I have always wanted to explore the “Meadowlands” in New Jersey.
I was here once before in a motor boat but never with “The Tide and Current Taxi”.
Alexandra Jones contacted me to propose a trip: Explore the Meadowlands by boat. We would be following in the footsteps of Robert Sullivan, who wrote a book about it in 1998.
With all the new infrastructure for boating, I wondered if this could be a sign of the positive impact of Sullivan’s book.
We left from a pretty little boat launch at the Laurel Hill Park,
and struck off into the heart of the Meadownlands.
For miles around the topography is the same; flat grassy marsh cut through by rivers and highways.
If you fly out of Laquardia Airport, you can see marsh; un-chartable, and moving with seasonal changes in the tide.
From down here, though, it is hard to get your bearing, or even to see over the tall swamp grass.
“We don’t want to get lost.” said Alexandra,
but with markers like I-95 and Snake Hill, we woul always have a landmark to paddle back to.
We decided to drift down the Hackensack for a while.
Dan was visiting from London, and Alexandra wanted to show him the best of New York.
“This is it.” I thought,
as we watched the sun rising over a huge electric plant,
and floated under bridge, after bridge,
after bridge.
From a distance we thought this was a landscape painting stuck to the side of a dock, but on closer inspection – a happy accident of moss and muck.
We watched for a while as an excavator operator deftly shoveled river mud into a barge.
“How many bones do you think he is digging up?” Said Alexandra. The Meadowlands was the alleged burial site of Jimmy Hoffa and others.
At the very least, there are plenty of industrial remains and washed up boats.
We hunted along the bank for a place to penetrate the marsh.
Tiny Fiddler Crabs covered the mud, running back into their little holes as we approached.
I was reminded of the coast of Georgia or North Carolina.
It was hard to distinguish the natural muck from the industrial muck. For instance, what is this black ooze seeping out of the mud?
We cam upon two men in a motorboat, stranded in the muck. They seemed quite content to wait for the incoming tide to release them.
Large groups of turtles (those little white spots up ahead) sunned themselves on the bank. We could never get too close though. Millions of years of evolution have left turtles virtually unchanged because they know exactly when to get back int the water.
We floated quietly over cedar stumps. This marsh was once a forest of cedars. (More info from Robert Sullivan’s book!)
Dan and Alexandra treated me to a part of a delicious turkey Sandwich. It was only 10 a.m. but it felt like lunch time.
Up ahead we spotted a tour boat. The Hackensack Riverkeeper Organization leads tours into this area to bird watch and appreciate nature.
That is great for an area that was considered a garbage dump only a few decades ago.
Now the garbage and nature seem to happily coexist. I mean hey, it’s no skin off the garbage’s back, and certain elements of the natural world appreciate the lack of competition for resources.
“I think the bugs are upping their game.” noted Alexandra.
The temperature was creeping up and the bugs had begun to really bite.
“Home sweet home.” Said Alexandra, and suggested that we all go out for a refreshing drink. We decided that when you start your day at 4:30 a.m. you are allowed to drink before 12.
We had plenty of company at a soccer bar back in Brooklyn!
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