With the Giants having a much needed bye this Sunday it gave Kathy and I the opportunity to take advantage of the unseasonably warm November 15 weather and do a paddle without the fear of the Tivo missing the football game. After several days of a light misting rain caused by the nor-Easter that impacted shore counties of New Jersey more so than our neck of the woods Sunday, November 15 proved to be a nice, warm, dry day. Since we didn’t get any real rain I was afraid water levels would not be too high. With this in mind I decided today’s paddle would leave from the Essex County side of the Passaic River from the South Orange Ave. parking lot. This turned out to be a wise choice. Going north of South Orange Avenue in the Passaic represented all new territory and if the river was clear sailing, I would be able to complete this portion of the Passaic up to the turn around point I experienced on my October 21, 2009 paddle when I went as far south of Route 10 as I could without portaging around some downed trees.
We thought last Sunday’s paddle would be the last of the year, with winter approaching. Kathy cleaned much of the gear up for the winter but it was the 65 degree weather that got me out for the record breaking 19th time this year. It was Kathy’s 17th time out. I bet this record proves difficult to beat in the years coming up. We really turned it up a notch this year when it came to going on kayak trips. The real question now is, does Kathy remove the Kayak holders from her car or do we see if we can get even one more paddle in? Whatever the outcome is, today’s weather and paddle were well worth the effort, though it was a short paddle; one hour and fourth-five minutes. When nature calls, nature calls and while kayaking after drinking a pot of coffee in the morning, nature has a tendency to call and call hard.
Click here to view my Picasa Google Web Album of the best of the pictures from this trip .
Being November 15, the autumn colors are all but gone. Only a few trees had leaves remaining and there was an occasional smattering of color but it was nothing to write on a blog about, so I will stop. Other wildlife we encountered was a deer on the other side of the river from us when we first pulled into the parking lot. I didn’t get a picture of it. We also saw on blue heron which was at the turn around point. I managed to get a few shots of it as it took off. I think one or two of those may be cool after I enhance the colors a bit. I think that was it for wildlife. There was a large bird spotted but not photographed nor confirmed with respect to what type of bird it was.
We didn’t see anyone on the river or on the shorelines with the exception of a couple of fishermen who had many poles planted in the mud at our put in point. That added just a little more tension to the whole put it experience. Fortunately it went smoothly as I gently slid Kathy in nose first in the shallow muddy bank. I was able to do the same technique by myself. Allowing the gradient and the mud to gently glide me into the river. This was one of our better put ins.
There was plenty of debris in the river. The downed trees, beverage bottles, athletic balls and one propane tank. We never had any problems getting around any of it, to or fro, until we reached the turn around point. If we wanted to ram thorough that debris blockage we could have, but it was time to turn around and getting back through it the other way is not always as easy as it is the first way through.
On the way back up river we saw nothing new and exciting. We did veer at a fork in the river into a drainage basin of some of the Vreeland Ave. businesses. Kathy turned amazingly well in that tight tributary. We then continued back upstream. Kathy got into photographing some moss, that was the excitement of it all. The sun was in our eyes they whole way back. When we eventually reached the put in point at South Orange Ave. and decided to end the trip. Nature was calling.
I rammed the shoreline with my kayak and scooted up the bank for an easy exit from my kayak. Kathy also had no problems getting out of her boat the sideways manner. It took us about 30 minutes to clean, pack and load the kayaks. On the way home we stopped at Micky D’s for a small snack and then went to Trader Joes and picked up a whole bunch of good stuff. This is one of the great benefits of the South Orange Ave. put in.
When we got home we quickly unloaded and got the dogs packed for some fun at the Denville Dog Park. November 15 is Rag’s birthday and our anniversary with her so we wanted the dogs to also enjoy the nice weather. They had lots of fun with many other small dogs at the dog park. They got stinky, but that’s okay. That is what dogs do. When we got home Kathy gave them both baths while I prepared dinner. Oh well, it’s Sunday night and I have work tomorrow but fun memories of kayaking and playing with the dogs are fresh in my mind as enhanced by my blogging about the day’s activities. Until we paddle again.
Timeline of the trip based on time stamps in the photographs:
- 10:57 am – Car is loaded
- 11:25 am – Staring to unload kayaks at parking lot
- 11:34 am – Kayaks unloaded ready for launch
- 11:45 am – Kathy is safely in the river
- 11:47 am – I am safely in the river with cameras unpacked
- 11:48 am- Go under South Orange Avenue bridge
- 12:28 pm – I spot blue heron sitting on downed tree in middle of the river which represents the turn around point
- 12:41 pm – We start paddling back upstream
- 12:48 pm – We take the right (wrong) fork in the river and end up in a drainage tributary
- 1:26 pm – We spot the South Orange Ave. bridge
- 1:28 pm – We go under the South Orange Ave. bridge
- 1:29 pm – Last picture from the kayak prior to stowing away electrical equipment in preparation for landing.
- 1:58 pm – Kayaks are loaded on the Matrix and we are ready to roll.
- 2:05 pm – McDonalds for quick snack and break
- 2:20 pm – Trade Joes for supplements
- 3:05 pm – We are back in the driveway and start to unload
- 3:35 pm – We are back in the car with the dogs heading to the Denville Dog Park
- 3:48 pm – At the Dog Park snapping pictures
- 4:40 pm – Last pictures at the dog park
- 4:54 pm – Taking pictures of the colorful sunset on the way home
- 6:20 pm – We are eating the gemelli pasta with cannelloni beans, spinach and sausage that I prepared.
- 7:00 pm – We are done cleaning the kitchen and I am downstairs beginning to blog
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