Kathy and I embarked on what ended up being a fun adventurous 5-hour kayak trip down the Delaware River that spanned 13.7 miles between the Water Gap and Belvidere, NJ take out. We had done this trip plus a little more in June 2009 with the HRCKC but this is the first time we would try the Delaware’s riffles by ourselves. The long short of it was we didn’t remember that trip being that long on the river as we encountered, but the time on the river was so comfortable, the 5 hours didn’t seem that bad. Somehow I did the entire 5 hours without leaving my cockpit. Kathy had the fortune, or misfortune in having to portage her way through some shallow rocky areas later on in the paddle.
It was a very nice to hot day on the river. Weather was expected to the rain free, slight humidity and in the low 90’s. The billowing clouds didn’t do much to shade us but they did provide for some very nice reflections in the water. In addition, there were some really cool clouds to the east on the way home.
To view the photos I took from this trip in my Picasa online album go to:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lgindoff/20100711DelawareRiverWaterGapToBelvidere?feat=directlink
For us the real fun of this paddle resides in the many opportunities to go through the riffles and rapids. There are 10 to 12 episodes of them and some you go through like a knife through butter and others you it wrong and get the kayak swamped by white-caps cresting over your bow. It’s a blast. Kathy’s first encounter resulted in her going right into a rock. That got her heart pounding for the rest of the trip. She certainly was relaxed and relieved when the whole journey was over.
Below is the timeline based on the picture’s time and GPS stamps
- 12:29 – Boats unloaded at the Gap
- 12:33 – First picture in the river
- 12:44 – In the heart of the Gap (0.5 mies)
- 12:57 – Past the first island (1.1. mies)
- 1:23 – Approaching abandoned multi-arched railroad bridge (2.75 miles)
- 1:41 – Note a possible put in at Columbia just before the Portland-Columbia Pedestrian Bridge
- 1:44 – Go under the Portland-Columbia Pedestrian Bridge (4 miles)
- 1:48 – Go under the N. Delaware Dr. Toll Bridge (4.2 miles)
- 2:04 – See the power plant’s 2 smokestacks
- 2:08 – At the power plant’s effluent release (5.4 miles)
- 2:21 – Stop for lunch just shy of the railroad trestle where kids jump off into the river below
- 2:42 – Finish lunch and go under the railroad trestle
- 2:45 – Photograph multiple dare devils jumping off the bridge (6 miles)
- 3:00 – Pass the Delaware River Family Campground on the NJ side
- 3:29 – Encounter the first set of large islands by the Driftstone on the Delaware Campground and we take the skinny western channel (8 mies)
- 3:44 – We merge back into the entire river (8.9 miles)
- 3:49 – We encounter the next big island and we once again take the skinnier western channel (9 miles)
- 4:07 – We merge back into the main river (10 mies)
- 4:22 – Encounter next smaller island and take shallower eastern channel. This was a mistake as Kathy had to step out and portage a bit. I managed to push my way through without getting out (10.75 miles).
- 4:35 – We finally get out of the shallow channel and merge back with the river (11.3 miles)
- 4:37 – We spot 4 heron just in front of use and I photograph them for a while
- 4:42 – Last heron picture
- 5:07 – I spot the Water St. Bridge in Belvidere. The takeout is just beyond it.
- 5:20 – We go under the Water St. Bridge in Belvidere (13.6 miles)
- 5:22 – Last picture on the water before we go a shore (13.7 mies)
- 6:19 – Picking up my car at the Water Gap Visitor’s Center on Rt.80 where we put in.
- 7:58 – First picture at the Denville Dog Park
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