potpinko hasn’t wanted to waste a single day.

She went to a medical facility for a colonoscopy in December 2022 and ended up hospitalized for six months, enduring several surgeries to help her overcome infection stemming from a complication during the routine procedure.

“2023 I call my gap year,” Potpinko said Monday morning while in her kayak moments after emerging from the rapids at Kelly’s Lock in Muhlenberg Township. “Really, I look at life a whole lot differently.”

Katy Potpinko of Pottstown decided to devote a full week of her vacation to participate in the entire Schuylkill River Sojourn. (BILL UHRICH – READING EAGLE)

In her old life, the 54-year-old Pottstown woman would probably not have signed up for the 2024 Schuylkill River Sojourn, run by the Schuylkill River Greenways, much less the full 112-mile guided kayak and canoe trip.

She initially intended to sign up for a final leg of the trip, ending up at Philadelphia’s Boathouse Row.

“Boathouse Row. How cool would that be?” she thought.

Early this year, she got some experience in a starter kayak. With encouragement from friends who work for the Schuylkill River Greenways, she invested in a sleeker model and decided to devote a full week of her vacation leave to paddling the Schuylkill and enjoying the friendship and fellowship of others.

She’s one of 144 paddlers participating in the Schuylkill River Sojourn for the first time, the largest number of new paddlers in the sojourn’s 26 years, said Elaine Schaefer, executive director of Schuylkill River Greenways.

In all, 288 paddlers have signed up for all or part of the journey, the most ever, Schaefer said.

Moving the trip from the first week of June to the third week has paid dividends, she said, as it opens up the sojourn to college students and teachers, among others, whose work or studies prevented them from participating earlier in the month.

About 20% of the paddlers make the entire trip from Schuylkill through Berks, Montgomery and Chester counties before ending at Boathouse Row on Friday. Others do segments of the trip.

The challenge for the staff, Schaefer said, is to come up with something new, because the river doesn’t change that much.

“We meet as a staff in January and try to come up with ways to spice it up,” she said.

One of the highlights this year will include paddling through, for the first time as a sojourn, the only remaining functional lock, Schuylkill Canal Mont Clare Lock 60, in Upper Providence Township, Montgomery County, during Wednesday’s trek from Pottstown.

On Monday, Day 3 of the sojourn, the group of 112 paddlers set out from the launch at Jim Dietrich Park, where some camped overnight, en route for Gibraltar, their next campsite.

After they passed through the rapids at Kelly’s Lock Overlook about 5 miles north of Reading, where a small island divides the flow into two narrow channels, the paddlers were surprised to see a raft occupied by three Greenways staffers who were handing out snacks.

The floating snack bar, complete with an inflatable palm tree, was a nice surprise awaiting paddlers such as Greg and Kathy Marshall of Robeson Township.

Greg and Kathy Marshall of Robeson Township paddle to shore after picking up some snacks from the floating snack bar below Kelly’s Lock in Muhlenberg Township during the Schuylkill River Sojourn on Monday, June 17, 2024. (BILL UHRICH – READING EAGLE)

Greg used to live in Muhlenberg along that stretch of the river and is a sojourn veteran. Last year he did all 112 miles on a stand-up paddleboard.

The staff surprised him with a cake for his 65th birthday over the weekend, a testament to the relationships that form on and along the river.

This is Kathy’s first sojourn. The couple began the trek on stand-up paddleboards but found the water to be too shallow, so they switched to a tandem sea kayak.

Their boat took on water as they went through the rapids at Kelly’s Lock, but, unlike Saturday near Auburn — where they tried to make it through the swift current between pillars of a railroad bridge — they didn’t end up in the water.

Safety is paramount, with staff from outfitters marking safe passages with buoys, and experienced riders trained in rescue trailing the group and ready to mount a rescue, if needed.

In addition to being recreational and social, the sojourn is educational by design.

This theme of this year’s educational programming is “The Living River,” focusing on native plants and aquatic life found throughout the watershed. Schuylkill River Greenways will also address the threats of invasive species along the river and what can be done to mitigate their impact.

That’s one of Michelle Hnath’s favorite aspects of the program, one of the reasons that keeps her returning every year for the last 19 years.

Michelle Hnath is participating in her 19th Schuylkill River Sojourn as she departs from Jim Dietrich Park in Muhlenberg Township. (BILL UHRICH – READING EAGLE)

“I really love that aspect of it,” said Hnath, who lives in Muhlenberg. “Learning new things each year, kind of looking at the river from a different point of view each year.”

As far as surprises go, perhaps the biggest was an overturned dump truck on the west bank of the river in south Reading.

The Schuylkill River Sojourn departs from Jim Dietrich Park in Muhlenberg Township on Monday. (BILL UHRICH – READING EAGLE)

The emergency truck removal and diesel containment efforts did not disrupt the journey, said Rosemary Keane, Schuylkill River Greenways communications director.

Representatives of the sojourn outfitter, Pottstown-based Take it Outdoors Adventures, Canoe & Kayak Rentals, sent a team ahead to talk with Reading Public Works and Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection officials, and flotilla participants were allowed to pass by on their way out of the city, she said.