CRUISING THE HUDSON RIVER AND MORE FAMILY FUN

17 JUNE 2022 – Mechanicville, NY

Most brochures say the Hudson River runs for 154 statute miles in a southern direction from the Troy Lock at Troy, NY to the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor. However, we’ve since learned it goes another 37 miles, all the way to Fort Edward. We’ve been cruising from south to north since leaving Liberty Landing on June 3.
On the southern half of the river, there is often a lot of boat traffic, including ocean- going cargo ships and barges (although we experienced very little). There are tides up to 8 feet plus currents that flow about 2 knots in both directions twice a day. In a boat the size of S.L.O. Dancer (40’ long, 14’ beam and weighing 38,000 pounds), the tides and currents aren’t as much of a challenge (except when docking and the winds are high), so we were able to focus most of the time on the sheer beauty of this magnificent waterway and all its amazing sights. (We did have to watch for the occasional logs, but no more crab pots!) It was especially fun to see the Culinary Institute (left below) and West Point (right) from the water after spending time there on land (reported in our last blog post).

As we headed north from NYC, one of the most poignant moments was when we cruised underneath the railroad bridge at Poughkeepsie, NY, known as “the
rowing capital of the world.” For those of you who’ve read The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown, you may recall that this RR bridge was the finish line for all of the intercollegiate rowing championships held in Poughkeepsie from 1891 to 1949, including the races with the brawny young men from the University of Washington (known as “the boys in the boat”) who in 1936 won the National Championships here and went on to defeat Hitler’s pride and joy, the favored crew from Germany. Gary and I had both read this exceptionally well written and exciting book before we left NYC, so, as we went under this bridge and cruised upstream along the race course, we couldn’t help but sing praises to every rower who ever raced along this four-mile stretch of water and appreciate all the more the accomplishments of the nine Americans and “their epic quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.” (If you haven’t read this book, we highly recommend it—one of the best we’ve read in a long time!)

           

There were a few other things along the Hudson River that we noticed. First of all, in front of many homes along the river there were bright green rolling lawns. Coming from drought-ridden California where most of us have substituted grass with crushed rock, mulch and other hardscape features, we were a bit stunned at how many beautiful lawns we’ve seen. On the flip side, because the Hudson freezes during the winter months, the lighthouses and navigation markers are much sturdier than on most of the other waterways we’ve cruised. The main reason is because they must withstand the crush of ice floes. Note the rock barriers that protect the navigational aids below.

Midway up the Hudson, we stopped for over a week at Shady Harbor Marina in New Baltimore (about 20 miles south of Albany, the capitol of NY). We met the marina owners at the AGLCA Rendezvous in Norfolk and were invited to their annual Pig Roast, so the marina was full of Loopers—some we’d already met, others we had not. But the most fun was a visit from younger daughter Laurie and her five kids (2 boys, almost 10 & almost 19, plus 3 girls 12, 15 & 17) who live about 2 hours east (30 min. east of Hartford) in Connecticut. They drove over on Saturday afternoon, spent the night and, on Sunday, enjoyed taking a boat ride with us up the river a few miles and back. It was fun for me to sit on the bow with Laurie and the two younger ones while we were underway, and the kids were very good about following the rules (including wearing life jackets when on the decks). We also enjoyed meals together at the marina restaurant. So fun to be with this amazing family!

Laurie, Campbell (12), Drew (almost 10), Avery (17), Ty (almost 19) & Emmy (15)

The northern part of the Hudson River was a series of contrasts…going from the lush green tree-lined scenery to the very industrial Albany and Troy, then back to lush green again.

  Iron ore/Recycling cars          Downtown Albany Ahhh…back to lush!

We also went from seeing very few birds (an occasional cormorant in the Lower Hudson) to seeing a majestic great blue heron escort us out of the marina, an eagle catch a fish right in front of us and another perched on a rock below a small dam. We saw a few mallards, a few pet chickens (at Shady Harbor), then heard several flocks of Canada geese fly over, and later were enchanted by watching two families of these geese swimming across the river with their young goslings.

Waterford, NY is an important crossroads on the inland waterways. Most Loopers choose to turn west here to enter the famous Erie Canal. However, we were very excited to be going NORTH and are currently on the Champlain Canal waterway. We’ll travel another 37 miles to Fort Edward, where the navigable river ends, and then travel a man-made canal 23 miles long into Lake Champlain. We’ve already gone through 3 locks (our first since the Dismal Swamp in NC), for a total of 41 so far. I think we’ll go through at least 12 more locks in order to reach the St. Lawrence Seaway. On a side note, sometimes we go through locks with other boats; yesterday we locked through with a mother mallard and her ducklings.

We’re told that the Champlain Canal waterway could also be called the “History Canal.” It was a principal inland navigation route for Native Americans, European explorers and early settlers, and, before our country’s independence, the British, the French and Americans all traveled north and south along this stretch of country. In the next few days we plan to read up on the history of this beautiful area and the significant battles that were fought here. It looks pretty fascinating.

Our goal is to get to Canada before July 1, which is Canada Day (like our July 4^th), so stay tuned! We are VERY excited about this next segment…and beyond!