The Conestoga needs your help! Lancaster County’s own meandering 63-mile waterway, along with the Perkiomen Creek, Schuylkill River, and North Branch of the Susquehanna River, has been nominated to be the 2023 River of the Year! To win, our local watercourse needs your vote.
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The Pennsylvania Organization for Watersheds and Rivers (POWR) nominates up to five watersheds each year for the honor of being recognized as the River of the Year. In addition to bragging rights, the award includes a $10,000 grant to the organization that nominated the river. The Conestoga River Club will receive the grant if the Conestoga River wins the award and will implement a year-round slate of activities and events to celebrate the river, including a paddling sojourn.
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Here is what CRC president Todd Roy wrote about the Conestoga for the river’s nomination.
Meandering along a 63-mile course and draining just over 475 miles of watershed on its way to the Susquehanna, the Conestoga River is the very heart of Lancaster County.
She has driven our economic development, recreational activities and been host to some of the most significant history in our nation. She is ever-changing but constant. She is our connection to our culture, our planet, and to each other. She is Our River, and her time is now. Join the Conestoga River Club as we host a variety of River of the Year activities so that you, too can see why we love Her.
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Conestoga River Club
The Conestoga river flows through our school districts, our backyards, and our lives. It is the thread that connects us as a community as we share those happy moments in her waters. Whether it be fishing, kayaking, tubing, creek stomping, lying in the shade and listening to her soothing voice or sharing in the rich history of the river, the Conestoga River Club stands ready to make our river clean, healthy, and accessible to all, now and in the future. Click here for more information about the CRC.



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Learn More About the Conestoga
Take a trip back in time with this historic canoeing guide to the Conestoga



In 1976 the Conestoga Valley Association created a detailed canoeing guide to the historic Conestoga that included five enlarged maps and numerous points of interest. Enjoy the Conestoga that was! Click here to read more.
River Guide: Charting the location of the Conestoga’s headwaters



“Sic Parvis Magna.” Translation: “Greatness From Small Beginnings.” It might not look like much, but the outflow from this humble pond is the Conestoga’s headwaters. Water from here will travel 64 miles before reaching Safe Harbor, where it empties into the Susquehanna. Click here to read more.
River Guide: Mouth of the Conestoga



Ponder this for a moment. Millions of years ago, an enormous lake once existed at what is now the mouth of the Conestoga as a massive ridge that parallels the Susquehanna would have blocked its path. Eventually, with the patience that only water has, the Conestoga dissolved, eroded, and chipped away at this ridge to flow freely into the mighty Susquehanna. Click the link to learn more about the mouth of the Conestoga and its history.