By Vladimir Brezina
Straight out of the Hudson River cooler! What could be more refreshing after the day’s paddle?
(Kayak camping at the Hudson River Islands State Park: see here and here.)
A contribution to Ailsa’s travel-themed photo challenge, Refreshing.
By Vladimir Brezina
Ailsa’s travel-themed photo challenge this week is Unexpected.
We were expecting a peaceful paddle through autumnal marshes and creeks. We were certainly not expecting the locals to put up such strong resistance—
Come to think of it, we’ve already had Unexpected as a photo challenge theme. Here‘s another fellow who was quite prepared to defend his turf :-)
By Johna Till Johnson
Photos by Vladimir Brezina
As the season descends into Winter, we figured it would be good to post a long-overdue writeup of a trip that we took during the magical boundary between Summer and Autumn—a trip up the Hudson River in October 2013.
In mathematics, a boundary condition is a constraint imposed on the solution of an equation. By imposing boundary conditions, you focus on a specific subset of solutions, rather than all solutions.
In ecology, there’s also the concept of a boundary—in this case, the transition from one habitat to another. Boundary conditions are then conditions at the habitat boundary. And as a tidal estuary, the lower Hudson River itself is a permanent habitat boundary, since it’s the interface between salt water and fresh, between the ocean and the rivers and streams that feed it.
The two meanings are different, but what they have in common is the notion of focusing on a particular part of the cosmos, one embodying flux, change, and intermingling of diverse forces.
That’s what we did one day this Fall when we drove north for an extended weekend of kayak-camping on the Hudson River, at our favorite spot, the Hudson River Islands State Park, about 20 miles south of Albany.
For this excursion, we’d joined forces with Alex and Jean, fellow paddlers and fellow bloggers at 2Geeks@3Knots, who drove up from New Rochelle. And we were hoping to meet up with Mike and Julie, paddlers from Albany with whom we’d shared a lively correspondence over the past year but had never met. And also, with luck, with our friend David, who lives both in NYC and upstate, and was planning to be on the river up there that weekend.
All of us from different habitats, in other words, but with our common boundary—the Hudson River.
Posted in Kayaking
Tagged Autumn, Fall, Fall Colors, Hudson River, Hudson River Islands State Park, Kayak Camping, Kayaking, Photography
By Vladimir Brezina
A week ago, over the Columbus Day weekend, we were kayak-camping at Stockport Middle Ground, one of my favorite places along the Hudson River, to paddle among the Fall colors (story and photos forthcoming!).
So on Monday a week ago, I paddled out onto the still river, shrouded in fog, as the first colors of dawn softened the sky. Honking geese flew overhead.
But what was that strange buzzing sound, and that strange object emerging from the fog upriver, gradually growing bigger?
It was Ceres!
By Vladimir Brezina
I had hoped to post this last spring, in time for the 2012 camping season. But it’s not too late! The fall, with its spectacular foliage colors, is here—to my mind, the best time of the year to go camping at this spot… and in fact, Johna and I have plans to head up there for a couple of days soon to see the show!
The length of the Hudson River between Albany and New York City offers a number of kayak camping spots. But none is so attractive as the Hudson River Islands State Park, about 20 miles south of Albany and several miles north of the town of Hudson.
I’ve paddled and camped there many times in every season over the past decade, and I never fail to stop there on through trips down the river. In this complex of islands, back bays, and creeks, rich in plant and animal life, there is always something new to see. And most of the year, except during the peak season in the summer, chances are that you’ll have it all to yourself. Although it’s quite accessible, it feels secluded, remote, almost wild…
... kayaked the waters around New York for more than 15 years in his red Feathercraft folding kayak. He was originally from (the former) Czechoslovakia and lived in the U.K. and California before settling down in New York. He was a neuroscientist at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. He died in 2016.
... is a kayaker and technology researcher at Nemertes Research. She's an erstwhile engineer, particle physicist, and science fiction writer. She was born in California and has lived in Italy, Norway, Hawaii, and a few other places. She currently resides in New York City.
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Wind Against Current 