Musconetcong River
by Bob Rancan

November 4, 2023

It was fun while it lasted.

2023 marked the highly anticipated 5th year drawdown of Lake Hopatcong from a level of 9' to 4' at the Lake outlet at Landing, NJ. Since the level was above 9' the process started two days early on September 20th and continued with the flow increasing as more rain fell in the watershed. All this water brought the Musconetcong River up to good paddling levels. We did Club trips from Hackettstown to Pt. Mountain on September 30th and Penwell to Asbury on October 7th. I did a small group trip from Lubbers Run to Saxton Falls on October 14th on a very wet day but was looking forward to two more Club trips on the first two Saturdays in November.

But the Lake Hopatcong Commission was too efficient. During the last week of October, the Lake level had dropped to just above 4.1 feet. I was hoping that the flow would continue but they started to decrease the flow on the afternoon of November 1st and gradually stepped it down to a minimal amount on November 3rd, the day before our scheduled third paddle. Since the gauge we watch at Bloomsbury is many miles downstream from the Lake, I knew we could still paddle on November 4th but it would be smarter to switch our venue to the Hampton to Bloomsbury segment. This worked out, although throughout the course of the day the river fell from a reading of 1.72 in the morning to 1.69 when we got underway to 1.62 as we finished.

Ten members made a nice trip out of it and groups of Wood Ducks and several looks at a mature Bald Eagle made this last run of the drawdown worthwhile. Plus, during our 2nd trip we had encountered the Hampton Fire Department's duck race fundraiser. With the FD's help we got around their river barrier. On our last paddle, weeks later, we found 13 little ducks that had eluded capture - miles downriver. There was also a large inflatable rooster...but that's another story.

> Click here for photos from Michael Capizzi and Al Grenley

Bob