The Gear

What gear will we need to make it 315 miles from New York’s highest peaks to its largest city and the Atlantic Ocean? 

We will start out with two, one person pack rafts. Weighing under 6 lbs and packing down to the size of a paper towel roll, we can easily hike to the start of our journey with these vessels, and carry them as needed during the beginning section when the waterway will oftentimes be too small to paddle.

After a couple days we will come to the Hudson Gorge, a stretch of active class 3 whitewater. Here, we will turn in the smaller and less durable packrafts for larger whitewater rafts for the day. On the other side of the rapids we will abandon rafting altogether and use a two person, Kevlar canoe for the remaining miles of more calm river.

Throughout the trip we will carry our gear in 65 liter dry bag backpacks, which will allow us to keep everything dry and easily portable for the sections we must portage.

We will camp on the riverbank in simple tents and sleeping bags. Besides that, all that’s coming with us is a few sets of clothes, cooking wears, food, water treatment, and first aid supplies.

This is the canoe that will take us more than 250 miles down the river, past the rapids all the way to the Atlantic. Should we name the canoe? Any suggestions?

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