Short trip up the Pequannock

We were supposed to be at a softball tournament today, but at the last minute it was cancelled.  I had stuff to do around the house but afterwards I had a few hours and wanted to get a little further up the Pequannock.  I looked on a map to find a decent put-in and found a soccer field.  I drove there only to find out that it was a private soccer club with no trespassing signs.  I pulled over and talked to one of the nicest old guys and he told me that I could launch there if I wanted to.  I had an easy put in and the thing that struck me almost immediately is how much cleaner the river was than I had experienced on the Passaic or lower Pequannock. I could see to the bottom, even on the deeper sections.  At times it was even a little deceiving, thinking that it was shallow when it was in fact deep.

I paddled up stream for a short distance, about 2 miles or so and came to a rapid section with some riffles.  It was shallow and I couldn't paddle up any longer.  I tried to walk the boat up but it was too far and there was no way to portage around so I turned around and headed back.  It was a beautiful, short trip and just what I needed...to be back on the water.  A great way to relax.


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Monksville Reservoir - 7/6/12

After the day I had paddling on the lower, yucky part of the Passaic, I wanted to paddle on something beautiful. I didn't have a lot of time so I decided to head over to Monksville Reservoir. I very much enjoyed the easy paddle. I launched at the far end, near the tree stumps as that's the quietest area and paddled the shores until I reached the powerlines and then came back. I made some new friends...a mama ducky came chasing after me with her little ducklings. From previous encounters with mama ducks I figured that she was trying to chase me away so I left. I was then met by two other female ducks...they came right to me and honestly followed me through the lake! I guess that they are used to being fed by boaters and thought I was an easy meal. So me and duckies paddled together! With my time just about up I made my way back to the dock and loaded up to leave. I stopped at the dam for one more look and away I went. What a nice ending to a very nice day.

Monksville Res. 7/6/12

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Lower Passaic, by mistake

Well, as the title would indicate, I paddled the lower Passaic today. I was planning on doing the Hackensack River but that was kind of a disaster. I took the day off to paddle and based on maps and reports from the Hackensack Riverkeeper I was going to launch off of Bergen Turnpike. Well, the area that they said we could launch looked really dicey and I didn't feel comfortable so I went upstream a bit to the Wanda club's dock. When I got there I asked someone where it was and they said it had been washed away. Then I went to Johnson Park. When I got there I asked a town worker about launching and he said "you better be careful...don't time the tide just right and you'll be stranded". Well that didn't make me feel comfortable. So I decided that I would leave the Hack. Hmmmm...what to do? I had wanted to try and launch the Passaic from Nutley so that's what I decided to do. When I got there the ramp was certainly easy enough to launch without getting wet at all. I paddled upstream...it was quite windy and blowing right at me so it made the paddling a bit more difficult than it needed to be. It was not the prettiest paddle in the world...I was dodging garbage kind of the whole way. I did manage to see a crew team practicing and also found a little feeder stream that I paddled in for a bit. That was kind of fun. I made it a short trip, only about 5 miles. But...it was paddling and not working!

Lower Passaic from Nutley

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