The Paddling Blog

Piermont is a cool little town. It sits on the southwestern edge of the Tappan Zee, the wide spot on the Hudson River that forms a sort of a quasi-lake near the NY/NJ border.

It has cool restaurants and shops, a bunch of expensive new condos and marinas full of fancy boats. But it also has neighborhoods filled with charming little houses and people who have lived there since long before the hipsters arrived.

The pier that gives the town its name is now a park where people can walk out and enjoy the views up and down the Hudson. It’s location and ambiance makes it a destination for road bikers from the city on summer weekends. People love Piermont; pretty much all people.

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This offseason, my paddling explorations have been curtailed by other commitments. On Saturday morning I had business in Albany. I figured if we got back on the road by mid-afternoon we’d have time to squeeze in a short paddle on the way home.

There is a good variety of choices for kayaking between Albany and my home in the southern Hudson Valley. With only a few hours to get out, I settled on a stretch of flatwater for kayaking near Saugerties: the mouth of Esopus Creek. I’d had an eye on this stretch of water for a while. Last season my curiousity grew when I paddled Rondout Creek, just a little further south.

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