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September 2017 51 boatingonthehudson.com
island...), was pretty much smack in the middle of
the river, as close to the imposing Storm King as it
was to the eastern shore!!! Of course, from down
the river a ways and closer to the west shore the
perspective is more normal, and Bannerman’s takes
its rightful place as an island with pretty shallow
water between it and the closer-by Metro North-
lined tracks on the east shore and a much wider
gulf of water between it and Vails Gate/Cornwall.
Around the point, the whole bay/cove south of
the point was about 99% filled with “green stuff ”,
probably “invasive”, but there was a clearly defined
channel leading to the railroad bridge and the
mouth of Fishkill Creek. We followed it in, and since
the tide was very low we didn’t have any trouble at
all getting under the railroad bridge; in fact, this
bridge appeared to be high enough to get under
easily even at much higher tides.
With the low tide, we had to be careful picking
our way up the creek; at one point, where the creek
widened, the water was only inches deep; we kept
close to the south (right) shoreline, where there
was a very gentle, but visible current, and, channel.
Soon, the old hat factory appeared on the left,
and Scenic Hudson’s Madam Brett Park boardwalk.
We’d just walked this the week before with my
cousin Eileen, and had showed her the spectacular
waterfall just up the creek a ways.
There’s no way you can paddle through the
rapids upstream to the waterfall, and we cautiously
approached them to a point just under the can’t-
cross-it-anymore road bridge, pulled into an eddy,
then artfully peeled out (ahhh, all that white-water
experience) and headed back downstream, back
under the bridge, back across to the point, and
upriver. Surprise surprise, we had to share the vast
expanse of the river with another boat: a woman
in a kayak was heading back from an expedition
down to Bannerman’s.
Another great day on the under-crowded Hudson;
and, beyond.
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