novice Kayaker looking to travel from Indian River to North River

I am a novice to intermediate kayaker and I would love to kayak the Hudson section from Indian river to the take out in North River.  Do you think this is advisable?  I would be going with friends, who are also green, and during the summer months when water is lower compared to spring.  Any thoughts.
Thanks,
Scott McManus

scottymac wrote

I am a novice to intermediate kayaker and I would love to kayak the Hudson section from Indian river to the take out in North River.  Do you think this is advisable?  I would be going with friends, who are also green, and during the summer months when water is lower compared to spring.  Any thoughts.

Experienced kayakers make this trip regularly.  I defer to people who know, but the word "novice" makes me think you should reconsider.  Of course you'd have to make a decision about what water level to choose to make the trip.

Why not check out our rafting guide, pick an outfitter and raft the trip first. Then you could see what it's all about.

Harvey44 wrote

Experienced kayakers make this trip regularly.  I defer to people who know, but the word "novice" makes me think you should reconsider.  Of course you'd have to make a decision about what water level to choose to make the trip.

Why not check out our rafting guide, pick an outfitter and raft the trip first. Then you could see what it's all about.

If you are a novice kayaker and have not taken a basic safety course on whitewater skills, I would advise against doing the Hudson gorge without a skilled paddler as your leader, even at summer levels. I would add, even with the safety course, without a solid roll and somebody who knows each rapid and experienced with rescue in your group, you are taking a risk of something going wrong in a big way.  Lose a paddle after a swim and you have a really long hike out of there.  

Look the Hudson is not a big deal in the summer once you have the foundation and experience, but if nobody has done the run before, you have solely a novice group and you don't have an experienced leader you will be risking a lot of problems.

Find a group of more experienced paddlers or join a club to gain more experience and skills.  Check out the KCCNY website or NPMB.com for good forums.  

If you are closer to the intermediate level then I would try North River to North Creek first and then move on to North Creek to Riparius and/or Riparius to the Glen.  One way or the other I would have a couple of strong experienced rescue paddlers with you.  Make sure you check river levels to make sure there is enough water otherwise you might be walking out.

I've done the stretch from North Creek to The Glen in 2 man duckies.  It isn't hard, but there are some challenging sections where you really need to be looking ahead to your next move.  Certain stretches - especailly right before Riparius - have continuous rock gardens so if you get dumped it can get hairy quick like.

D

Danzilla wrote

Make sure you check river levels to make sure there is enough water otherwise you might be walking out.

By the way, you never mentioned which rivers you've paddled with success. That helps put things in proper perspective.

If you put in at North River, sleep late and catch the bubble from the dam release on the Indian that gets there in the early-mid afternoon.  

North Creek Gage

I was fishing the Indian when the bubble came on buy one day.  This was years ago and I was clueless about the rafting biz, and never even heard of a dam release.  Lucky for me I was fishing from the shore, so no big deal.  Not so much for a fancy fly fishing guy who was parked on a rock in the middle of the river.  He and all his woolly buggers just floated away.

It happened pretty quick and was very obvious.  How easy would it be to notice down at North River?

Yes  it does happen.  On a June kayak trip down the gorge my wife ran shuttle and waited for me at the North River turn off from Rt. 28.  She related the misfortunes of a fisherman wading there caught in the rising bubble, resulting in an unexpected swim in his waders.   Fortunately, the angler was able to rescue himself but unfortunately he lost his equipment.

When you say novice to intermediate, do you mean you've ran mellow whitewater or you've never ran whitewater in your life?
Either way I would suggest no-go on the Hudson. The Indian River is really fast and really shallow. Unless you have your roll on point, it's going to be a Lonnnggggg swim.

As MichaelTokyo said, if you still want to try, make sure you're going with someone who has been before. There are some really sticky holes in that river that you don't want to accidentally find yourself going into. Consider doing a white water rafting trip down the river before you kayak it to get a sense of how big the stuff is. Remember to look at it from a Kayaking POV, not a rafters POV. Rafts can get through stickier holes with less issue than a kayak.

North river down to Indian river is a good section with some class II stuff at higher levels. Or you can take it from the bridge in Raparius down to the Glen.

If you're looking for a bit more of a challenge than that, but not quite ready for the Gorge, head to the Sacandaga River. It's a class II to III river and where I learned to paddle (after roll sessions at the YMCA). Sacandaga is good in that if you swim the first rapid, it's a very short swim. I think only 1100 feet. Then it is about a mile of flat water where you can practice your rolls, catching the few eddies they have there, ect. And then onto another bigger, longer rapid which is about 2500 feet long and gets into the smaller class III wave trains.

The Schroon river from Starbuckville to Riverbank (exit 25 to 24) is also a good class II+ run. Much more continuous than the Sacandaga with longer rapids. But like the Indian, it is very shallow. And there is a relatively big ledge for beginners which is one of your last rapids.

tBatt wrote

Consider doing a white water rafting trip down the river before you kayak it to get a sense of how big the stuff is.

Don't waste your money rafting the Hudson in the summer if you're serious about being a hard boater.  It's a long day and the most you'll get out of it is a bad sunburn.   Everything looks different in a kayak and your lines through the rapids are sometimes different as well.

Instead of a day of rafting, spend that time in a kayak on a river where you can practice and further hone your paddle and river reading skills.  The more time you spend in your kayak the faster you will progress.  

Thanks to all.  I think I need some more practice.  I have a small whitewater section at my camp that I will practice on this summer.  Whe is the best place to take a class or two up here, Indian lake?

WildWaters outdoor center in The Glen offers ww kayak instruction.