Jay H
New member
Due to impending storm doom saturday, I wanted to get out onto the Hudson early so I got another early start saturday morning after a late dinner and an even later baseball game at Skip's place, today's paddle takes me back to the Henry Hudson park except this time the suicidal squirrel is nowhere to be found.. However, the park is pretty empty today, a bit less of the fishing crowd although I think it was a free fishing weekend, no permits needed. Anyway, a very easy paddle north to Albany, the current was weak, the winds were calm and the lake was glass for most of the morning. Made good time getting up towards the Corning Preserve and the AMLR which is a busy little place right under I-787 so it's not a quiet spot to launch. I saw a bunch of young girls in the rowing skiffs that are based out ot he AMLR (albany municipal launch ramp) just as I got there and I passed a pretty cool looking fair going on at the Corning Park pavillion area...
Nothing to exciting on this trip, other than probably the most urban paddling I've done so far, at least til i get to NYC area which I haven't done yet.. It is pretty quiet as far as boat traffic goes, just a lot of barges but not a lot of private ships. Saw a couple of kayakers at the AMLR vincinity.
http://picasaweb.google.com/cycleslugyahoo/HudsonBethlehemToAlbany20100626
So now I have about 8 miles to go from AMLR to the first lock at Troy, then I have another trip to launch from Peebles Island and explore the cool waterfalls and the Mohawk Canal/Hudson junction...
On sunday, I got Skip out on a water chestnuts from hell paddle on the Mohawk Canal. We launched from the Mohawk bike path parking lot on Rosendale (east of 7th Lock) and if you've never thought than there is no "breaking trail" in paddling, well, you're wrong. there is and we did it today, while going through hundreds of feet of waterchestnut infested water!!!
http://picasaweb.google.com/cycleslugyahoo/MohawkCanal20100627
So, there was a few spots where we resorted to poling to get through the muck. Those water chestnuts were everywhere, sea of nettles-like. It was probably a sign that we saw no other kayakers in the parking lot but we paddled anyway. in Skip's defense, he did canoe this many many years ago and it wasn't chestnut plagued.. But we had a fun paddle anyway, once we got bored of chestnut fu, we paddled across the barge canal to Vischer's Ferry and wandered around there. We got to see a lot of Southwest airlines planes take off from Albany International... Pretty low since it's right in line with the airport apparently. Had a great day and weekend, 2 more trips and I'll finish the northern sections of the Hudson to Troy...
Jay
Nothing to exciting on this trip, other than probably the most urban paddling I've done so far, at least til i get to NYC area which I haven't done yet.. It is pretty quiet as far as boat traffic goes, just a lot of barges but not a lot of private ships. Saw a couple of kayakers at the AMLR vincinity.
http://picasaweb.google.com/cycleslugyahoo/HudsonBethlehemToAlbany20100626
So now I have about 8 miles to go from AMLR to the first lock at Troy, then I have another trip to launch from Peebles Island and explore the cool waterfalls and the Mohawk Canal/Hudson junction...
On sunday, I got Skip out on a water chestnuts from hell paddle on the Mohawk Canal. We launched from the Mohawk bike path parking lot on Rosendale (east of 7th Lock) and if you've never thought than there is no "breaking trail" in paddling, well, you're wrong. there is and we did it today, while going through hundreds of feet of waterchestnut infested water!!!
http://picasaweb.google.com/cycleslugyahoo/MohawkCanal20100627
So, there was a few spots where we resorted to poling to get through the muck. Those water chestnuts were everywhere, sea of nettles-like. It was probably a sign that we saw no other kayakers in the parking lot but we paddled anyway. in Skip's defense, he did canoe this many many years ago and it wasn't chestnut plagued.. But we had a fun paddle anyway, once we got bored of chestnut fu, we paddled across the barge canal to Vischer's Ferry and wandered around there. We got to see a lot of Southwest airlines planes take off from Albany International... Pretty low since it's right in line with the airport apparently. Had a great day and weekend, 2 more trips and I'll finish the northern sections of the Hudson to Troy...
Jay
