#Hidden water nyc series#

The City looked like Hedge Fund trader's dream, but who owned those yachts now, after their brokerage went bankrupt? Expensive toys like cigarette boats and helicopters were clustered around Wall Street riverfront, with no visible sign of the billion dollar financial meltdown of the previous week. City views going up the East River were terrific, with the sun coming up clear and strong, Brooklyn Bridge iconic and ancient, the Chrysler Building and Midtown sparkling with promise, and joggers everywhere along the shores sending us waves. (Imagine if Grand Canyon rangers had machinee guns). We tried to look like innocent tourists, and promised to keep 150 yards away from the UN Building, power plants and bridge abutments.

#Hidden water nyc series#

We had snacks, water bottles, Google Earth air photos, radios, and a series of milestones to hit to stay with the tides: around the Battery by 9:30AM, under the Brooklyn Bridge and up past the UN building to Hells Gate by noon, through the Gate with the tidal flood (6 knots max!) by 1 pm, then on up the East River, now ebbing north out to the Hudson, toemerge at the northern tip of Manhattan, Sputen Dyvil, by 4:PM, and ride the Hudson's grander, more mature and elegant tidal ebb (2 knots), south along the long 10 miles back to our origin.Īnd it all worked. We moved through the early river traffic of the Battery cautiously, podding up our kayaks to allow the Staten Island Ferry to bellow past, and then meeting with the Coast Guard runabout boat. Twin machine guns reminded us that the Coast Guard had some rules down here, and would like to have them obeyed. I had read the paddling web pages and tide charts to plan the route. When people asked where we were from, we said we had paddled over from Ireland. We circumnavigated the island like a pod of cautious orcas, at home in the watery environment along the perimeter, but never penetrating the teeming land surface. We went south-around, 6 paddlers, for three rivers, one day, 31 miles, one lap. And so we did, launching 6 kayaks at dawn from Pier 40 near the southern tip of Manhattan, on the last of the Hudson's morning ebb tide. North of Hells Gate on the East Side, the skinny Harlem River completes the water route, connecting the tides of the East River to the tides of the Hudson, all of them pulsing back and forth, and changing direction four times a day.īut Then Which Way Do You Call Downstream?īy timing this tidal dance, it is possible to paddle completely around Manhattan, a grand day trip of 31 miles, with the current flowing with you the whole time. The Atlantic Ocean meets the Hudson River on the west side of Manhattan, and the Atlantic also flows up and back down the East River, thru the Hells Gate narrows, and out to the Long Island Sound on the other side. They are all man-made but look completely natural, and are just as stunning.īecause they are man-made, the water that flows through them is actually NYC drinking water, according to ! It comes from a 48-inch pipe hidden by the rocks at the Pool Grotto on West 100th Street.Water surrounds Manhattan, and it is in constant motion. New York City's most famous island is set in one of the most complex harbor and waterways systems of any great city.

If you’re wondering how they came to be, they haven’t been passed down through Mother Nature. Tucked away in the Ravine, the stream valley section of the North Woods that spans 40 acres at the top of the Park, there are at least five different waterfalls.

What many New Yorkers may not know, however, is Central Park contains a hidden oasis of mini-waterfalls, that are completely picturesque and enchanting. You can stroll throw large grassy fields, like the Great Meadow, hike through woodsy trails in the Ramble, look over a stunning lake at the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir, or even spy a medieval castle!

Our beloved Central Park contains a few different kinds of environments within its great expanse. And not only in New York, but within the city itself! If you’ve coveted photos of the most gorgeous waterfalls in other parts of the country (or world), you may not know you can actually get a taste right here in NY.