Meadowlands Meander
by Nancy & Mike Passow

Sunday, September 26, 2010

On a partly cloudy, somewhat cool day, 18 boats (and 19 people) set out on the last Meadowlands Meander of the paddling year (and, yes, 18 boats came back.) We had a mix of kayaks and canoes (and canoes paddled with kayak paddles for a real mix.) The meadows were fairly quiet, not a lot of wildlife. We paddled out with the incoming tide, going through the Canoe/Kayak Trail (unfortunately almost all of the markers are gone.) Because the tide was high, we were able to paddle back on the high-water trail (closer to the NJ Turnpike.) As we got back near the put-in, one-third of the boats went back in while the others chose to paddle out in the Hackensack River as far as the marina and the former Barge Club site (now the home of the Riverkeeper's pontoon boats.) While heading out, a Riverkeeper boat came in to go through the area we had just paddled (and it was coming back out into the river as we got back to the put-in.) It might have been Hugh Carola leading that trip -- when told who we were he announced that we (HRCKC) were very good friends of the Riverkeeper.

Nancy & Mike