Leaving New York City we begin our journey up the Hudson River. “Currently” named after the English sailor (working for the Dutch East India Company), Henry Hudson (an unvetted immigrant), the earliest known name for the river came from the Iroquois (see above), which translates to, "the river" (duh!).
From its discharge to the Atlantic Ocean (sea level) to its source at Lake Tear of the Clouds at some 4000 feet elevation in the Adirondack mountains, the river runs more than 300 miles. For half this length the river is tidal and brackish before becoming a true freshwater river.
Along the way a couple dozen rivers and creeks systems contribute their flow. The Schroon, Batten Kill, Hoosic, Croton, Cedar, Indian, Mohawk, Normans Kil and others help to make up the 13 billion gallons a day of freshwater that flows out to the Atlantic.
From here Loopers have the choice of turning west at Troy and continuing on the Erie Canal to Lake Ontario or going north, our choice, up the Champlain Canal to Vermont and the St Lawrence seaway to Montreal.
Visually the trip up the Hudson is stunning. Steep rocky cliffs start just north of the City at a place known as the Palisades and continue for much of run. Geologically this formation is actually called the Hudson Fjord.
In addition to the transition from salt to freshwater our trip on the Hudson also brings a welcome relief of depth!!
For the last year traveling the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, we’ve had to be vigilant about traveling in the shallows and even limiting some travels to make sure we were taking advantage of mid to high tides to have enough water to keep our skeg from touching bottom. Here we are typically traveling in waters 30 to 80 feet deep. At West Point the depthfinder was reading 182 feet!!!
Highlights on this part of the trip included passing the West Point Military Academy (where Pat was born and her dad went to school and later taught) and our stop in Kingston, to visit Happy Happy’s Jacksonville wintering slip crew from Spray Cat (on the weekend of a Bob Dylan concert).
Leaving the hustle and bustle of NYC
Who's buried in Grants Tomb?
The sheer cliffs of the palisades.
West Point Military Academy
At any given dock you can run into a gaggle of Loopers and impromptu docktails just happen!
The lighthouse/harbor entrance to Kingston
Upstate New York has that New England feel to it.
Debbie showed us the sights of her summer backyard when she's not on Spray Cat "in the Islands".
The dockmaster in Kingston owns a twin boat of Happy Happy!
The Bob Dylan concert we didn't see (we're only miles from Woodstock and one of his local hideaways).
The beginning of what will be some 48 locks to get to the Great Lakes by this fall.
