KAYAKING ACROSS NEW JERSEY
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He’s baaaaa aaaaack! Heart of Darkness. Stanley and Livingston. African Queen. Rancocas and Mullica. What excitement does each of these phrases drum up in your soul? Why, a Mike Stavola adventure of course! Remember the last time we had one? Why, it was the last of 5 annual ECO Challenges (2003). So you thought I forgot about you. Nope! So here we go again. Only this time we are going to try to establish a New Jersey first – the first people since the native Indian tribes to paddle our way across the state of New Jersey. How did they do it? Why, they paddled up the Rancocas from Hawk Island (now a peninsula) in Delanco to the Medford area springs. From there they portaged (carried on a deer herd path) their canoes to a spot on the upper Mullica River (once known as the Little Egg Harbor River). From there it was all downriver to Great Bay and out to the beaches of Beach Haven and Brigantine. We plan to follow the same course – except we’ll be able to take advantage of some man-made lakes in Medford and Medford Lakes. This will be a summer-long adventure starting on May 12th.
I’m currently gaining access to the private lakes in Medford and Medford Lakes. Permission will be granted if we operate the adventure as a charity event. I’m planning to set it up as a fundraiser for Woodford Cedar Run Wildlife Refuge in Medford, NJ. Part of the fundraising will be a contest with guesses for whether we make it or not, where we finish, number of miles we’ll paddle, and how many hours it will take.
To join our adventure you will need to own, borrow or rent a kayak or canoe. Experience is not necessary for some of the sections – especially the first. Other sections will vary. Bail out locations will be positioned with cars. Detailed maps and much more information will be provided at club meetings. Optional itineraries will be available (like paddling downriver from Oliphant Dam to Lumberton).
We’ll shove off from Hawk Island in the morning with the incoming tide and ride the wave all the way to Lumberton. This will be an easy paddle that anyone can do – even in a canoe.
In June we’ll put-in at Lumberton at Landing Street and work our way up to Oliphant Dam in Medford. The water is navigable all the way in early summer – even right now. I know, I surveyed the entire section on March 11th. This second stage will be tougher than the first since we’ll be paddling against the current all the way. But it is plenty wide and deep enough for a kayak and maybe a canoe.
In July we’ll put in at the dam and either paddle up beyond Lake Stockwell in Camp Ockanickon in Medford to an unnamed lake on Tuckerton Road or else we’ll paddle up to the southern reaches of Centennial Lake (backup route if Birchwood and the Aetna Lakes are still inaccessible from the Great Flood of 2004). In either case, for those wishing to keep with the spirit of the adventure, you will need to portage your kayak once we traverse the lakes. It’s a 6-mile portage from the unnamed lake to the Mullica put-in on Jackson Road on the border of Burlington and Camden Counties. We’ll pull our craft on lightweight dollies (home made of course). This will end the third stage.
In August we’ll launch kayaks at the Mullica put-in. This stage will be our most challenging. It is navigable and accessible. The South Jersey Canoe Club has cleared much of the section above Atsion Lake. It won’t be navigable by canoes in a dry summer. We’ll monitor this section and may opt to do it after a rainy day or before August to take advantage of higher water levels. However, it will be navigable by kayak unless we encounter a drought in late summer. We may even rent cabins for the night on Atsion Lake or camp (yo John Steel!) at Goshen Pond (remote campsite above the lake) and make it a two-day trip.
If we don’t do a two-day trip in August, then in very early September we’ll launch from below Atsion Lake. I’ve done this section before in a canoe. We’ll take out at Sweetwater Casino Restaurant.
Finally, we’ll launch from Sweetwater Casino sometime in September and paddle 22 miles to the Atlantic breakwaters – stopping at Mystic for a break before crossing Great Bay. Launch day TBD per tide tables and progress per all of the above.
So here’s your chance to be part of New Jersey history. There were 60 paddlers last July for Steve Beach’s Pine Barrens kayak trip. Surely there are some adventure seekers from that group that will join or lead us. I expect veteran kayakers like Steve Beach, Sue Van Cola, Juan Carro, Mike Gilbert, John Steel, Bev & Ted Sommers and Bob Suravage to volunteer to lead individual legs. Don’t disappoint me because this trip will launch without you regardless!
If interested, come to a meeting starting April 3rd or call me at home at 609-654-1925.
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