Friday's NY Times Living Section has an article about paddling on the Hudson that you may want to look at titled "The Outsider: Paddling on the Hudson With an Explorer's Spirit". The URL is: http://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/25/living/25OUTS.html?ex=991792928&ei=1&en=94 9e6e353ec2a1e0 The author talks about the Hudson River Watertrail Assoc and the trail and also paddles with one of our local outfitters, Atlantic Kayak Tours, well noted these days as a BCU training center. The article has some of the flavor of the great natural resource we have in this mighty historical river. The author refers to the Paddler's Guide to the River as "superb" which it is. The article is mostly accurate. I would quibble with two things. --One, his obsession with "floaters" i.e. dead bodies. I know it is a writer's hook for an article, but the joke wears thin. --The other quibble, well more than a quibble, is that the trail until now has been just the guidebook. Far from it, a handful of campsites have been established by the Association in conjunction with state officials before even the $1 million that Gov. Pataki announced last month that would go to developing the watertrail. And also put-ins have, indeed, been set up. Moreover, the Association has done a pretty good job of promoting access points in general with both the state and local goverments. The article in the newspaper has several photos, including one on the front page of the Section and leading to the inside story, as well as a map of where he paddled with Janice Lozano of Atlantic Kayak Tours. The area is quite beautiful. Saugerties has a lighthouse that has been converted to a nice B & B that helps sustains the facility as a museum. The spot in the river where he paddles to is used unofficially for camping. It's up on a bluff about 25 feet above the river with commanding views of the Catskill Mountains to the west. I remember one time when one fellow, wishing to be apart from the rest of the group, set up his tent on a little outcrop on the bluff. When it got dark, he suddenly discovered, to his dismay, that right next to it was a large navigation light beacon. It reminded me of those B grade movies in which a fugitive is hold up in a fleabag hotel with a huge neon sign just outside his window beaming in a flashing glaring bright light. :-) 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." ----------------------------------------------------------------------- *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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