Trip this upcoming weekend - looking for advice!

Submitted by NJGuy on Sun, 07/22/2018 - 15:16
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Trip Planning and General Discussion

Planning for two days on the river, driving up from NJ so want to make it worthwhile.

Right now we are putting in a Barnet-Monroe Bridge on Friday and we canoe 6 miles to Stephens Island. Then on Sat we canoe 8 miles to Howard Island.

Any feedback? It does not seem like it is very far but I am not sure what an appropriate distance for canoeing is in a day. Also, is that area scenic? Any excitement along the way?

Open to any and all suggestions, just trying to keep the driving reasonable. As it is we are about 5 hours 20 minutes to the bridge.

Thanks!!

John

Mon, 07/23/2018 - 13:52

Hi NJGuy,

Your trip will be good distance wise for a float and you will not need to paddle much. The trip you have planned will include a portage at Ryegate Dam. If you don't want that, then I would say start at Ryegate and travel down below. I recently commented on this travel path in a post by Belinda. Rygate to Bedell bridge is about the same distance (camp at howard and Harkdale - day 1 - 7 miles, day 2 -5 miles, day 3 - 4 miles) or there are other campsites and access points to stretch it out further.

Also, you probably know but the Delaware Water Gap is great for a multi-night trip if you have never been. Less people on the Connecticut though.

Best,

John

2018 Through Paddler

Mon, 07/23/2018 - 19:47

Having completed Pittsburg to Long Island Sound in May, I recommend the added driving time of going as far north as you can. The river runs faster, is more exciting and we saw more wildlife in the first two days from Pittsburg.
We averaged 5 mph while paddling on the northern stretch and 3.5 mph elsewhere in the river (except less in reservoirs) with consistent paddling.
The forty miles from Pittsburg to Maidstone would be the stretch I would do again even with two hours added driving.

Belinda

Tue, 07/24/2018 - 10:34

We did this this weekend. I just posted a detailed trip report in reply to my previous inquiry "3-day trip between Woodsland (mile 268) and Bellows Farms (176)". It was lovely, and easily doable. We ran into one pair of paddlers / fishers each day, otherwise complete solitude. However, the river in this section is pretty slow right now, mostly flat-water almost like a lake.