This was our first group ride and it’s funny how it was along the Passaic in a stretch we haven’t done yet. This one left from the Essex County Environmental Center on Eagle Rock Avenue and headed north to the Horsneck Road intersection with the river in Fairfield. The Environmental Center is a great place to disembark from with great parking and a nice launch area. The is so little current paddling up stream from here will be no problem so using one car will be a nice option. A nice part about today’s trip was there was no portaging.
Interstate 280
Se we met up there and Amy DeBartollo did a real nice job organizing it with the help of John Madden, Bio teacher at Morristown High, and his wife. In addition, Douglas from the Park Commission was nice enough to lend the group 8 canoes to use. In total there were 39 of us on the river that gets few paddlers. It weather was picture perfect in the 80s, downright sunny and hot, but being in April, no one is going to complain about that.
Rt. 46 leading to Bloomfield Ave. Bridge
Route 46 Bridge after the Home Depot leading into Fairfield
Interstate Route 80
The shuttling back and forth went well but unfortunately, there really isn’t a good parking place close to the Horseneck Road Bridge for future use. The walk to the parked cat is substantial and you have to hoiste the kayaks up and hill and over a guard rail, then load the car in the shoulder. Actually the shoulder is wide enough at this location. With all this stated, this location may be a bit of an issue for future use. The next exit off the river after Horseneck Road is 6 miles down the river at Two Bridges Road. We got shuttled back to the Environmental Center and had a nice lunch of sandwiches and cookies. A really nice event and paddle. Once again very peaceful. One bad thing about the group ride expereience is that the group scares off all the wildlife, if there was any.
Take out point at Horseneck Road
No it’s time to go see The Dead at the Garden. What a wonderful day!
[...] not getting to the Garden but it is a tough ticket and she had a busy Saturday planned including the Passaic River Kayak trip and working at the Restore. Come Friday afternoon I get a call from Kathryn from the [...]
[...] 27, 2009 by lgindoff It’s been a great weekend. We kayaked the Passaic yesterday, went to the The Dead show at the Garden on Saturday night and we planned to attempt taking to dogs [...]