Kayak Camping on the Delaware River
The last time we went kayaking, Trish said she would like to try a multi day kayaking trip. Last Wednesday, we decided we would try a two day trip on Memorial Day weekend. A local kayak outfitter recommended the Delaware River.
After consulting the map, we decided to try a trip from Dingman's Ferry to Poxono Access. If you have Google Earth, here's the route.
By the time we got the car packed on Sunday, it was pretty late. I had bought a bozen or so dry bags to store our stuff, and I managed to fit a 30 and 20 liter bag behind the rear seat, and a 30 and 20 liter bag up front. The kayaks were so heavy we could barely carry them down to the river. I was afraid we were going to sink, but it worked out just fine.
We paddled down the river as sunset approached. Here's Baila and Trish in their boat:
There were some Class 1 rapids that were not on the map - I suspect the river is a bit lower than usual. Mechel and I hit a 3 foot wave that got both of us a bit wet.
We saw a Great Blue Heron on the bank:
Baila directs traffic:
There were a few folks fishing:
We then saw another heron:
The sun set before we got to Buck Bar:
Finally, we got there. We could not find the sign that marked the campsite, so we paddled back up the other side of the island before giving up and settling on the clearing on the south side. We set up camp, and I rigged up a tripod to support our flourescent lantern. I used my camera tripod to support our gas lantern:
We had La Briute meals for dinner. Yum! There were lots of light-loving bugs:
The next day, I woke up around 5:30am. It was quite foggy out:
Sunrise:
Driftwood amongst the groundcover:
Eventually the rest of the family got up. We found some caterpillars:
A quick family portrait:
We got underway around 9am. It quickly got quite warm - it would be a muggy 93 degrees by day's end.
We found a nice spot to land for lunch and went up into the woods:
Kayaks on the other bank during lunch. We were the only overnighters on the river as far as I could tell:
While going around Depew Island we spotted an immature Bald Eagle:
And a mature Bald Eagle just north of Poxono Island:
We got to the pull-out around 2pm. Mechel and I drove the van we had left at Poxono up to Dingman's to get the car. We took the car back to Poxono to get the Kayaks. If we do this frequently, we'll buy a second set of HullRaisers for the van. While I loaded the kayaks, the kids played in the water:
We then drove to Dingman's to get the van and drove home. What a trip! We will definitely be doing this again.
After consulting the map, we decided to try a trip from Dingman's Ferry to Poxono Access. If you have Google Earth, here's the route.
By the time we got the car packed on Sunday, it was pretty late. I had bought a bozen or so dry bags to store our stuff, and I managed to fit a 30 and 20 liter bag behind the rear seat, and a 30 and 20 liter bag up front. The kayaks were so heavy we could barely carry them down to the river. I was afraid we were going to sink, but it worked out just fine.
We paddled down the river as sunset approached. Here's Baila and Trish in their boat:
There were some Class 1 rapids that were not on the map - I suspect the river is a bit lower than usual. Mechel and I hit a 3 foot wave that got both of us a bit wet.
We saw a Great Blue Heron on the bank:
Baila directs traffic:
There were a few folks fishing:
We then saw another heron:
The sun set before we got to Buck Bar:
Finally, we got there. We could not find the sign that marked the campsite, so we paddled back up the other side of the island before giving up and settling on the clearing on the south side. We set up camp, and I rigged up a tripod to support our flourescent lantern. I used my camera tripod to support our gas lantern:
We had La Briute meals for dinner. Yum! There were lots of light-loving bugs:
The next day, I woke up around 5:30am. It was quite foggy out:
Sunrise:
Driftwood amongst the groundcover:
Eventually the rest of the family got up. We found some caterpillars:
A quick family portrait:
We got underway around 9am. It quickly got quite warm - it would be a muggy 93 degrees by day's end.
We found a nice spot to land for lunch and went up into the woods:
Kayaks on the other bank during lunch. We were the only overnighters on the river as far as I could tell:
While going around Depew Island we spotted an immature Bald Eagle:
And a mature Bald Eagle just north of Poxono Island:
We got to the pull-out around 2pm. Mechel and I drove the van we had left at Poxono up to Dingman's to get the car. We took the car back to Poxono to get the Kayaks. If we do this frequently, we'll buy a second set of HullRaisers for the van. While I loaded the kayaks, the kids played in the water:
We then drove to Dingman's to get the van and drove home. What a trip! We will definitely be doing this again.