VISCHER FERRY NATURE & HISTORIC PRESERVE hiking, biking, paddling.

A large preserve in southern Saratoga County NY on the N shore of the Mohawk River - includes old sections of the Erie Canal and some ponds. You can easily spend a few hours here. Easy, flat terrain on wide trails, some of the route has fine gravel (good for biking, done in 2016). From Clute's Dry Dock to Lock 7 dam is 4.7 miles (9.4 miles round-trip) via the shortest route. Details.

Jamuary 2, 2020. The picnic area has Adirondack chairs, 3 picnic tables, 3 BBQ grills. Nice when there are no gunshots across the river at the Town of Colonie shooting range. Most of the ponds & canal are iced over, Mohawk River was open & a merganser pair was seen.

November 13, 2016.

June 5, 2016.

April 13, 2016 canoeing. Paddled 4 ponds (lots of cattail marsh) & the old Erie Canal with portages of up to 200 yards. Saw an osprey flying with something in its talons. Canada geese, mallards, green-winged teal, wood ducks, ring-necked ducks, buffleheads, gb herons, turkey vultures, red-winged blackbirds, tree swallows, cardinals, eastern phoebes, red-bellied woodpeckers, kingfishers, painted turtles & muskrats. On the canal it is 1.2 miles from the Whipple bridge to old Lock 19. 9 miles, 4.6 hours.

April 11, 2016 walk. Had lunch at the picnic site on the Mohawk River. Found a tick on my leg.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

BOREAS PONDS in the Adirondack Park

Image
Boreas Ponds Tract info . Seasonal access issues .  June 20-22, 2023 (Tue-Thu) - BOREAS & WHITE LILY PONDS paddling, hiking, & camping. High Peaks Wilderness. Highs in the 70s, lows in the upper 40s. Light mosquito activity at times, a moderate amount of young deer flies (not biting), and black flies are over with (they are hanging out on cooler mountain tops).  Day 1 - Drove 6 miles on Gulf Brook Rd (dirt/gravel) to the 4 Corners parking area (5 of the 15 spots were taken). Wheeled the boats ~1 mile on dirt/gravel road to the lean-to, white-throated sparrows sang along the way, & set up camp. Saw a ruffed grouse in the lean-to clearing. Wild strawberries too. There is a well-hidden thunderbox privy - it took a while to find it - it is in another clearing NW of the lean-to. The Ranger stopped by as we had lunch. Paddled the irregular perimeter of BP. Spotted a loon on a nest. Great blue heron. 5.7 miles. Saw a few other paddlers, mostly day trippers. Went for an evening p
Read more

UPPER HUDSON RIVER and OPALESCENT RIVER paddling, skiing, Adirondack Park.

Image
Sep 24 (Sat) - BLACKWELL STILLWATER on the Hudson River, plus Goodnow River. From the parking area on Drakes Mill Road, we wheeled the boats 0.3 miles to the Polaris Bridge, then L or N on a path between a campsite & the river 100' to put in. Paddled upstream, soon passing the mouth of the Goodnow River. Then had to paddle hard to get up a short rapid. Turned around after going ~1 mile at the bottom of a long rapid - nice spot tho. Back downstream with a view of Polaris Mtn & up the Goodnow. Up & over a beaver dam, then just a little further to a rocky rapid after going 0.6 miles from the Hudson. Back to the Hudson with another good view of Polaris Mtn & a large raptor flew by & landed on a tree branch. Swift current below the Polaris Bridge then flatwater for about 2 miles - now in the Hudson Gorge Wilderness . Turned around at the top of a rocky rapid & explores a backwater to the E for a bit then headed back to take out below the bridge (you don't re
Read more

HUDSON RIVER paddling, Thurman to Hadley.

Image
The Bear Slides on Butternut Brook is a half mile hike from the river at Darlings Ford. In summer, tubing is popular in the 2nd half of this trip. Oct 20, 2021 - Hadley gauge at 3.8' - a very nice level.  Sunny & temp rising into the lower 70s.  Some very nice fall foliage in the yellow/orange range but past peak for reds.  Moving water, fast water, riffles up to 1' - the current made it easy to keep a 3.5-4mph pace.  Steep hills on both sides.  Bald eagles, lots of Canada geese, a lone merganser.  14.5 miles, 5 hours (incl an hour-long lunch break near 1000 Acres Ranch).  However, what may have been a perfect day of paddling was diminished by a reminder that not all folks are having an awesome day - enough said - details below but BE WARNED , it ain't pretty . *After paddling downstream for 10 minutes, we spotted some debris on river R that looked like some clothing, a dummy, or something.  After a closer look, it was determined to be a dead male with an apparent se
Read more