Re: [Paddlewise] The urban paddler

BaysideBob wrote:
> 

> I don't have the time, inclination, resources or life-style to make long
> trips to the pristine wilderness.  I paddle in the middle of a built-up
> urban area on the East side of San Francisco Bay.  I consider myself blessed
> to be here.  The weather allows paddling year-round.  The scenery is always
> interesting  and changing.  The water is cleaner than it was 20 years ago.
> The powers-that-be are beginning to strike  a nice "development" balance
> that allows a busy port; public access; retail shops and restaurants to
> co-exist.  There are protected areas for wildlife as well.  Every time I go
> out I'm fascinated by the activities and feel renewed when I get home.  When
> I'm off the water for a week, I feel otherwise.
> 
> within a 10 mile radius I can think of more than 6 places to put in. One is
> a regional park that charges a nominal fee.  The rest are free. 5 have
> picnic facilities.  None are ever full of people.


Again, I find myself in agreement with BaysideBob.  When I saw some
earlier postings by others about _over-impacted_ areas I paddle in
around NYC or my possibly finding some people's isolated spots spooky, I
was about to rush in with some comments when BaysideBob beat me to the
punch.

It amazes me to find that so many people have such misconceptions about
urban areas thinking them devoid of pristine settings.  It is so far
from true.  Take for example, the area of the Palisades in New Jersey. 
It can be accessed from an official kayak launch site just a mile across
the Hudson river in Northern Manhattan.  Boat traffic in the area is
marginal compared to the busy harbor just 10 miles downstream.

Here you will find majestic cliffs up to 500 feet high that were formed
under the earth's surface 93 million years ago (I won't bore you with
the fascinating geology of it and the immediate area except to say that
NYC is unique among places in being at the meeting point of three
distinct geological regions and right on a spot that continents both
collided and separated at different times).  The Palisades are all green
with different plant life and has two waterfalls, one higher than
Niagra, albeit not very powerful.  If you paddle along there the city
can seem a million miles away.  (if you want to know more about it, I
wrote a description of it in Tamsin Venn's Seakayaking the Middle
Atlantic States, published by AMC Press)

I have kayak camped there just a few miles from the edge of the city.  I
remember waking up on one weekday morning next to one of the waterfalls
while deep in the cocoon of my bivy tent and forest mantle over me and
looking out across the river to the east bank where ribbons of light
formed by commuter trains rushed their occupants to the canyons of
Manhattan.

Other areas boost of marshlands and the unique world of saltmarshes with
their plant and animal life that can adapt to changes from fresh water
to salt water as the river's currents vie with the ocean's tides. 

So it ain't all just steel and concrete and asphalt.  

>  I'd like to see MORE
> people enjoying the underused facilities that are already here.  I'm not
> sure how to do that.  We have lots of separate entities, commercial and
> non-profit, that promote paddling, but no real co-ordination that I'm aware
> of.

I think that a lot of _adventure_ is in the state of mind and not
necessarily having it all presented to you in some unique package
delivered by stunning displays by Mother Nature.  I remember listening
to a fascinating talk at the LL Bean Sea Kayaking Symposium where Mike
Perry, one of the organizers, talked of his and a few paddling buddies'
effort to circumnavigate a town in Maine (I forget which).  It is on a
bay.  A look at maps and charts revealed to them that marshes and small
streams on the town's inland side might contain enough water to
circumnavigate the place by kayak with a few portages.  They did it,
much to their own delight and that of the listeners who were intrigued
by their innovation and imagination in carving out a unique adventure.

BTW, regarding my finding isolated places spooky, I ask the commentator
has he ever walked miles of wooded trails at night without a flashlight
guided only by the intermittent light of stars and moonbeams breaking
through the tree cover and deciphering the different shades of grey of
the path and its surroundings to find your way.  Or paddled along a
shoreline in total darkness (without lights) finding your way only by
the different sounds made by surf on one side and that of waves breaking
on the beach alongside you.  I have.

ralph diaz 
-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Ralph Diaz . . . Folding Kayaker newsletter
PO Box 0754, New York, NY 10024
Tel: 212-724-5069; E-mail: rdiaz_at_ix.netcom.com
"Where's your sea kayak?"----"It's in the bag."
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