Day 1: Paddle for Our Hudson
story + images by niki@hvny.info
Following what felt like weeks of rain, on Monday, the clouds finally cleared, a giant orb (THE SUN!) lit up the sky, and we hit the water for the first day of the Paddle for Our Hudson.
The virtual fundraiser to benefit the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater – that iconic educational floating vessel co-founded by folk legend and Beacon resident Pete Seeger – takes place from Memorial Day, May 26, through Labor Day 2025 with participants signing up to paddle 20-, 60-, or 100-miles.
On the first day of the Paddle, my trusty co-kayaker Larissa and I dropped in at our usual spot at Mills-Norrie State Park in Staatsburg. The tide was high and the water was calm flowing south midday. Luckily, the water chestnuts haven’t surfaced yet – they’ll emerge later this summer to create a thick carpet of invasive tangles to paddle though – so it was an easy glide along the shoreline past the environmental center. A light wind helped guide that southernly flow, though, and the current was against us on the way back, so slipping into the Indian Kill, which feeds the river just past the marina, was a calm respite awarding us further with water irises in bloom and red-winged blackbirds fluttering about.
We kayaked past boaters lounging on their bows, and turtles similarly sunning on logs; we went under a stone tunnel and were nearby when an Amtrak whizzed by, tooting its horn and startling both us and a few birds along the shore; there were huge fish jumping out of the water, just out of reach of a row of fishermen’s lines; and we brought home our own haul too – a bit of garbage like usual: plastic bottles, an oil container, cleaning supplies, a large piece of styrofoam, bits of a big green plastic recycling bin. That was just Day 1: 2.5-miles logged – and there’s still a lot work to do!
Join the Paddle for Our Hudson + donate to help steward a healthy Hudson River for generations to come.
