Piece Meadows alone...

I was supposed to go on the Delaware with my club on Saturday but I had too much work to do packing so I cancelled.  I still had a big desire to paddle, however so I kicked butt packing and was able to get out on Sunday.  The weather was outstanding, low 80's, sunny and beautiful.  I decided that I wanted to do all of Piece Meadows but because I was going alone I had to arrange for a shuttle.  I had Gianna and Joe follow me to Two Bridges and left G there with her car then I drove Joe and my kayak to the put in.  I dropped off my boat and then went back to 2 Bridges to drop off my truck.  The water was higher than I've seen in a while and had some decent current flowing (for the Passaic).  The good parts of the trip were, I had no...zero...portages.  I love that!  The last time I did this trip with Chris we had to portage once and I got covered in mud and mosquito bites.  So that was a welcome difference.  The other notable from this trip was the three speed boats that seemed to want to screw with me.  They went up and down the river three times.  Mostly just joy riding and they reminded me of some rednecks.  One guy, the most obnoxious of them, wouldn't slow down when he passed me and I had to turn and negotiate his wake.  At one point, he passed me, stopped in front of me and his buddy stood up and took a leak.  He's got the whole river...why take a leak right in front of me?!  The other guys were pretty cool and respectful and slowed down when they passed me.

As far as the trip goes, it was pretty as always.  I managed to see a few deer and a heron or two.  At some points, the river was so swollen it was questionable where the channel was so I had to check my GPS to make sure I was still on track.  All in all it was an excellent day paddling.

Black River

Went to the Black River with the club.  The weather was forcasted for thunderstorms but a few brave (or crazy) people gathered up at the mill and headed out to the put in.  The river was, for the most part, a quiet, slow river through the swamps of Black River in Chester.  There were a ton of birds, especially red winged black birds.  The trip started off going up stream a bit, and having to SQUEEZE under a very low bridge.  I wasn't even sure if I would make it to be honest.  Then after a while, we turned around and just before the bridge again, we stopped for lunch.  Then headed down stream.  We came across a few beaver dams which we could run over and it made for a little fun.  Then there was an old bridge that we had to shoot through.  It was good, except I didn't know about the rock right after the funnel and out of the boat I want.  Which, I wouldn't have minded too much but for the LEECHES in the water!!  The only good thing about falling in is that when it started thunder storming, I didn't mind getting soaking wet...I was already there!  All in all, it was a really nice trip...very fun and relaxing.

Black River mapped route

Black River Pictures

D&R Canal

Went with the club to the Delaware & Raritan canal.  It was a gorgeous day and about 15 boats showed up.   It was a fairly uneventful trip as the canal is straight and kind of featureless.  It's also quite slow moving so there was no need to shuttle.  We paddled about 3 miles upstream and then back.  There was one take out about a mile into the trip because we had to portage around a lock.  The history of the place was pretty cool.

D&R Canal pictures

D&R Canal mapped route

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

View Passaic from Nultey 7/5/12 in a larger map