View Passaic River Dec 25th 2011 in a larger map


Christmas Day 2011. Moderately cold = around 0C.  Light winds.
Put in at the 2nd of the two bridges I came to on Two Bridges Rd. Fairfield NJ.
There was no ramp, just a track and a steepish bank- The water is still relatively high, but the backwaters and lagoons are starting to freeze over. 

The winter season is starting to grow on me. Where once everything looked dead to me , now it just looks like winter . I like that I can see the actually see the topography; the lay of the land.

The backwaters are beginning to ice up.

Even stone chooks get me hankering after them. Life without them is not ideal(real ones that is, not stone ones)  .

One of many small tributaries.

Housing that has seen better days. This section of houses on the river bank are very  low; I imagine that they sustained extensive flood damage in the wake of Irene and subsequent flooding. 

This cute little cabin 

A work in progress.

I fixer-upper that didn't quite get fixed upped.

One of the two bridges at Two Bridges Rd. You can get an idea of the flood height by the debris .

The other...

The launch site is just beyond the bridge on the left/ 

There was some  animal action; I saw a  bunch of deer. Also a red- bellied woodpecker, female,  looking through the tree bark for goodies. A belted kingfisher swooped down and grab a small fish from the water; that nice to see. A turkey vulture was the only raptor seen.  There was quite  an amount of small bird action, but despite the lack of foliage, my abysmal knowledge of North American birds, and their flightiness,  left me  wondering what they all were. 
The Passaic is New Jersey's most polluted river. Up stream here, it actually looks pretty good...would not drink the water though. 

Raritan River NJ Sayreville - to I95 November 21st 2010

View Raritan River Sayreville - I95 and back in a larger map


I went out last weekend to The Raritan River- Put in Sayreville ( A good boat ramp – all tides) and paddled upstream, returning at the turn of the tide. It was not the most scenic trip, but there were few areas of interest. Many marshes and good bird habitat although the river is very polluted, but improving . Great info about the river including very useful put in and hazard info see the Raritan Riverkeeper site
http://www.nynjbaykeeper.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=63&Itemid=70

It was useful to have my Googlemaps and GPS on my phone as the river turns around quite sharply and with the connecting tributaries, it would have been easy to go awry.
I spotted a lost whitewater kayak beached along the way- A Dagger brand – Possibly someone went over one of the dam, as there is not a lot of white water upriver (I think). It was in pretty good condition. I would have taken it home if it was not for the fact that I live in an apartment and storing one kayak is hard enough.
Turned around at Lawrence Brook by I 95 .
I plan to explore this river over the winter, so this was a good start. It will only get more scenic I’m sure.
Photos to follow.

Fun on the Hackensack

I went out for my second exploration of the Hackensack River in New Jersey. It was a beautiful sunny Labor Day. Low tide was at 3:17pm, So I planned to paddle upriver and then turn and come home on the falling tide. As it turned out, I was up and ready earlier than expected, so I left at 8:45 and had the kayak in the water by 9:15.
I launched at Bergen turnpike based on the very helpful Hackensack Riverkeeper site .
It said that one could put in or out at any tide. This proved true,although the pull out was a little tricky. The launch is directly opposite Tracy's Nine Mile which seemed to be closed...Labor Day perhaps?
It looks like the perfect place for an after paddle refreshment.



The best surprise was paddling towards a derelict bridge and noticing on the other side some type of Military craft. Coming under the bridge, stone the crows, there is a submarine! Who knew there was a naval Museum there? Not me that's for sure.



USS Ling (SS/AGSS/IXSS-297) is a Balao-class submarine of the United States Navy, named for the ling fish, also known as the cobia. Ling is the last of the fleet boats that patrolled American shores during World War II in response to U-boat attacks off the coast of the United States. Ling was laid down 2 November 1942 by the Cramp Shipbuilding Company in Philadelphia, Penn. She was launched 15 August 1943, sponsored by Mrs. E. J. Foy; and was moved to the Boston Navy Yard for completion and testing. Ling was commissioned on 8 June 1945, with Commander George Garvie Molumphy in command.
After shakedown and further installations, Ling headed out to sea to test her equipment 15 September 1945. The submarine based at Naval Submarine Base New London in Connecticut until she sailed 11 February 1946 for the Panama Canal Zone, arriving eight days later. She operated out of Panama until 9 March when she sailed north. She completed inactivation 23 October at New London, decommissioned 26 October 1946, and entered the Atlantic Reserve Fleet.
In March 1960, Ling was towed to Brooklyn, New York, where she was converted into a training ship at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, simulating all aspects of submarine operations. She was reclassified an Auxiliary Submarine (AGSS-297) in 1962.
Ling was reclassified a Miscellaneous Unclassified Submarine (IXSS-297), and struck from the Naval Register, 1 December 1971



While the trip was a very urban one, I did spot several birds;many double crested cormorants, a green heron, a black crowned night heron, along with the ubiquitous Canada geese and herring gulls.



The Hackensack Courthouse I believe.



Sears landmark

I turned around at Johnson St Park, which is where I began my first trip a couple of weeks ago. The wind picked up a bit and I was surprised to be paddling over 1 foot waves in some reaches .





Take care when paddling under THIS bridge.


Was happy to see another view of the Empire State Building on my return.

By the time I got back at 2:00, the tide was way out.I was able to get out just a little way up ,and then dragged the kayak along the mud, before lifting it up onto the roadway.

All in all a great days paddling.