TOP: Peter and Lee entering lower falls of the Genesee River
2nd: Dave in his handmade wooden kayak (note paddle...a stick) in Braddocks Bay at the start
3rd: Gary nosing in towards the falls
4th: One who can "shovel it" appreciating another
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Today we did our last big kayak workout before heading off to the Hudson River kayak adventure (kayaking Albany to NYC over 10 days). It was quite windy, moderately hot, and we were scheduled to do 19 miles...across Lake Ontario and the up and down the Genesee River to the lower falls.
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The lower falls of the Genesee is an outstanding waterfall, and one that very few people ever get to see, even if you live here. It's tucked under a big auto bridge, set down in a canyon, and the only way to really see it is either to hike down (which many fisherman do) or boat it. I suspect that out of the nearly 3/4 million rochesterians, not more than 1% have ever even seen the falls.
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The day begins on a somber note. As we're watching the am news for final weather status, a story comes on that a boatload of people ran into the pier at full speed last night...killing 3, and seriously injuring 5 others. Not a fun way to die.
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The Lake was breezy with 2 footers breaking lightly over the kayak...a really fun surf to paddle in. As we come around the Charlotte pier, there are scores of people out there...many I suspect just gawkers come to check out the boating accident last night. Or maybe they had heard about us and came to cheer us on. We paddle by the ferry terminal (a cluster-f if ever there was one), and upriver...into the current and the wind.
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Around one bend the corps are dredging, with huge barges and steamshovels. Really cool to watch that being done, and more amazing than that is that they are working on a sunday morning. Must not be government workers...
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After a few hours, we stop at a river island (famous as the site where my dad was trapped as a young boy) for a food and "natural"...the island is full of fisherman and a cool little spot. Shortly further upstream we round a bend and come upon the lower falls...http://www.vintageviews.org/vv-r/river/falls.html
It's an impressive 85 foot stepwise drop, all tucked down in a canyon. The rapids are strong, and we can't get right up to it. But, even from a short distance, it is impressive. Fisherman are everywhere, and we see a few land decent size fish...carp, salmon are all thereabouts.
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Back downstream is a blast, 6 miles in under an hour, with the wind increasingly strong. As we pull out, the sky turns pitch black, and the temperature drops precipitously. 20 degrees in the course of about 5 minutes, from 86 to 66 (by car thermometer). The clouds open up, and it is a tremendous rainstorm....soooooo glad that we missed it by about 10 minutes. That would have been brutal out on the water!
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I'll be off-blog for a bit while I do my Hudson paddle. Enjoy the historical posts, and I'll be back shortly with the next Lumpy adventure!
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"Headin' to the Hudson" Lumpy out
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