Hudson River

 TRAVEL DAY 66 - Croton on Hudson to Poughkeepsie

June 30, 2023

5.3 Hours/39.3 Miles

    With the regular crew back, we made plans to head north on the Hudson River. We pulled out of the slip and around to the "self-serve" pump out station. There was a haze on the river that was a combination of early morning fog and smoke from the massive Canadian wildfires. A blue sky and miles of visibility would have been awesome, but the view was still beautiful as the high granite hills covered with green trees and foliage lined the river.

Hudson River & Canadian Smoke

    We were getting a bit of a push up river from the current. It was fresh water from here on for the remainder of the Great Loop. As we traveled we still had no precise destination in mind and the navigator plotted several routes to find a suitable travel day and a final stop. We wanted an anchorage for the night to make up for all the funds spent over the last few days but they seemed few and those available looked sketchy. We opted for Poughkeepsie and Shadow Marina. 

One of the many trains on the Hudson

    On the way up the Hudson we passed West Point Military Academy. I could see the cadets dressed in their BDU's at the base of a large tower performing some type of training. Originally established as a fort, it is the oldest of the five American service academies. At one time it was named Fort Arnold after Benedict Arnold, but after Arnold's act of treason in trying to turn the fort over to the British, it was renamed Fort Clinton, after General James Clinton.

West Point Military Academy

   Along the route we passed Bannerman Castle. Built by Francis Bannerman and used as a storage facility for his munitions business. The castle is in ruins now but it is a pretty ominous looking sight.

Remains of Bannerman Castle

   Our dock for the night was just before the Mid-Hudson Bridge and the Walkway Over The Hudson. We were placed on the outermost facing dock. The oncoming current made for a pretty easy tie to the floating dock but would also mean we would deal with some waking from boat traffic.

The Crew on shore leave

    It was a pretty quiet night with the occasional train horn from the west bank or the wake, sometimes a tad violent, from passing barges and ships.

 

Mid-Hudson Bridge - Poughkeepsie

Half Moon Bay to Poughkeepsie

TRAVEL DAY 67 - Poughkeepsie to Kingston

July 1, 2023

2.2 Hours/17.2 Miles

    With a pretty swift current from the stern, we crabbed our away from the dock at 9 am for the short run to Rondout Creek and the town of Kingston. We inch ever closer to Canada.

Rondout Creek Entrance

   Sometime into the trip, we spotted the Culinary Institute of America. Plenty of gourmet choices here as we watched several Eagles swoop down onto the surface of the Hudson and grab their meal. We passed Hyde Park, the hometown of our 32nd President, Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Culinary Institute of America

   Along this portion of the Hudson as it narrowed, we moved past 2 ornate lighthouses. The first was Esopus Meadows Lighthouse marking the edge of a very shallow section of river and the Rondout Creek Lighthouse at the entrance to Rondout Creek.

Esopus Meadows Lighthouse

                  

Rondout Lighthouse

    We headed to a free overnight dock at the Ole Savannah Southern Table and Bar. Turns out that overnight docking is not permitted on the weekends, so we settled for the 2 hour limit and enjoyed a nice lunch. We wanted an anchorage but anchorages seem to be hard to find here and the edges of the creek was littered with quite a bit of industrial debris along this very commercial waterfront. This port was originally established by the Dutch in the 17th century as an Indian trading post, and later served as a steamboat building port. Today it still has a few shipyards that repair large vessels and tugs. We made arrangements for a slip a little farther up the creek at Rondout Yacht Basin.

Ole Savannah Table and Bar

    We dropped the dinghy and headed back across the creek to Kingston. There are no dinghy docks in Kingston so we were forced to shell out $10 for 2 hours at the City Marina. We walked around Kingston and explored some of the shops. 2 hours was more than enough time and we ended our excursion sitting on the neighboring boat by our dinghy and chatting with some folks we had met in Poughkeepsie who were on their way to Canada. 

Kingston Downtown

Poughkeepsie to Kingston

TRAVEL DAY 68 - Kingston to Shady Harbor Marina

July 2, 2023

5.12 Hours/41.8 Miles

    We needed a place to wait out the 4th of July holiday and avoid all of the recreational boat traffic that it brings, so we planned a 3 night stop at Shady Harbor Marina, a short distance from Albany. We left Rondout Creek in a light drizzle feeling this would squelch even more of the weekend boat traffic. We turned out of the creek right behind a large tug & barge and headed north.

Rip Van Winkle Bridge

    Even this far up the Hudson, the large ship traffic is frequent. The cargo ships usually put out an enormous wake where the shallower draft tugs & barges put out very little. We passed a behemoth of a cargo ship and even though we were well out of the channel the wake was in excess of 6' and brought water over our bow.

South bound tug and barge on the Hudson

    The continued trip up the Hudson was beautiful in spite of the overcast conditions. We docked at Shady Harbor Marina for a buy 2 and get 1 night free. There is virtually nothing else here in New Baltimore, NY but we will use the time to plan our trip into the Erie Canal later this week.

Hudson River Hike

    The next 2 days were spent doing laundry, some trip planning and a little hiking. We managed to get a few rays of sunshine in between showers, and with temperatures in the 70's and low humidity, it made for a pleasant stay. We checked out the courtesy van and drove to Ravena for a few groceries. We even were able to locate a Geocache.

Geocaching

    Connections were made again with a couple of others we had "Loop Frogged" with and would most likely travel in the coming days. Tomorrow would be the end of the Hudson River and the start of the Erie Canal.

Kingston to Shady Harbor