Hudson River Camping

A 34 year old legacy that began with a fried starter motor

Every family has its tradition, the repetitive events that add to the very definition of the family. Some have a blow-out barbeque, family reunion, or maybe an annual RV road trip across the country. It's something to look forward to and something to reminisce about. It's that something extra that tends to stick in your memory long after you've forgotten about most other, rather ordinary, time spent together. In my family, as you've probably guessed by now, the tradition that stands out most is our annual boating/camping trip in the Hudson River Valley of New York.

        The funny thing about tradition is that you don't realize at first how profound it will become. A five year old boy, while having fun sitting around a campfire, just can't comprehend that he'll be looking back fondly and writing about the experience some twenty-five years later.

        Each trip had something new to offer. Some were pleasant yet uneventful, while others distressing or downright disastrous. A few years brought great interest in the trip, so much so that there was barely enough room to sit around the camp fire. On the other hand, there were also those years when the trip just didn't happen. The great thing about it is, I've never felt like I'd give up the tradition for any long period of time. Some specific events that occurred make for fun stories that I'll likely be telling my grandkids someday, but it's more the overall general impression it has instilled in me that I cherish most. I hope I'm able to carry it on with every new family generation and that they will find it as endearing as I have.

This page will eventually have the whole story of how it started and all the interesting things that happened over the years, but I'll start with a little blog on our most recent trip below.

The 2007 Trip

This trip took some work because interested parties had a lot going on this fall. After several failed attempts at picking a weekend, we finally settled on October 6th-9th. The attendees were yours truly, brother-in-law Mike, Uncle Dave, Cousin Steve, and Father Buck. This was a year of a couple firsts. Some years we don't have a single boat to take but this year we had two; Steve's Bayliner and Mike's center console Aquasport. Sure, we only had five guys, but it was nice to be able to take pictures of the boats in action anyway. Here's some video from the trip: ---> video/camping2007.mp4

(note: you can click any picture to view the full size. A new window will open. Close it to come back to this page. If you want any picture for printing, let me know, I have the better resolution version)

We all met at the Sayreville, NJ boat ramp where we secured the gear, parked the cars, and got on with the trip. The ramp is located on the Raritan River so there was a short trip East out to the Raritan Bay, then a slight left into the Arthur Kill that snakes North in between New Jersey and Staten Island, NY. This is a relatively industrialized area with a lot of tug boats and bulk material ships like the one seen on the right here. After making our way past the Gothals and Bayonne Bridges, you eventually come to the New York Harbor with simultaneous views of the Verazzono Narrows Bridge, Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and of course the lower Manhattan skyline.

This is where things get a little nuts. With so many waterways coming together into this wide open bay and increased ferry boat traffic, the water can get pretty rough for small crafts like ours. With a little persistence and care, we worked our way across the bay (avoiding the millionaire sailors in the process) and into the Henry Hudson river. This is where the river begins (or ends depending on how you look at it) and separates Northern NJ and NY City. As we hug the NY shoreline to stay out of the big wind and chop, we pass one of the many cruise ship terminals in the area. There's a lot to see in this short stretch of river but the buzz and hurried pace of the city quickly fades as we pass under the George Washington Bridge and down into the valley of the Palisades. Some of the sheer rock faces on the East side of the river, near the NJ/NY border are just incredible and they can really only be seen from the water. After that, there's about an hour of straight motoring before you see anything of interest. This takes us up to the Indian Point Nuclear Generating plant and also where the river starts narrowing substantially. Make no mistake about it, there is some MONEY up here. I'm going to bet your 401k isn't covering the gas bill on this yacht--->

Another mile up river and you start remembering why the trip is worth all the trouble. No more smoke stacks. No power lines. Ok, maybe a few PCBs in the water... but it LOOKS nice eh? These are all views from just North of the Bear Mountain Bridge and just South of West Point Military Academy.

"Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?" Yes, we are. Now, normally we'd continue on for about a mile to a town called Garrison's Landing. The old site lost its luster over the years mostly due to its accessibility from the town and the recent thorough marking of trails in the area. We've been hassled by park rangers and hiked upon by Manhattan yuppies on various occasions. So, we broke tradition a bit and picked out a new place to camp. We had been scouting out a few possibilities using aerial photography on Google Earth and went in for closer looks when we arrived.

There's always a bit of apprehension nosing a boat's hull into a shoreline riddled with boulders but somehow we found a spot that had a beach area clear of any obstructions. A few guys jump in to the water up to their knees to hold the boat steady while the others quickly unload the gear on to land. Once that feat is accomplished, we take the boats offshore about 500 feet and anchor them. Yup, they have to swim back but at least the weather was gorgeous (I'd even say a little too hot for camping at 85F). In this case, we had one really good anchor so we lashed both boats together.

Ok, so what exactly IS camping then? To me, it's getting away from modern conveniences as much as you can stand. Some may argue it's about trying to make the most elaborate meals humanly possible in a fire pit (see left), but not really. It's kind of like Survivor but without the mosquito bites and starvation and all. When the weather is slightly chilly, focus is on fire. Making it, stoking it, poking it, gathering wood for it, being mesmerized by it. Usually the only thing that takes the attention away from the fire is when you need another beer out of the cooler (Mike and I are guarding said beer in the pic on the right.

Then there's the fishing and general milling around the area. Nothing too profound (unless you're talking about profanity) on this trip. This was a new site for us so we did a lot of exploring. The consensus is that we like the new site and will likely return. There were something like five fire pits in the general area which tells us many people find it accommodating. We'd like to think we discovered an untouched gem but the Louis and Clark days are over. We found rock chiseled messages going back as far as 1938.

So guys, thanks for the fun trip! I plan to add more pics and video here so don't forget to hit "refresh" or "reload" when you come back. Send me any pics you have that are different than these.

"Is that you God?", I asked.   "No douche, it's just lens flare", the camera said in a low booming voice.