Few of us went out this past weekend paddling and spent the night out in search of the Jersey Devil. The Batso River runs within the NJ Pine Barrens ( we were about 30 min away from Philadelphia I was told). There are many historical areas that you paddle past including Hampton Furnace and other areas. It's a meandering stream with twists and turns for 7-8 miles then opens up a bit. It took us about 3 hours to paddle to the campsite that was about 4 miles away. Next day was about 8 miles to take out. There were many low branches that you had to "limbo" under and I was praying that I didn't catch my nose on the thick branches. We did have to get out one time to climb over a branch but we were able to slide the boats under it. Because of the recent rain the water level was high and a slight current.
There is another river that runs parallel to the Batso and that's the Mullica. But it's amazing how the vegetation is so much different. The Batso is lined with cedar trees for most of the way, where as the Mullica has the sandy dunes along the way, weird.
My friend took his new inflatable boat which does work for those living in the city area and can't house a canoe or kayak. It gets folded up and stays in his car trunk. Other friend took his Blue Hole 17ft and I used the Old Town Camper I picked up from Robin a few years back. First time I was soloing it. I used a bent blade for most of the first day working on my slow turns, worked great. The second day I had to use the double blade because the wind was kicking my arse at the take out which is a widened lake.
Since I am missing ice out hot tenting up in the ADK's I decided to bring my set up on this trip. Also wanted to see what works for future trips. All had a good time, we had Easter and Passover food and no one was hungry, a bit thirsty but that was my fault. Next time I need to bring a mesh bag to keep our beverages cold in the river and not float or sink away.
We hope to continue the tradition of going out to the NJ Pine Barrens and paddling the waterways out there in search of the NJ Devil!
Hope to get pics up soon.
There is another river that runs parallel to the Batso and that's the Mullica. But it's amazing how the vegetation is so much different. The Batso is lined with cedar trees for most of the way, where as the Mullica has the sandy dunes along the way, weird.
My friend took his new inflatable boat which does work for those living in the city area and can't house a canoe or kayak. It gets folded up and stays in his car trunk. Other friend took his Blue Hole 17ft and I used the Old Town Camper I picked up from Robin a few years back. First time I was soloing it. I used a bent blade for most of the first day working on my slow turns, worked great. The second day I had to use the double blade because the wind was kicking my arse at the take out which is a widened lake.
Since I am missing ice out hot tenting up in the ADK's I decided to bring my set up on this trip. Also wanted to see what works for future trips. All had a good time, we had Easter and Passover food and no one was hungry, a bit thirsty but that was my fault. Next time I need to bring a mesh bag to keep our beverages cold in the river and not float or sink away.
We hope to continue the tradition of going out to the NJ Pine Barrens and paddling the waterways out there in search of the NJ Devil!
Hope to get pics up soon.
