Annual kayak on the Delaware.

Hikenhunter

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Got back yesterday from our annual "Almost Camping" trip and kayaking on the upper Delaware River. The weather was great, the river a bit higher than normal. We got some rain Wed. evening and cool weather followed. Day time temps were in the low eighties but night time temps dropped into the low fifties. Besides myself I was joined by my kayacking buddie Bill and my 13 year old Grandson Skyler. This was Skylers 3rd trip on the river. We arrived at Skinners Falls Camping area on 6/18/14 and settled into our adirondack style shelter. Did a little hiking along the river and saw an abundance of wildlife. Mostly song birds and squirrels. It rained wed. evening and the weather turned a bit chilly over night. Thursday morning after a hearty breakfast we took a shuttle to Callicoon, New York to start our trip. This section of the river is not frequented by the large crowds that gather downstream and the wild life along the river is abundant and undisturbed by many people. On this day we counted 12 Eagles, most were juveniles and a couple of them were still in their nesting tree. there were so many deer that we didn't even try to keep count of them. After a brief stop at the boat ramp in Damascus Pa. we headed downstream and encountered several large flocks of Canadian geese and several large groups of merganser ducks.I was especially pleased to see the mergansers as their population seemed to have dropped dramatically over the past 3 or 4 years. I hope they are making a comeback. About 1/2 a mile before our trip ended for the day we came upon a bed of fresh water mussels and, while didn't get to see them, there was much sign that some river otters were in the area. Friday we left the Skinners Falls campground and continued our journey. As we headed downstream The class 2 rapids were boardering on class 3 because of the higher, swifter water than normal giving us a few challenges we don't usually have in this area. On this day we spotted 18 Bald eagles 7 of which were adults and the rest juveniles. To my liking there were more mergansers and, again, there were more deer than we could count. After paddleing the 10 miles to the Ten Mile River take out we were shuttled back to the Skinners Falls campground were we relaxed and watched the river flow by our campsite. Thanks to God for 3 beautiful days to spend in one of the finest wild areas left in the East.
 

Hikenhunter

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Hi...

Great post. Would you let me know the next time you'll be in/through Callicoon...?? Maybe we could get together to say hi...!! (I'm half an hour away).
I will certainly do that. I knew from your posts that you were up that way but I assumed you were a bit further north than that. I love the area and am especially drawn to that river.
 

Hikenhunter

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Glad to hear of all those eagle sightings in the East.
You and me both. When I first started visiting the area there were only rare sightings but asccording to one of the rangers I talked to last year there are Eagle nests aproximately every 8 to 10 miles along the entire length of the Delaware. I live about 25 miles from the nearest large lake or river and about 3 weeks ago I saw a mature bald eagle while I was at work. I think their story is one that should be told and we should all be in awe of them.
 

Blazer

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Sorry for bringing these older threads back up but I'm new here...

A few years back I paddled the entire upper Delaware River. It's a beautiful area but unlike south of Port Jervis to the Water Gap, where the Delaware River National Recreation Area is located, with it's more wilderness setting and lots of free primitive campsites to choose from on the river, you have to contend with expensive commercial and often crowded campgrounds if you want to camp on the Upper Delaware River.

There are some really nice places to paddle and even to stay.. There's a really nice campground called Soaring Eagle Campground that's just north of Callicoon over on the PA side. Their sites aren't all that private but many are on the river and it's a clean campground with amenities like hot showers and bathrooms. They offer a shuttle service too.

To explore different areas of the river, I used the various outfitters to shuttle up and down the river over the course of several trips. There's a lot of nice paddling there and you were wise to go midweek, on a Wednesday, so you could relax and enjoy peace and quiet because on the weekends in June the Skinner's Fall campground is a zoo.

One one trip I stayed at one campground, called Asalona, which was nice during the week but turned into a horror show on the weekend, with huge bunches of city people blasting their techno music to the wee hours of the morning. It was so bad that I left a day early. I wish there were places you could camp on the upper Delaware as you can down south, however it's still worth it to go for a trip. I recently took my daughter for a day trip from Pond Eddy to Matamoras on a Wednesday in June. We had the river to ourselves. It probably helped that it was cloudy, cool and looked like rain but we also saw lots of eagles and other wildlife.

If you really like to go river camping and see tons of bird like, check out the mid section of the Susquehanna River around Harrisburg, PA. They have a water trail there, with free island camping and tons of bird life..eagles, herons, egrets, etc. Very impressive. Only downside is the constant road noise because someone thought to put a highway alongside the river. But it's worth putting up with it.
 
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