A super warm November 8 provided Kathy and I an opportunity to kayak late into the season. It was 65 out and sunny. Not a cloud in the sky and no wind to worry about. How Lucky are we on this Sunday? Let’s hope luckier than the Ginats.
This trip will probably be the last one for the year. For my inaugural kayaking season, this is my 18th paddle and Kathy’s 16th. That’s pretty good if you ask me and with that local experience I was still able to select a paddle where I encountered new territory as well as hitting two different rivers on one journey. This is a first for me .
Being Sunday, I DVRed the Giant game vs. San Diego and headed to the Passaic River. The plan was to put in at the Essex County Environmental Center on Eagle Rock Ave. in Roseland and to start heading downstream toward Pine Brook. We were going to head down stream to the confluence of the Passaic River and the Rockaway River. A left turn off the Passaic into the Rockaway has you paddling upstream on the Rockaway from its mouth. This segment of the Rockaway represented new territory for us.
To see a slide show of the photos from this trip go to my Picasa Google Web Album at the link below:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lgindoff/20091108KayakingThePassaicToTheRockawayRivers?feat=directlink
We have been on the Rockaway before but that was alway upstream from Boonton, this was at the very end of it and we had no idea if it would be navigable or not. It ended up being pretty wide and felt much like the Passaic. Eventually there was a downed tree that acted as a debris catch basin that made continuing upstream difficult. I worked my way through the muck but Kathy didn’t want to try it. It really wasn’t all that difficult.
I told Kathy I would explore further upstream for a little while she eats her tuna fish sandwich we got from Sorrentos before we disembarked. It was another remarkably cheap meal at $9.50 for 2 sandwiches and 4 doughnuts. I paddled further up the Rockaway as fast as I could gaining as much new territory as I thought I could with leaving Kathy alone on the river on the other side of the debris dam. I went about half the way between the confluence of the two rivers and the Sharkeys Road destination I was looking for. Unfortunately, I never made it all the way and turned around at a downed branch that I didn’t feel like going through. It was good to go on 2 rivers, almost 3 as I was just moments from the end of the Whippany River. One day I would like to see if I could complete this trip.
On the way back home we didn’t see too much more exciting. The sun was lower in the sky and provided a nicer and warmer glow on the few colors that remain on the trees this late into autumn. Even with the warm glow and colors, it wasn’t the most picturesque trip. The photo below was about as good as it got but that’s not to say it wasn’t a beautiful day and trip.
As far as wildlife, it was very limited. We only saw boring birds, pigeons on the Eagle Rock Ave. bridge. A large flock of back birds few back and forth across the river. We saw what may have been a hawk, and both Kathy and I saw deer but we were not able to get any pictures of those. I saw a few ducks and it appears as if the geese have all flown south of us by now. That was it, not turtles, no fish. Kathy saw this bird I have pictured to the right flying in front of her. I only saw it land in the trees. I hung around for a while to see if it would take off again but it never did. I don’t know what type of bird it is but it looked bigger than the standard birds we had been seeing all day. My hunch is it may have been a hawk, so if anyone ever read this and knows, don’t be bashful to let me know.
On my solo portion up the Rockaway, I did see 2 guys in pickup trucks with a dog on the river side. It looked as if they were up to no good, and I was right. As soon as I left the area the gun shots started to fly. I can’t imaging they are allowed to do that. In any case we all came back safe an sound.
I have to also mention that there was quite a bit of pollution on this trip. Kathy picked up one of those heart shaped balloons and trailed it with here all trip. Doing her part in the litter pick up, but there was too much to pick up. We saw debris caught up in all the downed trees. This included the preponderance of water bottles, sporting balls, occasional construction debris, a tire, a propane tank, a gas can, a few abandoned cars in the woods. In the end, it was the debris that got clogged in a fallen tree that ended Kathy’s, and for the most part, both our trips into the unknown.
Getting out of the boat I used the “ramming the shore” technique with some good speed going in head-on and then I scooted up a few inches making getting out easy, dry and clean. The water level was lower that it has been for the past few weeks and therefore the shore line had a mud factor but we nicely dealt with it and it turned out not to be much of a factor.
Getting the kayaks cleaned and loaded was pretty quick and easy. So in all we were on the kayaks for just under 3 hours, we got to eat a Sorrentos for breakfast and lunch and got home in time to watch a depressing Gaint loss to San Diego who came back in the last minute to drive and 80 yards to defeat the Giants by 1 point. Really a terrible loss. Good thing I had the great paddle to lessen the mental damage. What a great year of kayaking. See you in the springtime.
The time line of the paddle went as follows:
- 10:45 – Boats are on Kathy’s car waiting for Kathy to get out of bed.
- 11:28 – Kathy is out of bed and packing the car
- 12:38 – I have the boats unloaded and at the riverside waiting to get in
- 12:45 – Kathy is in the water paddling while I am still a shore
- 12:50 – I am in the water taking photos.
- 12:55 We cross the Eagle Rock Ave. bridge
- 1:05 – We go under the I-280 bridge.
- 1:46 – We reach the confluence of the Passaic and Rockaway Rivers.
- 1:56 – I cross the debris blockage that marked the furthest extent of Kathy’s paddle.
- 2:11 – I reach the furthest extent of my trip solo up the Rockaway and turn around to rejoin Kathy
- 2:25 – I have rejoined Kathy on the other side of the debris dam.
- 2:31 – We reach the Passaic River and head upstream
- 3:19 – We go back under Route I-280
- 3:28 – We go back under Eagle Rock Avenue
- 3:30 – Last picture before putting the camera away, putting my seat tray up and preparing for landing.
- 4:00 – Kayaks loaded and heading back home.
- 6:58: – Giants up by 6 with 2 minutes to go with San Diego on their own 20.
- 7:02 – Giants Lose by 1. Four-game losing streak after 5- game winning streak.
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I am really enjoying the river kayaking photos. Love reading your blog.
[…] made a right turn up it. Kathy and I had ventured up this section of the Rockaway once before in November 2009 but much shallower water made the fallen trees an issue. The flooded river today made all those […]