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The Annual Canoe Trip

Yesterday my middle daughter and I went on our second annual canoe trip. This year we decided to try the Hudson. My research showed that the longest stretch between dams and locks was the part from Stillwater to Schuylerville

We left Bennington about 10:30, drove to Schuylerville, and put the canoe in at the boat launch there, which has a nice dock to load the canoe at. The wind was high and in places on the trip up the canoe blew around on the top of the car. I had to stop once and tighten it down.

Illustration 1: The "Titanic" waiting to leave the pier! The canoe was named the Titanic by kids at the church camp we bought it from because it took on water and sank so fast! A tube of silicone fixed that!

Leaving the boat launch, we went north (upriver) until we came to the lock, then crossed the Hudson to where the Battenkill entered it on the east. We followed the Battenkill upriver It was very shallow in places and we had to push off a couple of times and find deeper water, but we finally made it up to the dam at Clark’s Mills. This was as far as we could go without somehow portaging the canoe around the dam. I took some photos of the dam and the highway bridge, the latter looking very decrepit. Got a couple of the HV mill and powerhouse also.

Illustration 2: The bridge and dam at Clark's Mills

Illustration 3: The Powerplant at the HV Mill at Clark's Mills.

Illustration 4: Our picnic on the Battenkill

Leaving the dam, we returned down the Battenkill, stopping at a beach for lunch - which turned out to be rather muddy. I sat on a fallen dead tree to eat.

After lunch we headed down the Hudson along the east side until we got clear of the Island, then switched to the west side as the wind wasn’t as strong there. We blew along rather nicely, passing the Battlefield Park and going down until we reached the southernmost point of a big uninhabited island. It was time to turn around and go home.

We fought our way up the east channel against a strong headwind and made slow progress. When we reached the head of the island it got so bad we crossed back over to the west side, which wasn’t really sheltered from the north wind, but seemed to have less of it. We paddled hard to get back to Schuylerville and the boat launch we started from.

Illustration 5: The Bridge at Schuylerville, NY as we went south.

We saw a number of ducks, a few geese, a few fish jumping, one kayak, and three sailboats with un-stepped masts, one going north and two going south. The river was quiet.

Illustration 6: The Saratoga Battlefield Monument as we came back north.

It was a very nice day and we had a good time. Canoes are nice because you can travel very shallow water where powerboats can't go and the sreeams are virtually unused.

Below is a map of the trip we took: