Last week, a deluge of powder snow coated the mountain laurel and hemlocks and encapsulated the stream in blinding brilliance.  I hiked from near the confluence of the Allegheny, pulling my board like a sled behind me.  I skulked through tangles of mountain laurel and eventually made my way to creek.  With heavy rain prior to the snow, the stream was the color of milky coffee and at the perfect level for a descent on my paddleboard.  I set off through the first rapid and crouched under the branches draping overhead.  The weight of the snow had bent them into arches like a wedding arbor guiding my way downstream through a winter SUP paradise.