Paddling season!

I know for some, paddling season never ends.  It's not that I'm opposed to paddling in the frigid temperatures, keep in mind, I'm typically hunting in the frigid temperatures all winter, but I'm not prepared for frigid water.  I don't have a dry suit, which is really what I need.  So, with this in mind, the warmer temps Saturday meant that I wanted to get back into the paddling so I headed out to the Passaic River for a nice leisurely paddle.  Still not feeling wonderful I decided to take a short trip from Columbia Tpk in Florham Park and head up stream.  I managed to shove off without getting wet, only muddy.  Very shortly afterwards I came to my first downed tree.  I portaged around, getting very muddy and back in.  It was a quiet paddle upstream.  I didn't go quickly and just enjoyed being out.  After about 2 or so miles I came to another strainer that was blocking my way.  This time it didn't look very easy to get around.  I was feeling tired anyway, from being sick, so I just pulled over to the bank and just hung out for a little, enjoying being there.  I turned around and poked my way back downstream.  While I was on my way I came upon three huge raccoons.  When I first got there, one was on the ground and two in the tree top.  The one on the ground ran up the tree and they all proceeded to fight.  It was a cool sight to witness.  I left there and returned to the put in.  I went around 4 1/2 miles and took my time.  It was a very nice afternoon to be out.  I also think I found ever duck in NJ...  The river and little ponds along the way were littered with ducks.

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.


View Pequannock 7/21/12 in a larger map

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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Delaware River - 6/9/12

Took a trip on the Delaware River with the HRCKC club today.  Over the last week or so we've been getting some rain so the levels are high and that would make the river run a little faster.  We put in at Worthington State Park and paddled our way down to Belvidere.  In total, the trip would be 17.6 miles...certainly the longest trip I took to date.  The miles flew by, however because of the speed.  This was also the first time I took on any rapids.  I admit that they were just class 1+ rapids but for me, being new at this, it was both scary and exhilarating all at the same time.   The view from in the water, especially of the Gap was breathtaking.  You really got a sense of how small we are when you're paddling a big river, next to some big mountains.  The less pleasurable part of the trip is that for a lot of the trip you could hear the moan of the highways.  Much of it hugs Route 80 and you heard that for a lot of the trip.  The other thing was that almost the entire trip smelled like dead fish.  Why?  Because the Shad, that had spawned downstream, were swimming upstream to die.  Like Salmon.  The Shad were everywhere, which was really cool to see.  All in all, it was a really great day on the water!

Here are some pictures:

Delaware River - 6/9/12

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Millstone River

I decided that I needed to take a day off of work to go paddling after the last paddling "adventure" that I had.  I have wanted to try the Millstone for a little bit so today seemed like a good day to try.  I launched at the boat ramp in Manville.  It was a great place to launch...no one there and I was able to get in mud free and dry.  The river reminded me a lot of the Passaic River but it seemed a bit wider and a bit cleaner.  When I'm on the Passaic, usually, under each strainer, is a bunch of trash.  On the Millstone that wasn't the case.  While I was out there I saw blue heron, turkey vulture looking birds and a few deer.  I paddled up stream until I came up to a small water fall.  I couldn't go over it and there didn't seem to be a way around it so I decided to paddle back to the launch from there.  All in all it was just about 11 miles and it was great to get back on the water.

Millstone - 6/1/12

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Not a fun day on the upper Passaic

I really wanted to get out paddling as it’s been a month since I’ve been in my boat. It was a beautiful day, in the upper 80′s and sunny…felt more like summer than spring so I decided to head out and try some of the upper Passaic. I wanted to hit the parts that I hadn’t before to try and complete the upper part. Well things didn’t quite go as planned. I put in at Snyder Ave at Berkeley Heights. My plan was to paddle up stream as far as I can and then return back. No sooner had I started out but I came to the first strainer. I managed to slip my way by and I continued on. Shortly after that, another strainer. Again, with effort I slipped by. Then another. This time I had to portage around it. I was now covered in mud. I continued on and hit yet another strainer. Sneaking past that I came upon another that I had to portage around. There wasn’t any room to go around so I had decided that was enough. I was going to turn around and head downstream a bit. Once I had made my way past all the strainers and got to my original launch point I headed downstream only to encounter the same thing…strainers. I decided then that I had had enough and that I was going to get out, drive further upstream and put in again. I got on the road and drove parallel to the river. I kept trying to find another access point but wasn’t able until I reached Lord Stirling Park. This is almost as far up the Passaic as you can get. Well, I launched at the access point and headed up stream. For about .10 mile. Then I came across an impassable beaver dam. I turned around to head downstream and came across an impassable strainer. I was done for the day. I had worked way too hard at my enjoyable, leisurely paddle.



View Passaic 1 - 5/28/12 in a larger map
View Passaic -2 - 5/28/12 in a larger map

Upper Passaic 5/29/12