Delaware Paddle
Frenchtown to Lambertville and Frenchtown to Bulls Island
by Gail Stevancsecz

August 19, 2006

On the second of 2 picture-perfect weather weekends, between 14 and 16 boats [sorry, not sure of exact boat count; I am sure that only one of them was a canoe (John and Michele), but who’s counting] set off from the sandy shores of the Delaware at Frenchtown.

John, being the generous leader that he is, offered two trips to us hearty paddlers – (1) Frenchtown to Lambertville, the originally schedule trip, and (2) Frenchtown to Bulls Island, for those of us who felt more comfortable with an 8 mile trip, rather than a 16 mile trip. 5 folks chose the Bulls Island option, myself included.

A separate shuttle was arranged and executed for both takeouts, back to Frenchtown, and off we were, our mighty group of 16 (or so) boats in all of their colorful splendor.

The river wasn’t moving all that quickly, so we supplied most of our own forward motion power. No one seemed to be in a hurry as we meandered down the lovely Delaware, ½ in NJ and ½ in PA. All were marveling at the remnants of the spring flood, as we spied fences, TV antennas and assorted items sitting in the tops of trees, obviously carried and left there when the waters receded. The rive banks were strewn with toppled full sized trees that had been caught in the tremendous surge of water, only to be cast aside when the river returned to normal. It is with glad tidings that I am able to report that the Delaware has returned, mostly, to it’s clean, playful self. Offering all the pleasures that only a river can in the hot summer months.

We all got to experience a few sets of riffles along the way, and Bulls Island Wing Dam, which was pretty darn cool. John and Michele did an excellent job of leading all of us through the center of the dam and then on to Bulls Island take-out.

That’s where my story ends. It was a great trip. I can only imagine that those that continued on to Lambertville had twice as much fun.

Gail