Annual Kayaking Day

 It's not that we plan an annual kayaking trip. In fact, I'd prefer we kayaked a lot more frequently. But once a year seems to be the average right now. 

October is Sandy's birthday month and she generally plans some shenanigans for the group to celebrate. In fact, I think the last time we went kayaking was for Sandy's birthday last year. 

This year, Sandy chose paddling down the Delaware River up north for her birthday outing. 

The initial plan was to do an eight mile float. I'll admit I was skeptical. After polling the audience, Sandy came to the conclusion that it was best to start a little later and cut the float in half. We wound up having a lovely time.

Approaching the Water Gap with the fall colors just starting to pop.

There isn't much to actually report, but I took so many photos they need their own post. Believe it or not, I'm only posting a portion of what I took!

The last time Mike and I were on the Delaware River was for my cousin's wedding, which was a pretty epic adventure. That time, we started at Dingman's Ferry. This time we started at the Worthington Boat Launch. It was fun to do a different stretch of river than we've done before. 

Despite the fact that Sandy left before us, we beat her there. Cristina and her boyfriend were already there and we were able to find a parking spot despite the leaf peeping crowds. We had the boats in the water in no time and spent some time catching up while waiting for the rest of the crew to arrive.

The rest of the crew consisted of Sandy, Jaime, Aubrey, Emily, and Emily's son and boyfriend. 

The paddle itself was relaxing and uneventful. We saw some fun birds and observed various landmarks along the shore. The highlight for me was seeing the stone ruins of an old bridge that used to cross the river about halfway down our route.

We finished our paddle just north of the Water Gap, beaching the boats at Kittatinny. The Water Gap itself is supposed to be a pretty technical paddle, but the water is so low right now, I'm betting we could have done it. Maybe some day? I don't know. We're not that serious about kayaking. 

Once we were done on the water, Jaime shuttled everyone back to their vehicles. Cristina and boyfriend went home while the rest of us hung around for some shoreline tailgating. There was a lot of tasty food, including goat cheese and fig preserves. There was a lot of laughter, as always, and I hope Sandy went home happy with her birthday celebration.

The rest of this post is just a photo dump.

The river grass (or whatever it's called) was pretty impressive!

The men catching up.

A river resort on the Pennsylvania side.

I may have stalked this merganser. 

Exploring the cliffs on the NJ side.

Remains of bridge.

My favorite part of the paddle.

Love the determined little tree.

The current picked up a little on this stretch.

Getting ready to float under Route 80.

The birthday girl.

Fin.

The truck gets a rare day off from hauling the horse trailer.