90 Miles

[Ichabod Spoonbill]

I'm packing for my four day Albany to Peekskill trip tomorrow. Very excited. This is my first paddle/camping trip! It'll be four days down the river. About 20 miles per day except for the last day, where we have to do about thirty. That'll be fine because we won't have to set up camp that last night.

I still have to put the tent on the board, which will fit in the back alongside the sleeping bag, plus an inflatable pad. I might rearrange the spare paddle too.

The weather looks good, mostly. We'll have some light winds in our faces, but that's all. I'll my adventures when I get back.

[Zooport]

Wow, looks like a fantastic time.  I would love to do something like that.  Maybe it's possible in North Carolina.

3 questions: 1. Is there any current or rapids?      2. What will you do to keep your sleeping bag dry?     3. I know nothing about touring boards, so this is probably a stupid question, but wouldn't your board balance out better with some gear placed farther forward toward the nose?

[stoneaxe]

Have a blast...I'm jealous. Looks like a fun trip. Pics or it didn't happen....

Those are good spots Zoo. Back for stuff you don't need en-route, front where he has it is good for the heaviest part of the load and for stuff you want on the water. Dry bag will keep whatever you want....dry.... .

Icky....considerer getting yourself a small folding camp stool or even better a small cooler with seat and placing it just beyond normal standing area. Easy to pull out what you want and then sit and drink/eat.

[Ichabod Spoonbill]

Zoo,

The sleeping bag is in that brown dry bag in the back. I'm hoping it will do fine. There are no rapids on this part of the Hudson. Actually there are tides all the way up to Albany from NYC, about a 130 mi, so the river is a tidal estuary until the lochs at Troy.

I would have liked to get more gear on the nose. This isn't my board anymore. It's my wife's which only has those four attachments in the front. I would have liked six, but she's picky about stuff on her board, and she gave me grief for the attachments I stuck to the back.

[stoneaxe]

Without rapids you probably could use some good suction mounts.

[eastbound]

is there legal camping en route, icky? pretty populous along the hudson's banks thru there.....

good read, in case you'd not read, icky:

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/12/14/the-wayfarer

[Ichabod Spoonbill]

Hey everyone, I finished my trip last night about 6. We did it, and I'm sore as hell. Details to follow.

[Ichabod Spoonbill]

Eastbound, there is legal camping. Some of the sites are tricky to find, but there are stops about every 10–20 miles.

[Zooport]

Hey everyone, I finished my trip last night about 6. We did it, and I'm sore as hell. Details to follow.

Ok, but remember: Without VID it didn't really happen.

[Ichabod Spoonbill]

So here's the tale…

My friend Jim and I planned to leave Bethlehem launch (just south of Albany) at about 7:30 AM. However we had to push that pack because I got a last-minute interview at a school that morning, so we ended up in the area at about 11. We had lunch at my father-in-law's and he drove us to the launch. We were in the water by 1;15 or so. The first day was about 19 miles downriver, most of it against the tide. We finally camped at an island called Stockton Middle Ground where there are established sites.

It was a gorgeous location. We set off the next morning with the tide, but badly needed to stop for water. We filled up at small boat club in a town called Athens. It was deserted until a woman came out, a little nervous. We told her what was up and she took our bottles inside, then returned them filled with an extra one! We got about 12 miles before the tide changed, and then the wind changed too. It was always in our face but must of the time it was weak. Now it was a seady 7–10. That was the worst part of the trip, crawling those 10 miles to the next campsite. We started saying to each other “Shackleton, bitches,” because we were remembering what Ernst Shackleton and his men went through when they were stranded. That said, the upper river had some gorgeous marshes. We saw many bald eagles, golden eagles, ospreys, hawks, great blue herons, and snowy egrets.

By the time we were close to the campground we were really tired. We were barely making 2 mph. One of my Facebook friends named Chris offered to meet us there with beers, which was a sweet offer! Our last rest stop was on a rocky beach below a couple of houses. An older man came down to chat, and he told us how to find the site, which was kind of tough to locate. He also asked me about my board, and it turned out he had a Jimmy Lewis which he rode almost every day. Nice! Then it was another leg to the site. Chris was there and he helped us get our boats out of the water. Then it was cold beers! I can't remember a beer tasting so good. Jim had exerted himself so hard he threw up though. I was halfway there myself. We camped on an old concrete platform, which wasn't so comfy. I woke up in the middle of the night hearing coyotes howl across the river.

We met our friend Dan the next morning. He had a thermos of hot coffee/chocolate and a camp shower filled with water. That lasted the rest fo the trip. I have to admit I was drinking like crazy, taking a sip every ten minutes or so, so water was very much on my mind. There were sublimely beautiful moments paddling in the rain, where I'd drink the water off my jacket sleeve! We had the tide mostly and made a great 23 mile run south by 3PM.  I was thinking wed camp there, but my friends said we should push on to another campsite 11 miles further down. Yeah. The tide was with us again but not the wind. That was bothering me more than my fellow kayakers, but we made the run.

The campsite was about a mile south of the town of Beacon. Dan called ahead and had a pizza delivered to us right at the waterfront. That was a really good pizza. Then we had a mile in the dark to the site. I'd never paddled in the dark before, but we had lights. It was weird though. My board felt like it was flying over the chop! We made a rough camp at Dennings Point, right at the riverbank.

And we then we woke up a few hours later. I had misinterpreted how hide the tide would get, and the waves were lapping at our tents. So we moved higher in the little room we had at the bank and went back to sleep. The next morning we eschewed a hot breakfast for a quick run with the tide to the town of Cold Spring. I knew a great Argentinian cafe by the water that served amazing empanadas. We let our boats in a park and walked to the cafe. I knew one of the owners, and he was just getting some string bean empanadas out of the oven. Oh my God, I can't imagine anything that tasted as good as those two empanadas I ate. Then I had two more, and lattes, and lemonade.

Cold Spring was already home territory. We were only 11 miles from home. We did that distance slower than I thought, but we ended up landing at Peekskill about 20 minutes after we planned, a week before. Nice! Our families greeted us, and it was great seeing my kids yell at us from shore. Beer, food, wine, and then loading the SUP on my wife's car. After that, collapse.

90 miles.Probably more, actually. Three days later and I'm still sore.

[supthecreek]

That's awesome Icky, very stoked that you took this on and met your goals!

Beautiful country up river.... I delivered my trawler yacht to Kingston, so I have seen the bottom part of your route and enjoyed the trip immensely!

It must have been an amazing trip..... good for you my friend!

I hope you have some more pictures to share and some details of what worked and what was a challenge (to keep dry, balance wise and things like that)

[deepmud]

I love stories of travel like this

2nd'd - please let us know what worked/what didn't for camping out of a sup - or what you took advantage of (like storage in a kayak coming along ). Great adventure. Buy memories/not stuff!

[TallDude]

What a great adventure just out your back door. No flights required. Low cost. Access to beer and food when necessary. Great workout and great memories. Can't beat it. 

[Board Stiff]

Wow, sounds like a great trip, Icky!

I'll remember that "Shackleton, bitches!" line next time I'm grinding out some miles against wind or tide!