Sienna Varlotta, 10, and her brother Gianni Varlotta,11, paddle their kayaks during a family float at Porters Cove on Connoquenessing Creek Wednesday.

Mike Handley remembers trying to access the Connoquenessing Creek a decade ago to take a float down the scenic waterway in his kayak.

“You had to pull over at a bridge and climb down over rocks and weeds,” said Handley, who is now president of the Allegheny Aquatic Alliance. “It was a real pain.”

After forming the alliance and coordinating the first Connoquenessing Creek Cleanup nine years ago, Handley and other Alliance board members wanted others to discover the beauty and serenity of floating on the creek.

So, Handley approached officials at Penn Township about using empty land off Meridian Road in Renfrew to install a canoe and kayak launch.

This is an excerpt from a story that appears in Sunday's Butler Eagle.