Life in the Slow Lane (The Pearl): June 13

Fog, Cold Front & Sun

Mariner's on the Hudson

It rained all night and we woke to a cool foggy morning. The weather reports indicated it would clear before lunch, so Stan and I decided to pull the anchor and move on. It was misty and a bit foggy but we could still see both sides of the river. We had plenty of visibility to see any traffic on the river. This part of Hudson River is in the Appalachian Mountains, with high cliffs going straight up from the water...beautiful even in the mist. The river valley was formed by glaciers and is very deep; we were cruising in water today that was over 170' deep. The Lower Hudson runs from Troy to New York City and is a tidal estuary, which occupies the Hudson Fjord. This means the tide influences current in the river, but its effect is getting less apparent. It only slowed us down slightly today.

The weather reports were right, the skies cleared before noon and we were left with a beautiful, but windy day. We are docked at a free dock in Poughkeepsie. It's a dock at the Mariner's on the Hudson Restaurant. They let you spend the night if you have dinner in their restaurant...not a bad deal. Pam and Donny arrived a few hours after us and we enjoyed a nice dinner together.

Hudson River Facts:

The Hudson River is 315 mi long, rising in Lake Tear of the Clouds, on Mt. Marcy in the Adirondack Mts. and flowing generally south to Upper New York Bay at New York City;
The Mohawk River is its chief tributary.
The Hudson is navigable by ocean vessels to Albany and by smaller vessels to Troy; leisure boats and self-propelled barges use the canalized section between Troy and Fort Edward.
The New York State Canal System connects the Hudson with the Great Lakes, Lake Champlain and the St. Lawrence River.
The Hudson is tidal to Troy 150 miles; this section is considered to be an estuary.
The upper course of the river has many waterfalls and rapids.
The middle course, between Albany and Newburgh, is noted for the Catskill and Shawangunk Mountains on the west and the large estates (the Roosevelt home at Hyde Park is the most famous) on the east bank.
The United States Military Academy at West Point overlooks the river at the mountainous and forested Hudson Highlands.
At the mouth of the Hudson are the ports of New York and New Jersey. The Hudson forms part of the New York/New Jersey border, and the two states are linked by the George Washington Bridge, the Holland and Lincoln vehicular tunnels, and railway tubes.
First sighted by Verrazano in 1524, the river was explored by Henry Hudson in 1609.
It was a major route for Native Americans and later for the Dutch and English traders and settlers. During the American Revolution both sides fought for control of the Hudson and many battles were fought along its banks.
In 1825 the Erie Canal linked the river with the Great Lakes, providing the first all-water trans-Appalachian route.
Many industries are located on the Hudson's banks, and pollution by raw sewage and industrial wastes became a serious problem in the 1900s.
Antipollution legislation passed in 1965 has sought to protect the river from further contamination. Although pollution continued throughout the 1970s and 80s, the state and municipal governments in addition to environmental groups have contributed a significant cleanup.