[Journal entry for July 6, 2013; Hudson River from
New Windsor NY to Cortland Manor NY, past the US Military Academy at West Point
NY]. This trip was organized by Lee Reiser and is in memory of his mother, Virginia Clare Reiser, who died last week.
A group of eleven of us (Bill, Boyd, Cheri, Dallas, Donna, Gabi, Gail,
Lee, Lillian, Margaret and Tom) met at 9AM at the Annsville
Creek Paddlesports Center in Cortland Manor NY. This
launch was our take-out point; we left several cars there and then drove
eighteen miles north to the Kowawese Unique Area at
Plum Point in New Windsor NY. We
deployed our ten kayaks on the beach. Though it was only just after 10AM, the day
was already hot – in the mid-eighties Fahrenheit - but the sunny weather was a
very welcomed change from all the rain we had last week. Dallas and I paddled Duck, our venerable Wilderness Systems Northstar plastic tandem kayak. After introductions and a
trip overview by Lee, we set out; paddling out onto the Hudson River to Pollepel Island (pollepel is a
Dutch word meaning wooden ladle). Boat
traffic on the river was fairly moderate, especially considering that it is a
holiday weekend. We crossed the channel easily.
The
structures on Pollepel Island, now falling into ruin,
were built in 1901 by Francis Bannerman VI and included storerooms for his
military surplus business and a residence. We kayaked past Bannerman’s Castle (Bannerman’s Island Arsenal), a brick
castle-like structure, now partially collapsed.
We cut across the lagoon south of the island, with its picturesque stone
guard towers. Continuing south, we passed a large group of twenty or more
kayaks, a commercial tour organized by Hudson Valley Outfitters out of Cold
Spring NY.
We
then crossed back to the west bank and to Storm King Mountain (elevation 1380
ft), and impressive rocky peak that towers over the river. We ducked as we
paddled beneath the railroad bridge that separates the river from Storm King
Marsh, a small wetland tucked beneath the mountain. We floated for a few minutes at its northern
end, admiring the great cliffs above us.
Another kayak tour joined us; it is a picturesque spot and, evidently,
popular. A freight train roared by; the vibration was strong enough to feel through
the hull of our boats.
We
crossed the Hudson again, this time heading for Little Stony Point, on the
eastern shore. This little peninsula is
at the foot of Bull Hill (also called Mt Taurus), an impressive peak opposite Storm
King. It has a nice sand beach with
nearby shade trees. Several groups of
people were already enjoying it. We pulled our kayaks up on the beach and had
lunch; I had brought a couple of bagels and some cheese. Owing to the heat, I
had been going through drinking water pretty fast, and finished up my first of
two two-liter bottles of water. We swam
in the water and admired the view of the two peaks that form the northern
entrance to the Hudson Highlands, Storm King Mountain, on the Hudson’s western
shore and Breakneck Ridge, on the eastern.
A police boat drove by, making its rounds, I
guess, for the day was pretty quiet.
We
then continued southward, past the end of Little Stony Point, crossed Foundry
Cove, and skirted the cliffs along the shore of Constitution Island. We passed a tour group that was viewing ruins
on the south end of the island. The Hudson River Chain, which closed the Hudson
River to the British Navy during the Revolutionary War, was anchored at this
site. The buildings of the US Military Academy at West Point were on the
opposite shore. We crossed over to get a
better look, passing the boat house for the Academy’s rowing team and a ferry
terminal. We paused for a ferry that was
just pulling out; we supposed that it would be picking up the tourists from
Constitution Island. Fortress-like Thayer
Hall, made of grey stone, looms over the river.
A little past the dock, we passed the more picturesque Thayer Hotel,
with its tree-lined gardens.
We
stopped briefly at two waterfalls, on the cliffs at Highland Falls, NY. The southern is the larger, but to me, the
northern is more picturesque. Views of
both are marred by the railroad track – though, I suppose one could wade
through the shallow water beneath the railroad bridges to get an unobstructed
view of them. We then padded south to
Con Hook, a rocky knob connected to the Hudson’s western shore by a Phramites marsh. We
tried pulling ashore near the marsh, but found the spot to be too muddy and too
buggy. Instead, we pulled into a little
cove at the eastern end. Lee and I had stopped here on our 2011 paddle[1]. It is a pleasant spot, but the wakes of passing
boats can raise large waves in the cove, endangering kayaks pulled up on the
beach. Dallas and I moored Duck to a dead tree that was sunken
offshore, and Lee did similarly with his boat.
The rest of our group stacked their boats up on the tiny beach. This proved adequate; they survived several
sets of substantial waves. We climbed up
onto the rocks and had a snack in the shade of the trees, by some pretty
patches of wildflowers. I finished off
my second bagel. Some people swam in the little cove. Sugarloaf Hill is right
across the river from us; however from this vantage it appears as a long ridge
and not the symmetrical cone seen from the Bear Mountain Bridge.
We
continued south. The imposing arch of
Bear Mountain Bridge was straight ahead.
We were making for Popolopen Gorge, just north
of the western anchorage. The distance
took well over a half-hour to cover, even though it looked just ahead. Finally,
we passed beneath the railway and into Popolopen
Creek. It flows in a narrow gorge that
is spanned by three bridges: the railway bridge, the Popolopen
Suspension Footbridge, and the much higher Popolopen
Bridge, a decked-arch bridge that supports Route 9W. I let Dallas off by the northern anchorage of
the footbridge. She took the Twin Forts
Trail (blazed in blue) northward, up to the Visitors Center at Fort Montgomery
State Historic Site. I paddled upstream
past the bridges, so as to be able to view their graceful arches (excluding the
railway bridge, of course) against the backdrop of Anthony’s Nose, a prominent
hill at the east end of the Bear Mountain Bridge. Just whose nose it memorializes
is no longer remembered with any certainty; some say St. Anthony’s, others Anthony
Hogan’s (a sea captain), or Antony Van Corlear’s (a
military trumpeter), or Anthony de Hooges’s (a
minister). The rest of the group
explored the shallow water of the creek.
After taking a group photo, we headed back out into the Hudson and
started the last leg of our southward paddle.
We
skirted the rocky, eastern shore of Iona Island and then, when we just north of
Dunderberg Mountain, we crossed the Hudson River for
a final time. We paddled into Peekskill
Bay, then beneath a railway bridge and into the wide mouth of Annsville Creek to the launch at its eastern shore. Dallas and I stiffly pulled Duck up onto the floating platform and
then up onto the grass. Our kayaking
trip was over, though we still had to recover the vehicles that we left at Plum
Point and pack up. The time was now
about 6:30PM. We had paddled about
twenty miles in about eight hours, including stops.
A
group of us drove back up to Plum Point.
I stopped at the Chenut Mart
in Ft Montgomery and bought some bottle of cold lemonade for the
group. Though I had consumed four liters
of water during the trip, I was still thirsty. We then packed up our gear, said
our goodbyes and headed home.