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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jul 2016
    Location
    NY
    Posts
    3,301

    Summer Saturday Upstate NY (Hudson Valley)

    So I drove upstate last Saturday to visit my dad. My sister was driving him over to a Maine to visit one of my other sisters so I got there early. My kids and wife had their own shit going on so I was on my own all day. I figured I would stop someplace in the Hudson Valley for a paddle on my way back home. I visited my dad; they hit the road and I went ahead and mowed his lawn for him. It was hot enough that about halfway through I really wanted a Utica Club. I finished up and checked his fridge. Nothing. Easy solution.

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    There it is.

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    Luckily I thought to steal some ice and a ziploc from my dad. There was a lunchbox in my cars backseat already. My blue cooler would have been better but we make do.

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    Gassed up.

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    Grabbed some early lunch down the road.

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    mmmm

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    Then I hit the road again. As I got on the Thruway I was starting to think Rondout Creek. I’ve explored different bits and pieces of the Rondout before. It’s pretty idyllic at times.

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    Near where it empties into the Hudson in Kingston.

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    Of course this is upstate so there’s a canal. The lower Rondout used to be part of the Delaware & Hudson Canal. There are still lots of dams and defunct locks and stuff.

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    It’s not all pretty though.

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    Closer to its source up in the Catskills.

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    So one section I hadn’t paddled before is called Highfalls. There is a town called High Falls too. There’s supposed to be a D&H Canal Museum there so I punched that into my phone and followed the directions. I’m not sure if I drove past the museum and didn’t spot it or if it’s closed or what but I couldn’t find it. I did stumble across this.

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    I had the whole day to kill and I’m pretty fascinated by canals so I gave it a shot.

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    it turned out I wasn’t all that interested after all. I made it to two locks out of the five and got bored.

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    High Falls turned out to be your typical funky HV spot. It’s not all that far from Woodstock.

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    I ended doing two or three laps of town before I found my put-in which was just above the actual high falls.

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    It turned out to be about as gentle a place to paddle as you could ever expect.

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    I was theoretically paddling upstream but there was almost no current. I did find a shallow spot at one point. Somebody had anchored some homemade channel markers on one side. Never saw that before. Super helpful.

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    There were some houses here and there along the bank, and a golf course. I found myself wondering how much these people spent on this deck.

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    Typical upstate: a wooden deck mounted on some pontoons with a trolling motor on the back.

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    More gentle summer creek paddling. I was disappointed there wasn’t any visible canal evidence on this section. Nice workout though.

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    Then, in the distance I spotted an island with some smoke wafting through the trees. As I got closer I could see a variety of different small boats along its shore- kayaks, canoes, row boats, inflatable paddle boards… party spot.

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    As I got closer they called out and offered me a beer. I told them I had it covered and thanked them and kept going. They looked like they were having fun- probably twenty folks of all ages just hanging out grilling and drinking and laying in hammocks while the kids and a dog played in a stream. Awesome spot for it.

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    Of course now I’m thinking about a beer so pretty soon I sort of lost interest in my workout.

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    I can’t even describe how good the first mouthful of an ice cold Utica Club tastes on a hot summer afternoon while floating in a kayak on Rondout Creek, after paddling upstream for forty minutes or an hour. It was very satisfying.I’m not gonna say you should buy a flat bottomed kayak just to make drinking beer easier but I will say that it DOES make it easier.

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    This should have been the leisurely down- current drifting part of the trip but there was zero flow to this section of the Rondout so I had to keep paddling.

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    Made it back; probably only spent two hours on the water.

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    Further reading…

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  2. #2
    Join Date
    May 2015
    Location
    inw
    Posts
    1,282
    one of my favorite tgr posts ever. thanks for the tour.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    General Sherman's Favorite City
    Posts
    35,250
    Holy shit, cement is Upstate?

    Five stars, would read again. Great TR.
    I still call it The Jake.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Location
    seatown
    Posts
    4,117
    great read, thanks

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Nov 2005
    Location
    Down In A Hole, Up in the Sky
    Posts
    35,361
    I especially like how the story comes to a climax with an Ice Cold UC, just after you were invited to the orgy.
    Forum Cross Pollinator, gratuitously strident

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Sep 2018
    Posts
    6,643
    This is exactly how it is supposed to be done. Excellent work. Fantastic start to my day.


    Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Location
    The Mayonnaisium
    Posts
    10,467

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jul 2016
    Location
    NY
    Posts
    3,301
    Quote Originally Posted by rideit View Post
    I especially like how the story comes to a climax with an Ice Cold UC, just after you were invited to the orgy.
    That beer tasted so good. I forgot to include that there were chickens in High Falls too.

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  9. #9
    Join Date
    Feb 2016
    Location
    Westchester, New York
    Posts
    4,407
    Utica Club, eh?
    Gotta try if I see it!

    Thanks for the tour!!

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Location
    between campus and church
    Posts
    9,926
    Capitol District into Hudson Valley is a good combo.

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    I-70 West
    Posts
    4,684
    Best TR since Tedski!

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    NY
    Posts
    1,064
    Brownski brings it!

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Jul 2016
    Location
    NY
    Posts
    3,301
    Quote Originally Posted by hatchgreenchile View Post
    Best TR since Tedski!
    Thanks. This is about the nicest compliment I’ve ever gotten. Hopefully Tedski is still lurking round here and got to read this. He would fit right in in the upstate I expect.

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    Funland
    Posts
    1,813
    mmmm, Stewart's. Almost made me book a flight home.

    ... almost.

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Dec 2012
    Posts
    17,749
    This TR is Upstate as fuck. Nice work.
    "timberridge is terminally vapid" -- a fortune cookie in Yueyang

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Posts
    3,265
    Awesome!!!!

    I grew up in Poughkeepsie. I left for college in California in September 1993, and I rarely get to go back in the summer. I spent summers in Santa Barbara, we had to sign a one year lease in Isla Vista so you really might as well, so I would get to go home for Christmas and a few weeks during the summer and that's it. We go back for the holidays, but other than a few random trips I have spent very little time there during the summer. In fact, I don't think I have been there, aside from the holidays, since a friend's wedding in 2010.

    Thank you for sharing this. It reminds of just how beautiful it is back home during the summer. I need to get back at some point soon. I enjoy going over the holidays, but the green hills and the river are just awesome.

    My sister lives in Woodstock. She might very well know that spot. It definitely looks very Woodstock.
    "Have you ever seen a monk get wildly fucked by a bunch of teenage girls?" "No" "Then forget the monastery."


    "You ever hear of a little show called branded? Arthur Digby Sellers wrote 156 episodes. Not exactly a lightweight." Walter Sobcheck.

    "I didn't have a grandfather on the board of some fancy college. Key word being was. Did he touch the Filipino exchange student? Did he not touch the Filipino exchange student? I don't know Brooke, I wasn't there."

  17. #17
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Location
    Maine
    Posts
    825
    Nice TR.....always get a kick out of the "Up in the Catskills"

  18. #18
    Join Date
    Jul 2016
    Location
    NY
    Posts
    3,301
    Quote Originally Posted by steved View Post
    Nice TR.....always get a kick out of the "Up in the Catskills"
    Well, you know, in context, Peekamoose Blue Hole is upstream and at a higher elevation than High Falls so it is accurate in this case.

  19. #19
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Location
    N side, Terrace, BC
    Posts
    5,147
    Sweet write up Brownski, thanks for sharing that!

  20. #20
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
    Location
    Geopolis
    Posts
    16,084
    Nice Brownski, way to make the most out of a hall pass!
    j'ai des grands instants de lucididididididididi

  21. #21
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    Upstate
    Posts
    9,675
    Quote Originally Posted by Brownski View Post
    That beer tasted so good. I forgot to include that there were chickens in High Falls too.

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    Speaking of chickens. I'm doing a bike race on Wed night in Mount Morris where the winner gets a live chicken. Second place is goat cheese. Third place is eggs. Thinking of throwing the race because who the hell wants a live chicken?

  22. #22
    Join Date
    Jan 2017
    Location
    on the banks of Fish Creek
    Posts
    7,514
    A live chicken is powerful juju……








    with great power comes great responsibility.




    fact.

  23. #23
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    Upstate
    Posts
    9,675
    Hmmm I could use some juju and sacrificing that chicken could set me up for good things come cyclocross season.

  24. #24
    Join Date
    Jan 2017
    Location
    on the banks of Fish Creek
    Posts
    7,514
    Pretty sure you get to eat chicken afterwards anyway… just gotta give the various gods first dibs on the drumsticks. so, pretty much a win-win for everybody but the chicken.

  25. #25
    Join Date
    Jul 2016
    Location
    NY
    Posts
    3,301
    I’m waiting to catch a flight to Newark right now. Looking at this calmed my stress level a little.

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