Essex Environmental Center to South Orange Ave.

I decided to take the day off of work and go paddling.  I have a little time that I have to use and the weather was supposed to be outstanding today...and it was.  It was sunny and 72, what a beautiful day.  I decided to try putting in at the Essex County Environmental Center which is on Eagle Rock Avenue in Roseland.  The river came right up to the shore and it gently sloped away into the water.  It was a very easy launch and I managed to launch without even getting muddy at all.  I started paddling upstream and it appeared to me that it was pretty flooded from the recent rains.  I have nothing to compare it to considering I've never been here before, but there were a lot of submerged trees that just seemed out of place.  The water was brown and muddy but there was hardly any current whatsoever so it was an easy paddle.

Shortly after getting underway, I came upon a power generation station.  One of the workers was perched high up on a tower and yelled down to me "ahoy matey"...I think he was just jealous. :)  I continued upstream and came to a blockage.  This was the first time that I ever had to portage while I was paddling.  Luckily for me, the area was just like when I got in the boat...a slow sloping bank and it made portaging easy.  I took the opportunity to take a picture of my boat..

After moving up stream from there I came upon a railroad bridge...not sure if it's still used or not.  .  I continued on my way...it was fairly uneventful.  There wasn't much wildlife to be seen and the scenery was not as interesting as the last time I went out.  The Passaic from this point runs behind companies and houses mostly.  There were some areas that were more remote, but not much.  I made it up to the Route 10 bridge in East Hanover. .  After leaving the bridge behind, I continued as far as I could, up to South Orange Avenue.  It was then that I hit an impassable blockage.  I may have been able to portage but at this point I had gone so far it was time to turn around.  I started to paddle back downstream and enjoyed a leisurely float back.  As there wasn't much current, it wasn't just sitting back and enjoying the ride.  I did have to still paddle.  On the way back, I did manage to see some wildlife.  I actually saw a whole bunch of deer at different points.  One time I managed to get a picture.  .  I also happened to see a whole bunch of turkeys at various points on my way back.  

All in all it was a great trip.  I managed to to go almost 11 miles on this trip.  My shoulders are screaming!  :)  It was a great day on the river and I can't wait to get back out.  Here is the route that I took.  It is tracked by an application on my phone.

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Here are some other pictures I took on the trip.  I can't wait for the foliage to come in.

...it's not all beautiful on the river!