[Journal entry for May 6-7, 2006] Kayaking the Upper Delaware River, Narrowsburg to Sparrowbush, New York. My friend, Lee, organized this two-day trip. He has done it many times; this is the third time that I’ve accompanied him. I drove up to Lackawaxen, PA early in the morning of May 6. The weather report had been good, so I was a bit disappointed that the sky was overcast and a light drizzle was intermittently falling. Lee, drove up a few minutes later, and we went over to the deli at Two Rivers Junction for coffee. A third kayaker, Ron, joined us a few minutes later. We waited for a fourth kayaker, Phil, but when he didn’t show, we decided to drive up to Narrowsburg, NY, the start point of our journey. We spotted a few turkeys in the woods as we drove up Route 97.

We used the recently refurbished boat launch on the New York side. It has been rebuilt since last year’s spring flooding. A new set of floating docks have been added. I deployed my sea kayak, Hraun (Icelandic for Lava) first, at around 9:30 AM, and paddled a few circuits of the calm water upstream of the Narrowsburg bridge, while Lee and Ron readied their sea kayaks boats. The sandstone cliffs in the area sport some very nice springs, which are adorned by mosses and ferns. When Lee and Ron were ready, we headed downstream, under the arch of the bridge, and into swifter-moving water. We met up with Phil as we passed the launch on the Pennsylvania side. He had a Dagger whitewater boat that was to prove fairly difficult to paddle for the long stretches of nearly flat water that we encountered.

The riverbank of the Delaware has many sandstone cliffs. Many of these have nice sedimentary features, such a crossbeds, ripple marks, and fossil channels. Many large trees grow along the river. These are a mix of yellow-green deciduous trees, just leafing out, and darker-needled evergreens. Rather largish rhododendrons grow in groves beneath the canopy. The river level is much lower than last year. The flow was slower and the rapids were less intense, but more rocks showed. Our boats were to acquire many more scratches. Phil showed me a hydrographic chart he had gotten over the web. The flow rate has been steadily decreasing for the last week or so. The water temperature varied from place to place, and was between 56 and 61 degrees Fahrenheit. During the course of the two days, we encountered several eel weirs, which are V-shaped ridges of rock build across the river bottom. These proved tricky to avoid in the low water.

We spotted several eagles flying along the river. We initially took them to be Golden Eagles, but in retrospect, having viewed photographs that we took, I now believe them to be immature Bald Eagles. One was eating a bloody meal in a tree.

The weather had been gradually improving, so that we had some sun by mid-day. The air along many stretches of the river was alive with the drone of frogs that we could not see. We ate lunch on the delta of Masthope Creek. It is fairly rocky overall, but has some patches of damp grass that we could sit upon. A pair of Canada Geese, accompanied by their goslings, paddled by us. We also saw Merganser ducks, which are very common here. I spotted a toad floating in the river near a rock outcrop. I suppose that it had fallen in. Phil grabbed it, and after examining it released it on the riverbank.

We came upon a group deploying canoeists and kayaks in one of the calmer eddies of the river. We gave one of the kayakers, a teenage boy, some impromptu paddling lessons, for this was his first time out.

I found Kunkel Rapids the most challenging of the day. It has some nice standing waves to crash through. Because of the low water, I spent much more effort than last year avoiding rocks. Sometimes, however, they were hard to spot, and I would occasionally feel them scraping the hull of my boat (which did it no good).

We pulled in at to Lackawaxen, PA at about 2:30 PM. I had spent 5:05 hours on the river, and paddled 15.1 miles. I had done a bit of doubling-back, for fun, so the actual length of the river was a mile or so less. We strapped the three sea kayaks on top of my Voyager minivan, put Phil’s whitewater boat inside it, and drove off.

We had arranged to stay at the Lander’s campground in Narrowsburg, NY. They have a row of low-built lean-tos along the river. We rented Number 21. We set up camp, and then had a light dinner at the nearby Whistle Stop Café. Phil helped us cart firewood from the home of one of Lee’s Narrowburg friends, and then left. He had decided that the whitewater boat was unsuitable for tomorrow’s longer paddle. Lee, Ron and I returned to our campsite, and sat watching the river and chatting about kayak trips, old and planned. Several people were fishing in the river from canoes. A teenager was operating a model, radio-controlled speedboat, which went amazingly fast for its diminutive, two-foot, length. Ron made us all cappuccino, and I cooked myself some soup, on the Coleman stove that he had brought. As the evening darkened, we started up the bonfire in a stone fireplace in front to the lean-to, and watched the flames. The sky was now clear. The night had a half-full moon.

I woke to a perfectly clear, but rather chilly morning. The temperature was 36 degrees Fahrenheit. Mist was rising from the river. After a breakfast of eggs and bacon, we drove the boats down to Lackawaxen. I minded them, while Lee and Ron drove a car down to Sparrowbush, NY, our take-out point. A bald eagle, chased by two crows, flew low above my head as I waited. After another coffee at the Two Rivers Junction deli, the three of us set off, passing beneath the Roebling bridge.

The new bridge at Barryville, NY, which has been barely begun last year, is taking shape. While by no means finished, its piers are now standing. I thought that Shahola Rapids, which are just downstream of the bridge, was pretty sedate. It was nowhere near as rough as last year. Around this time, we encountered two fishermen, who were standing on a large rock, mid-river. One landed, and then released, a large shad as we passed.

I saw another eagle, an adult Bald. It sat in a tall tree as I passed, allowing me to view it well and to take some close-up photos. Similarly, later on, I passed two turkey vultures sitting next to each other in a similar tree.

We ate lunch at the Railroad tunnel of Two Lakes Creek. We spent an hour at the site, examining the many interesting features. The tunnel itself is quite picturesque; when standing within it, in the two-in deep water, the view to the river is nicely framed by its dark walls. A little waterfall occurs where the water flows out onto the delta. The delta itself, while mostly rocks, has some interesting flowers. Some even appear top be thriving in the cascade of water, itself. Downstream of the tunnel, on a terrace on the river-side, we found two small stone foundations - remains of some old habitation, I guess.

Continuing downstream, we passed the Pond Eddy Bridge. It still badly needs painting!

Just above Stairway Rapids, a man launched a kayak from the New York side of the river. I spoke to him briefly as we met up at the rapids. He suggested an alternative boat launch to Sparrowbrook to me. Lee and Ron had gone ahead, following the Pennsylvania side of the river in order to reach the campground there. I lagged behind, and the rapids on the deeper, New York side, and then paddle upstream to each them. The upstream paddling proved easier than I had imagined; I was able to maintain a speed of 2.5 miles per hour against the (admittedly weak) current. So I paddled well upstream from the campground, and ran part of the rapids twice more. I encountered people in two bright blue rubber rafts. The lead boat had adults of roughly may age; while the second had younger adults. I, too, stopped at the campground, but only briefly. The view from the large rock outcrops was nice, but the area had rather too much poison ivy.

We caught up with the blue rafts just upstream from Butler’s Rift, and chatted with their paddlers. We also passed some whitewater paddlers playing in the Rift. They had called it right, for I thought that it was the only place that we had encountered in these two days that had challenging rapids. We decided to run the center of Mill Rift, since the water was fairly slow, instead of hugging the edge of the island, as we did last year. I remembered that there was a big boulder in the middle of it. Unfortunately, I confused a smaller one – invisible last year - with it, and so was not expecting it when it suddenly appeared in front of me. Scrape! I went right over it, fortunately with enough momentum that I did not get stuck on top.

We headed over to the cliffs – called the Elephant’s Foot – on the Pennsylvania side of the river opposite Sparrowbush, and just downstream of Railroad Bridge #2. These are very beautiful rock formations. A set of vertical joints in the rock has led the river to sculpt to columns of rock. One column really does resemble the leg of an elephant. Another column is partially disconnected from the cliff and forms a natural bridge. We explored several of the small bays between the columns, and then headed over to the Sparrowbush boat launch on the New York side. I paddled 23.0 miles in 6:30 hours. This was longer, due to recreational doubling back, than the true length of the river, which is about nineteen miles.

Except for almost getting Lee’s car stuck in the sandy riverbank, the wrapping up of our adventure was routine. We stopped at Il Castello for pizza before repacking our cars at Lackawaxen. A total of 38.1 miles in 11:30 hours over two days.