Normans Kill (Albany, NY)

[DSettahr]

Paddled this the other day with a friend- it was a blast! We went all the way from the Watervliet Reservoir in Guilderland to the new canoe launch at the Route 85 bridge. The upper section of the river had a lot of nice easy riffles and class I rapids- perfect for people with little whitewater experience such as us. Traveling through some of the gorges was really neat. We just has barely enough water, though- some sections were pretty bony. Unless we get some more rain, I doubt that it will remain passable for very long.

The lower section (particularly below the Krumkill Road bridge) was all flat water, but with a quick current that made downstream paddling easier. Trying to go upstream against it was a workout, though!

Here and there along the river, we encountered blowdown- only a handful forced us out of the river to carry, and only one spot about midway was very tricky to get around.

The entire 14.5 mile trip took us about 7 hours... we weren't paddling very quickly, though.

Definitely a fun paddle that anyone who lives in the capital region and is interested in paddling opportunities closer to home should check out!

I put up some pictures here: https://picasaweb.google.com/116537596394442741068/NormansKill02#

 

[Peakbagr]

We've paddled the Normanskill from where you took out but it was with a 17' Royalex so we weren't concerned about rocks and stones.
Now that the big boat is retired, how was the water for Hornbecks?

My experience is that the best time to paddle from the rte 85 crossing is after a few days of heavy rain, after the current has died down but before the water gets skinny again. On those calm, still nights in spring and mid summer, the skeeters can be a problem down between the high banks.

One other thing. The Normanskill comes up very quickly after heavy rain. And it can have some pretty heavy rapids. A paddler died on the Normanskill a while back as the stream tends to have sweepers and strainers and he was caught in one and expert whitewater paddlers couldn't extricate him.

Nice TR, Jackson.