Father's Day Cruise

Spent a few hours Dad's Day afternoon exploring the South Branch of the Raritan River. This river winds its way through Clinton, falling over the dam at the Red Mill. Above the mill dam, the water is very calm and can be easily navigated by paddle.



I accessed the river via a public parking area that sits right next to the river. I plopped my kayak into the water easy as can be. I paddled down closer to the red mill and the bridge, being careful not to get too close to the dam so as to become a You Tube flick of the week. I noted a fisherman that was launching right from the museum (stone, brown building on the left looking down river). He was only about 20 feet from the lip of the dam and didn't seem to have any issue at all. Too close for a newbie like me, but maybe next time I'll get a little closer.

As you can see from this next snapshot, the river winds its way along heavily treed banks on both sides. Above the dam there is less than a half mile before I ran across another low rise dam... could've portaged over it fairly easily, but thought I would check it out from satellite photos to see if it would be worth it on the next trip. At that point, it was fairly wide, so the portage may be worth the effort next time.

Taking a different branch, I paddled for quite a while and saw lots of animals. I caught gaggles of geese, several woodchucks, many turtles (see pic), a strange looking, large bird (pic) and an otter/beaver looking thing all in their natural habitat. The twists and turns in the river kept my interest as I moved up river.

Eventually, I came into a shallow area where the surface water speed picked up considerably. I was not man enough to push beyond this, but I think that the shallows would continue for a longer stretch making paddling upstream more than a little challenging even for heartier boaters.

So I turned back and cruised my way home to the launch site. Upon arrival, I was loaded up and headed home in less than 5 minutes (5 minutes later, I was in my driveway). Was a good little trip all facilitated by my Necky Manitou, the Chevy Avalanche and my new little PVC cart. A good day.

I do think that the water is much nicer at the local Round Valley Reservoir, so that will probably be my next outing... hopfully later this week if weather holds out.


Click on the picture of the bird to get a closer look at this beast... didn't seem especially aftraid of me, and with that hooked beak, I maintained a very reasonable distance. "I don't know what the heck that is.... but get a picture of me with my arm around it!" See if you can help me identify this creature. Is it a loon? A commorant? Not sure.