Susquehanna River Upstate New York Oct 30th 2010

View Crumhorn Landing to Portlandville NY in a larger map

The boat ramp at Crumhorn Landing, in the Susquehanna State Forest .
A cool cloudy day. I rugged up with many layers, only to find that I was too warm.
Perhaps the thermal, skivvy, t-shirt, wincheater and spray jacket was a little too much. 

Most of the leaves have fallen, but it was still a pretty paddle .

Here are two plastic flamingos who are clearly close kin to the one I found on the Hackensack River.a few months  ago.

 The bridge at Portlandville.

The Susquehanna begins just north of this section,running from Ostego Lake near Cooperstown  into Maryland 440 miles to the south.                                                                                               













     












                    A new fungus.

Back at Crumhorn

3 hours on the River - very nice .

Hudson River -Cold Spring

Another beautiful day. I hadn't planned to go out, but I couldn't resist  getting out again. Drove up to Cold Spring and put in by the station at Foundry Dock . 

 

 The boat ramp at Cold Spring 

(Foundry Dock) 

Had planned to paddle around Constitution Marsh, but but duck season put paid to that. I paddled upriver a little way, then headed back downriver. I paddled around a rocky point, where there were birds galore. 

                       Wild and woolly

My lunch spot 


















The leaves are  fabulous; it  seems to be peak foliage at this latitude.

Delaware River and Delaware Raritan Canal

As the end of October draws near, the weather is still very mild. The temperature today reached 64 F (18 C degrees), and the wind was calm. I put in  to the Delaware -Raritan Canal at Washington Crossing ( site of George Washington's famous crossing) .
I paddled upstream. There is a towpath along the length of this section and many cyclists and walkers cruised by. 

Ubiquitous Canada Geese 

Fall foliage on the canal. 

                      Old abandoned lock

 Local wildlife The Redbelly Turtle     Pseudemys rubriventris

Canal Scenes 
There were several abandoned bridges crossing the canal 

. 

The towpath is just visible at the top of the river bank. 

About 5 miles up I pulled out of the canal and dragged the kayak across the tow path and down a bank to the Delaware River which was only about 50 meters  from the canal  at this point. 

This made the trip extra easy, as I was able to do a round trip in the kayak. 

The river was moving fairly well. I was surprised how shallow the river was in parts

 The Delaware River- Border of Pennsylvania and New Jersey 

Titusville

Great Blue Heron - Juvenile 

from Wikipedia... 

Washington's crossing of the Delaware River, occurring on December 25, 1776 during the American Revolutionary War, was the first move in a planned surprise attack organized by George Washington against the Hessian forces in Trenton, New Jersey.

Planned in partial secrecy, Washington led a column of Continental Army troops across the icy Delaware River in a logistically challenging and potentially dangerous operation. Other planned crossings in support of the operation were either called off or ineffective, but this did not prevent Washington from successfully surprising and defeating the troops of Johann Rall quartered in Trenton. The army crossed the river back to Pennsylvania, this time burdened by prisoners and military stores taken as a result of the battle

The bridge at Washington Crossing 

There was no one else on the river; it  was a great day on the water.

North Brother Island - Port Morris New York City (From Archive- July 3rd)

This was a great city paddle. Launched at Baretto Point  Park in the south Bronx. It was a sunny day,on the rising tide.

A sizable jellyfish

I headed straight for the island, with the Manhattan backdrop slowly drawing closer as I paddled.

from Wikipedia ...North Brother Island,was uninhabited until 1885, when Riverside Hospital moved there from Blackwell's Island (now known as Roosevelt Island). Riverside Hospital was founded in the 1850s as the Smallpox Hospital to treat and isolate victims of that disease. Its mission eventually expanded to other quarantinable diseases.

The island was the site of the wreck of the General Slocum, a steamship which burned on June 15, 1904. Over 1,000 people died either from the fire on board the ship or from drowning before the ship was beached on the island's shores.

Typhoid Mary was confined to the island for over two decades until she died there in 1938.The hospital closed shortly thereafter.

After World War II, the island housed war veterans who were students at local colleges, along with their families. After the nationwide housing shortage abated, the island was once again abandoned.

In the 1950s a center opened to treat adolescent drug addicts. The facility claimed to be the first to offer treatment, rehabilitation, and education facilities to young drug offenders. Heroin addicts were confined to this island and locked in a room until they were clean. Many of them believed they were being held against their will (as one person wrote on the wall). By the early 1960s widespread staff corruption and patient recidivism forced the facility to close.

The island is currently abandoned and  off-limits to the public.Most of the hospital's original buildings still stand, but are in danger of collapse. A dense forest  conceals many of the ruins and supports the area's largest colony of Black-crowned Night Heron

Heading back to the launch, I decided to go a little further down into Long Island Sound. I passed the boat ramp and headed towards the floating swimming pool . Before I knew it I was moving swiftly  in a current away  from the boat ramp, and I was hardly paddling. Fortunately  I realized in time, because after turning to return, it took me all my power to make the distance back to Baretto Point. It  was a little scary, yet highly  educational ,  to realize how easily one could be swept  away from one's destination.
Needless to say, I continue to develop a better sense of the realities of paddling in and around tidal waters in New York

Launch Sweet Launch - Safe and sound