Paddling in Constitution Marsh

Last weekend I had to head up to Albany to help my mother-in-law move. Luckily, though, she didn't need too much help, leaving me with a bit of time and some beautiful weather to do some paddling. Where to go? I decided to head to Cold Spring and the Constitution Marsh.

Since paddling here about a year ago, I have considered this marsh and portion of the Hudson to be one of the most beautiful stretches of water I have ever been on. Indeed, whenever anyone asks me what my favorite place in my book is, I tell them about this spot. So, it was with lofty expectations that I returned to the put-in at the Cold Spring Train Station. And, after only a few paddle strokes on the Hudson, all of these expectations were realized. This really is an amazing spot to paddle.

From the train station, the entrance to Constitution Marsh is only a short paddle to the southeast. Once in the marsh, it is easily possible to spend an entire day exploring the dozens of channels and passageways that wind throughout. Anyone looking for a more direct route can simply follow the white buoys marking the "Trail".

I had spent a lot of time in the marsh last time I was here, so I followed the buoys to the train trestle at the marsh's southern end to gain access to the Hudson. Unfortunately, the tide was still quite high, leaving little room underneath the bridge for a boat to pass. With just a short portage over the tracks, however, I was back on the Hudson. This picture shows the view looking south down the Hudson. Look closely and you can see the Bear Mountain Bridge. The scene is absolutely beautiful!


Unfortunately, I did not have enough time to head further south. So, I turned north to paddle around Constitution Island. This is where something happened to me that has never happened before... I was shot at! Well, OK, I am exaggerating a bit. You see, there was a Revolutionary War re-enactment happening on the island involving some small sailing ships and a cannon on shore. I wisely paddled wide around the sailboats and their musket fire. But, this left me dangerously close to the cannon on shore. Even though I knew it was only a re-enactment, a part of my brain screamed warnings whenever the cannon boomed. Top that with the cries of one soldier telling his fellow soldiers to aim, "at the kayaker!" and my irrational fears grew. Needless to say I dug deep and paddled around the island as quickly as I could.


Skirting around Constitution Island brought me past West Point, heading north on the Hudson. The view in this direction is just as stunning as the one to the south. By this time, though, I was running really short on time so had to head straight back to the put-in on the right river bank.

I wish I had more time to spend paddling here. It really is an amazing place to check out. Hudson Valley Outfitters runs boat rentals here if you want to experience it for yourself. Trust me... you won't be disappointed.

Check out Canoeing and Kayaking New York for more information on paddling here, including directions, maps, GPS coordinates, etc.

Two New Laws for Paddlers

In case you haven't heard, New York State has just passed two new laws that paddlers should be aware of.

Here's the first:

Beginning November 1, 2009, Section 40, Subdivision 1 of the Navigation Law shall be amended by adding new paragraph (e), which reads as follows:

No owner or operator of a pleasure vessel less than twenty-one feet, including rowboats, canoes, and kayaks shall permit its operation, between November first and May first, unless each person on board such vessel is wearing a securely fastened United States Coast Guard approved wearable personal flotation device of an appropriate size when such vessel is underway.

And the second:

Beginning October 1, 2009, persons 16 years of age and older need to acquire a recreational marine fishing license if they are:

• fishing in the Marine and Coastal District or
• fishing any water (such as the Hudson River, Delaware River, or Mohawk River and their tributaries) where the angler is fishing for "migratory fish from the sea" (such as striped bass, American shad, hickory shad, blueback herring, alewife).

The Marine and Coastal District includes all the waters of the Atlantic Ocean within three nautical miles from the coast ands all other tidal waters within the state, including the Hudson River up to the Governor Malcolm Wilson Tappan Zee Bridge.

These licenses can be purchased from the DEC's website starting Oct. 1st.

Not Exactly Survivorman

Check out a short video from Teva. Not exactly Survivorman, but close.
Hipster guru goes survivalist

Homemade Greenland Paddle

Interested in carving your own Greenland paddle? Check out this website: http://www.carvegp.com

It gives you all of the information (including a video) you need to carve one. Anyone with basic carpentry skills would probably be able to follow it and produce a paddle of decent quality.

Here are some pictures of the paddle I made. I haven't applied a finish yet (Teak Oil was recommended), but have used it 2x. It is fairly well balanced and feels very comfortable, although it is a bit too short I think. I'm very inspired now, though, and will make another one that will hopefully be even better
.

No paddling today

I took my daughter out to Southampton today to check out the big surf on some Dune Road beaches. While the waves were not as big as the 12 footers reported to be crashing onto shore, they were still bigger than normal. And relentless! As far out as you could see, there was a constant line of waves coming towards shore.

Even more remarkable was the water in Shinnecock Inlet. To call it confused would be an understatement! I've paddled through here with 5-6 foot rolling swells with no worries. Today, though, the waves were toppling over on themselves, and seemed to be coming from every direction. Every so often one would smash into the jetty and create a huge spray of saltwater, to the delight of my 3 year old. She also enjoyed playing in the surf (it was her first time in the ocean!)

Homemade Camp Stove

One thing I really missed on this last camping trip was my morning cup of coffee. I couldn't find my MSR stove and my Coleman burner was too big to pack away in my kayak. So, I did without a cup of coffee until I could make it into town in the afternoon.


But, I did a little searching and came upon this website that shows how to build your own soda can camp stove. I chose to make mine out of two PBR cans, but I am sure you can use whatever kind you like. Just have to get some denatured alcohol and I can see how this one works!

Saranac Lake Islands Campground

Well, I came back from the Adirondacks yesterday. I was able to sell a few copies of my book, plus visited quite a few outfitters and bookstores that were interested in ordering some. So, it was a pretty successful trip. I also got to do some paddling while I was up there, which made the trip even better.

I ended up camping at the Saranac Lake Islands Campground, which turned out to be a great place to set up a tent for a few nights. The Campground is stretched between Middle and Lower Saranac Lake, with sites on the lake shore as well as on the many islands dotting the lakes. The best part is, the sites are only accessible by boat, which means no cars, trucks, giant campers, etc. I stayed at site 7 on Sable Island, on Lower Saranac, and absolutely loved it!

There is nothing like stepping out of your tent and right into your boat to go for a paddle. Staying here lets you do that. I had paddled the three Saranac Lakes before, but the weather was so dreary that day I did not get a chance to appreciate them. This time, though, I got to see how beautiful they really are. I spent more than a few hours paddling among the islands on Lower Saranac, exploring their rocky shores and saying hi to fellow campers. I even saw a very cool mink swimming between two islands while there.

Anyone looking for a place to spend some time outdoors in the Adirondacks would be well-served coming here. The lakes and their islands are all beautiful, the water is peaceful, and the people are friendly. I will definitely be back!

Paddleboard Demo's

Want to try something new? Well... Peconic Paddler is running a Stand-up Paddleboard Demo Day this Sunday, August 9th. The fun starts at noon. Anyone can come and try out a Paddleboard, plus Current Design boats and Ocean Kayak sit-on-tops.

I've wanted to try a paddleboard for a long time, so I'm definitely going to check it out on Sunday.

Book Signing

I am very excited to be heading back up to the Adirondacks with my kayak this weekend! Adirondacks Lakes and Trails Outfitters, in Saranac Lake, invited me to do a book signing in their store on Saturday, so I'll be in that area for the weekend. My plan is to do the signing, then do some paddling on Lower and Middle Saranac Lake. Instead of a hotel, I opted for a campsite right on Lower Saranac Lake. I haven't slept in my tent since last summer, so it'll be nice getting out again. The forecast is actually pretty good for the weekend too, so hopefully I'll stay fairly dry.

Anyway, for those interested, I'll be at the Outfitters from 10 to 3, showing some slides and signing copies of my book. I hope to see you there!

The Connetquot River

This past weekend I was invited to paddle with the Long Island Kayak Company on a trip they were outfitting for the local chapter of the Adirondack Mountain Club. I met up with the group from ADK, along with Sal, the owner of LI Kayak Co, at Timber Point County Park, on the southwestern side of the Connetquot River on a warm, sunny summer day, perfect for paddling the river.

It took a bit of time to get everyone situated and fitted into their rental boats (While waiting I helped another paddler get his canoe off his SUV. Amazingly, he turned out to be my 9th grade Earth Science teacher from many, many years ago!), but we finally hit the water and grouped up to hear the game plan. Ross, our intrepid guide from the Long Island Paddlers Club, wanted to head south a bit and poke his nose into the Great South Bay, assuming conditions were not too rough. As it turns out, the water was calm enough for us to head quite a bit into the bay, but not completely around the island he had hoped to circumnavigate. Quite an experienced paddler himself, Ross did not want to subject the group of novice paddlers to anything that might make them nervous.

So, with our trip south cut a bit short, we turned around and headed north, upstream on the Connetquot. The river is quite a busy place to paddle, especially on a sunny weekend. We stayed close to the left bank, though, and out of the powerboats' way. Although most of the group was new to paddling, they seemed to have no trouble keeping up with the rest of us, and everyone seemed to enjoy the scenery, especially when we reached the Bayard Cutting Arboretum. One member, complaining of a bad back, decided to call it quits here and rest on shore for a bit, while the rest of us continued exploring the banks of the arboretum and gazing at their magnificent manicured lawns and gardens. We soon met up with Sal, who was paddling up ahead of us with his 8 year old daughter (amazingly, she paddles better than most adult kayakers), and we stopped for lunch on the riverbank in front of Dowling College.

With an hour passed, and lunches eaten, we all headed back down to Timber Point Park. Despite some tired arms, sore backs, and a little sunburn here and there, I think the entire group had a blast. I certainly enjoyed tagging along with the group and had fun listening to all of their stories about hiking, camping, and paddling around New York. Kudos to Sal for organizing such a great day for us, and for Ross for leading the way!

My First Book Review

Sue Freeman, of Footprint Press and writer of the amazing NY Outdoors blog, has posted my very first book review on her blog. I had sent Sue an advanced copy a few months back and she was generous enough to write up some great things about the book, many of which ended up printed on the book's back cover.

Now, she has graciously written a review of the book for all of her blog's followers to read. If you follow her blog, you know how amazing it is. The amount of info. she, and her husband Rich, provide its readers is phenomenal. I am honored that she took the time out to include my book on it. Check out the blog here. You won't be disappointed!

Books!

I finally have copies of my book on hand! They should be in stores soon, but if you can't wait... email me and I can send you a signed copy.

I think they came out great, if I do say so myself!

It's a JEEP Thing

Well, in my last post I included a picture of my mountain bike (one of my favorite toys). I would be completely remiss if I did not eventually post a picture of my beloved Jeep. Here she is during one of our quests for a bay that had thawed enough to paddle in.

Spring Already?

I know the groundhog saw its shadow and 6 more weeks of winter are on the way. But, it sure has felt like spring the past few days. With temp's in the 50's most of the ice and snow have melted away. Like most paddlers socked in by frozen water, I was dying for the chance to paddle during last weekend's warm weather. To my dismay, however, the wind was blowing something fierce. But, this made it the perfect opportunity to get my daughter out in our bike trailer and head to our favorite beach. Paddling will just have to wait for another day.

Trekalong.com

So, this is very exciting... I've been asked to join the "Trekalong Network", a collaboration of outdoor and adventure writers from Menasha Ridge Press, Clerisy Press, and Wilderness Press. They started up a new blog for me called Paddle New York where I'll be posting about my book, my paddling adventures, and anything else that pops up inbetween. I'll keep posting here as well and will try my best to keep each as unique as possible.

In the meantime, check out the other writers on trekalong.com. "Trek tech" is one of my favorites!