It began as so many things do, an idea hatched among friends that no one really expected would go anywhere.

 In this case, the friends were a group of outdoors enthusiasts, sitting in the bleachers at Camden Yards, watching an exciting baseball game (remember those?)  in which one Cal Ripken was at his best.

If Cal ever got into the Baseball Hall of Fame, the friends decided, they would do something really special -- they would kayak all 444 miles of the Susquehanna River, from Baltimore to Cooperstown, N.Y., to see him become the hall's' newest member. It would be a tribute to Ripken as well as to the Chesapeake Bay, which the great Susquehanna formed thousands of years ago.

Well, Cal did, and they did. Last week, the group calling themselves Trailtrekk returned from Cooperstown. They drove from Maryland to the Hall of Fame ceremony, then paddled back home. Along the way, they spotted many bald eagles, collected water samples to analyze later and got a first-hand look at the farms/runoff issue, as many cornfields were planted flush against the river.

This group seems to have its bases covered. On the four-day trip were two scientists with the National Aquarium, a scientist from the Chesapeake Biological Lab, a doctor, an engineer, a competitive runner and the executive chef of Baltimore's Prime Rib.

There was no sniping, according to head "cat-herder" Bill Minarik.

"Most of us have known each other for a long time. We're used to roughing it. For us, this is high adventure."

Besides, he said, "when you're paddling, after a hard day, any frustrations you have, you take them out on the river, not on each other."

Minarik should be used to getting along with this bunch: on the trip were his wife, Linda, his son, Devon, and brothers George and Jim, the prime Rib chef. And no, they did not eat strip steak every night. There was a considerable amount of "roughing it" involved. So much so that the group was supposed to be honored at Ripken Stadium in Aberdeen, but they were too tired to go to the ceremony.

Now the group has a new project. Repulsed by the floating tires and other debris they saw while combing the river's islands for places to sleep, they are planning a weekend cleanup of the gunpowder, one of their favorite kayaking spots.

As Minarik said, "we realized someone had to do something about it, and that someone is us."