Travel Along America's Historic And Mighty Hudson River | World's Most Scenic River Journeys

[Music] escape with us on a sensational Journey along America's Hudson River from the brilliant fall colors of the adirondac mountains to the glinting skyscrapers of New York City through wild and spiritual Landscapes it is sacred ground it's the most joyous landscape I've ever [Music] found tackling White Water drifting past nature and riding beside tugs now I got to keep an eye on that wake right it's throwing a pretty good size wake we'll explore a vibrant river flowing with history and culture and meet the people who live work and play on this Mighty Waterway wind's picking up we're going to ride this from peaceful Mountain Valley to the Big Apple this is one of the most scenic River Journeys in the world America's Hudson [Music] River the Hudson River is one of America's most important and diverse waterways known as The Mighty Hudson it weaves for 507 km through some of New York State's most stunning natural landscapes a river that helped shape the history of a continent for centuries it has been a vital economic Super Highway linking the Atlantic Ocean to the interior of North America [Music] our journey starts here in the adirondac mountains of upper New York State we have arrived at the perfect time of year the leaves are changing in an explosion of color and it is a breathtaking sight the headwaters of the Hudson are up here and in this remote Wilderness the best way to travel is by canoe we are going to tag along with Brian as he explores there is something almost Supernatural about the way so many kinds of beauty come together right here I've been playing here and exploring and Hiking for 25 years and I feel like I'm still just trying to get my mind around how the chemistry of all this fits together when I need to Center myself when I need to find some quiet I come to these mountains I come to the headquarters of the Hudson River and it is sacred ground it's the most joyous landscape I've ever found from the piece of Henderson Lake our journey along the Hudson will take us through a spectacular Gorge to the historic town of Fort Edward past skodak Island and into the Hudson Valley where we'll call in at so's Lighthouse and a presidential estate at Hyde Park following the shipping Lane through poyy we will visit the famous Military Academy at West Point sail through the Hudson Highlands and end our journey with a bang in New New York [Music] City back at the river's Headwaters Brian finds Solace from his busy job as a national radio reporter but as his paddle passes through the water he can't help thinking of the bigger picture I love thinking about the way this river is kind of a story The Seed of the story is in these big Raw wild Mountains and the water gathers here in Henderson Lake but then as you follow down through the Hudson River you find so many of the things that make us American this river that starts right here um in many ways shaped American history we have arrived at the Eastern end of Lake Henderson this Dam marks the spot where the Hudson officially becomes a river and on the banks we come across the remains of a once booming mining settlement called Taha you can imagine this very different landscape a century ago where there would have been workmen there would have been horses pulling cargos of logs and iron or this area would have been churned up by industrial activity and the river was a big part of [Music] that the Hudson River allowed New York City to exist in the way that it does because of the raw materials that came from right here uh the iron and the stone and the [Music] wood but the mining industry here has long since shut down and as Brian paddles south from taharas he can enjoy the Wilderness that has reclaimed the entire Watershed of the upper Hudson the idea that a place this quiet and this Serene can be the seed of the Hudson River this noisy industrial historic River it's such a crazy contrast every time I come here I think about being in New York Harbor and water that started here like that's under my little canoe right now this is connected and uh I don't know that that's a magical thing the fledgling Hudson continues shallow and unnavigable in Parts on its Journey Downstream as it twists and turns through the Wilderness it settles into a steady Rhythm until it reaches the spectacular Hudson River Gorge we're about to get back on the water but now it's white water we have arrived at one of America's top rafting destinations our rafting guide today comes from a family who have made their living on the Hudson River for generations and my grandfather was in charge of the log drives on the whole Hudson Basin for roughly 40 years and raised a family of six right on the river so it's pretty cool that my kids are doing this too how old were you when we got you on the river I don't know old enough to strap on a life jacket when the kids are old enough to strap on a life jacket we got them on the river and um and ever since they have been intertwined with the Hudson River as well together Pete and Cassandra run a rafting tour company they've both been rafting the Hudson for decades as professional guides it's a course they both lead tours on regularly but today will be different today will be the first day we've been in the same raft and I honestly don't at least 10 years 10 years so we'll see who's in charge every time that I go down the gorge as a guide it's different from the day before you really never know what you're going to get except you know that someone's here to have fun and see this beautiful section of waters I mean we're within 4 hours of Manhattan and I think it's incredible to think that this like huge vast tract of wilderness is here and it's public and it's available for everyone but touring this part of the river is not just a Scenic Cruise once the white water starts the river drops almost 1,000 ft over 21 km which makes for a thrilling roller coaster ride of sustained class 3 [Music] Rapids we're going to be looking for the waves and avoiding holes or hydraulics which can hold or blip a ra there's a number of Rapids at certain water levels you have to be in the right spot if you're not in the right spot Calamity will ensue and you have to be there and be on your game to do it it's a dynamic environment the river ultimately is the one who's calling the shots after 27 km and about 4 hours paddling we emerg from the Gorge everyone still aboard a promising sign I think we could vote together again I don't know I think it was a success I only was reprimanded from the back one time whispered in my ear I think you should be pulling right now tell me what to do for us this will be our last trip of the season so to get to spend it together was pretty pretty good it was a pretty nice day out there [Music] today as we make our way Downstream towards New York City we continue to Wind Through the [Music] Wilderness the river here is navigable only in [Music] sections it Cascades over a number of dams and waterfalls along the [Music] Route until it finally straightens out out into a sensible Channel South we have arrived at Fort Edward it may look like a quiet town now but once upon a tumultuous time this was the third largest settlement in America and we can still find its history right along these river banks where the water laps over into people's backyards this Arrowhead is just one of many artifacts that I found I have a couple more in my pocket I have a handcarved bone handled utensil that was most likely one of the French and Indian War soldiers had that in his meal kit and then I have a couple of musket balls and a British crown button that came off a uniform jacket I'd imagine this is thousands of years of North American history right here and it all came from my backyard in 1755 the British were fighting the French for control of the colonies they built a fort here to protect access to vital portages and waterways North into Canada and it doesn't look it now but in the mid 1700s having 16,000 people around us with tents and campfires and officers Huts it was a city in itself the third largest on the East Coast after New York City in Philadelphia beside Fort Edward encircled by the Hudson is an unassuming Island that holds an even greater claim to fame it is the birthplace of America's original Special Forces a group of Army Rangers founded by this fellow Major Robert Rogers this man interacted with Native Americans took a lot of their tactics and Incorporated them into his own Force he was the original Guerilla Warfare specialist in America Roger iseland is sacred ground to Modern Special Forces because it is here where Rogers wrote his rules of ranging and they are still used by American Rangers to this day don't sleep Beyond Dawn Dawn's when the French Indians attack don't stand up when the enemy is coming against you kneel down lie down hide behind a tree that is radical for the mid 1700s that you would do that in battle let the enemy come till he's almost close enough to touch then let him have it if this man didn't exist we'd be speaking French right now we wouldn't be speaking English moving Downstream the Hudson becomes an industrial Powerhouse passing Albany New York we find ourselves on a major shipping [Music] Highway how big is that I don't know but it's like a city look at that thing it's a highway shed by freighter and pleasure boats alike and given the choice today we are joining the little guys let's go fishing [Music] bud I think that's an interesting thing this one piece will make 52 layers watch on mobile devices or the big screen all for free no subscription required I love water I've been fishing since I was 4 years old fishing is one of my favorite things to do Derek halquist is a busy filmmaker but he chooses to live up River from the hustle and bustle of New York City precisely because of the Wilderness Lifestyle the Hudson can offer him and his son jack I can quickly access all kinds of fishing on the Hudson whether I want salt water or fresh water or fly fishing it's great the Hudson here is an estery Tides push salt water an incredible 200 117 km up River from the Atlantic Ocean creating a vibrant habitat for fish the Hudson it starts getting active in April and that's when all kinds of fish species come up the river from the ocean to spawn so this river is teeming with life and boats right now it's Autumn which is beautiful so it's a little more relaxing the fish have broken out of their Summer patterns they're sort of eating before they slow down for the winter months oh you got one keep it keep don't pull it out of its mouth did you set the hook I lost that's okay let it Jack is seven now and he started fishing right around the same time I did around four years [Music] old sooner I train you to be Captain buddy the more I get to fish that's how that works what do you do to stop the boat um pull that all the way back till the center pretty fun huh Jack yeah Derek is taking us down river to skodak Island here the gorgeous landscape appears untouched but looks can be deceiving in fact this entire area was dramatically reshaped in the early 1900s the river was too shallow to accommodate large cargo ship ships traveling to and from Albany so a channel was dredged and as we motor along the island we see where all that riverbed mud was dumped so at low tide it becomes very obvious that this is actually a man-made structure this whole island because over and over you'll see these old pilings that they drove into the ground to create a wall to hold back all the sediment and the silt that they dredged up from the Hudson and now most of this peninsula Jack is going to be preserved piece of land for all the wildlife like the birds bald eagles skodak island is now a state park and bird Conservation Area a perfect peaceful location for a spot of striped bass fishing I going to get a popper out cuz we're in shallow water you want a jitterbug no I'm going to use this this has been my Lu right now [Music] okay it's hard to find the fish in the fall they're scattered and they're feeding in different places yeah fishing's been a little lousy today but what's the saying we always say that's why they call it fishing not catching [Music] as the river around us widens and grows even mightier still we do quite the opposite we exchange our modest fishing boat for an even smaller kayak and take a little side trip up a tributary [Music] I love to kayak here this is a perfect place it's a Soulful place for me um I feel that my spirit does get replenished by being out here on the water the aptly named Hudson Talbert is an author an artist and there is a reason we've pitched a ride with him up the this quaint Creek he is taking us to cat skill made famous by 19th century landscape painter Thomas Cole his home here is now a National Historic Site I feel so lucky to find myself here I came up here because of a curiosity about a river that's got the same name as I do I pretty much stumbled on to Thomas cold once I was here and I find it so INSP spiring that What mattered to him matters to me Cole loved to paint the caskill creek he sort of used it the way Monae painted water lies over and over again it was the earliest Vision that Americans had very idealistic vision of their uh their new country and this is the way he was painting it that could be me right there I know this little turn in the creek very well painting these idilic Landscapes Thomas Cole was the first real Superstar of American art his work launched a movement known as the Hudson River school but Cole was living and painting in a time of great Industrial Development and as he saw his beloved landscape changing so did his art here you can see there's little smoke plumes in the distance of uh early factories there there is a wood cutter in the foreground with a axe in his hand and he's taken down a tree and all this is being cleared away and now we have trains going all the way to the foot of the mountains they're all telling a story which is a warning about losing our Wilderness losing nature losing our environment Cole was an early environmentalist ahead of his time the century following his death saw the river overly industrialized and polluted but his message resonated through and in the last 50 years environmental groups have fought to return it to the Hudson Valley that Cole originally fell in love with this was all industrialized at one point this whole Bank along here was nothing but factories and smoke stacks the conversation about environment alism was begun right here in in Catskill 150 years ago with Thomas [Music] Cole we are now 2/3 of the way through our journey along the Hudson River we have traveled from the adirondac mountains through Wilderness towns and nature preserves to the Hudson Valley further down stream we will stop off at a presidential estate a tug spotting capital a military academy and enjoy a sail through the Hudson Highlands before reaching our final destination of New York [Music] City but for now we are still 160 km from the sea at soes this little harber seal has swam a long way to say hello and we come across another unexpected site so far in land an historic Lighthouse offering the best views of the Hudson [Music] around you know I probably don't come up here as often as I should but every time I do I think wow I live in a unique place we're right here looking over the channel which extends to the north and to the south in here close it's a shallows with just a few feet of water that's why the lighthouse is here to warn the ships away from those shallows Patrick has been Keeper of the soes Lighthouse for the last 15 years this is where the original lamp and lens stood originally fueled by whale oil and then by the second half of the 19th century kerosine and until electricity was brought out in the 1940s and then nowadays solar powered LED goes on automatically today the Coast Guard maintains the automated light so the role of keeper has changed somewhat since the lighthouse was built in 1869 restored from ruin by a local Conservancy today the lighthouse functions as a bed and breakfast I'm called Lighthouse Keeper but the emphasis is more on the house nowadays and taking care of house guests so it's keeper but you can call it inkeeper housekeeper uh grounds keeper for anyone wanting a rustic Getaway on the Hudson there are two welcoming guest rooms at the Lighthouse visitors arrive by boat or by foot along a 1 and 1/2 km Trail but they will want to plan the time of their check-in around the tides and that always comes as a big surprise for people that the river is tidal this far inland we have a average 4ft tidal fluctuation from high to low and if you aren't thinking about the tide well you're just going to get wet about a decade ago I was due to come to the lighthouse I was running a bit late I knew that there's the tide to be concerned with so I was corresponding with the Lighthouse Keeper at the time and he gave me the warning that this would happen I came walking through the reads at Sunset watered just about topping my boots I expected a grumpy elderly old man and there he was sitting in the sunshine what originally drew me to this place was not only the charm of the location itself but I fell in love with the Lighthouse Keeper now the lighthouse Keeper's wife Anna runs the property with Patrick it's a challenging job it's a very unique lifestyle it sometimes makes us feel like Pioneers out here in the middle of the river looking out onto the Hudson River it is just breath ticking with its Scenic colors throughout all of the seasons there's not a day where we don't appreciate this gorgeous view drifting steadily Down River from soes we start to catch glimpses of some of the old Grand Mansions of the Hudson Valley this was the playground for many of New York's Elite families including its third 32nd president and Avid sailor Franklin Delano Rosevelt FDR had always had this passion for the river and for sailing even when the river froze over that didn't stop him he would break out his ice yacht ice yachting was a huge sport on the Hudson River and they would race the trains up and down the Hudson break neck speeds terrifying thing you have to imagine there's no breaks on these things and it was a very scary sport but he was was addicted to it FDR's relationship with the Hudson was lifelong he grew up here at Springwood now a 900 acre National Historic Site right on the banks of the river this house is where he was born where he was raised it meant a a great deal to him and he would come back here time and time again as Governor as president he would entertain world leaders here this house meant absolutely everything to him FDR served the longest presidency in the history of America he saw it through the Great Depression and World War II this presidency essentially took his life he he was devoted to it so so coming back here was a recharge you don't really know who he was until you've you've been to this place and you've walk these grounds as FDR so bluntly said everything that's within beside me cries out to go back to my home on the Hudson this is his [Music] world there was something in his blood that almost like the river the Hudson River was running through his [Music] veins 6 km south of Hyde Park we arrive at the busy city of Po kipy the huge barges pushed by hardworking little tugs passing under the city's bridges are an exciting sight maybe not so much for these guys but definitely for this guy Jeff is a tug spotter he spends many hours on the Hudson chasing down tug boats tug spawning can be dangerous you do have to be very careful especially when you're close to these massive monstrous tugboats uh that can absolutely Crush you they've got no brakes they've got the ride of way and if you're in their way you're toast having tug spotted for 30 years Jeff is extremely experienced at sailing so close to such large vessels there's a tugbo coming here comes the St ailon hey good afternoon Captain this is Jeff in the little boat head of you between you and the railroad bridge just out getting a few photos I'm going to take a few photos here from the channel and then when you get a little bit closer I'm going to move over to the uh green side of the channel on the west side and be out of your way okay with that sounds good cap there's no problem thanks cap have a safe trip it may look relatively straightforward but tug spotting is a refined art it takes a lot of planning for Jeff to get to this pivotal moment in his day every morning he is up early and with the help of antennas on his rooftop he catches the signals of passing River traffic and pinpoints the approaching tugs there are two headed Northbound out of New York City uh there is one sitting up in Albany that might start moving soon and there's another one southbound from Albany uh that'll be here in the afternoon over the years Jeff has taken thousands of photographs and even creates tug calendars I find great joy in searching for these tugboats photographing them sharing the photos with the people that work on the tugboat so having this collection gives me a lot of Pride and a lot of Joy sometimes I wonder about myself why I have this passion about tugboats and one day uh I was looking through some photographs that my mom gave me and I came across this old black and white photo ter terrible twos toing a tugboat originally powered by steam tugboats have been the Workhorse of the Hudson for 175 years today there are as many as a 100 tugs on the Hudson at any time with up to 8,000 horsepower engines they can push six barges at once carrying thousands of pounds of cargo like oil or scrap metal to and from the the interior of New York State the tugboats usually go between 6 8 10 12 M an hour so they're not exactly speed demons but they are coming at you let's have a little fun my boat with a 3.5 horsepower motor is not that fast so I've always got to think ahead and anticipate where that boat will be and I will have to angle to get to it to be in the right position to make those photos yeah it's always thrilling when something this big is moving by you with so much power and so much force and you're just in this little boat now I got to keep an eye on that wake right it's throwing a pretty good size weight I like this angle there's always seagulls following behind I suppose they're stirring up some fish and they're uh looking for a free [Music] lunch perfect I've done it hundreds of times and it never loses its appeal you never know what you're going to get every day is different [Music] as the Hudson carries us closer to our destination of New York City we enter yet another stunning landscape known as the Hudson Highlands technically this is a f with forested mountains sloping into deep deep water here where the River Narrows and curves the imposing towers of an American institution rise above the water this is the exclusive West Point and we are stopping off for a quick poke around West Point is many different things West Point is an academy a university it is a military installation it has been a military installation since 1778 we have regular army soldiers stationed here and we do training here it is a memorial to American history if you walk around West Point you were going to see cannon that were seized from the British during the American Revolution recognizing the Hudson's great strategic importance George Washington established a fortress here during the American Revolution and in order to stop British ships using the river he hung a huge chain across it these are the last known remaining Links of the gray chain that span the Hudson River and closed off traffic to the British during the American Revolution and each one of these links is 114 PBS West Point was officially established as a military academy in 1802 19 years after the end of the Revolutionary War I think West Point has to be considered the heart and soul of the US Army probably the the brain of the United States Army is located in the Pentagon but I think it's heart and soul is located here right this is where Army football and army sports are played this is where some of the best leaders in the United States Army have been developed so many of the leaders in the Civil War both in the North and the South most notably ulyses srant who statue is facing south as it always does during World War II we begin to hear names of leaders that we really recognize you have Dwight D Eisenhower you have Douglas MacArthur you have Omar Bradley and George Patton in the footsteps of those military Giants approximately a thousand new second left tenants graduate from West Point every year most of them are 18 to 19 years old out of high school and they volunteered to join the Army and go through what is the most strenuous difficult college experience of anybody in this country but it's not always hard work all the time today we've stumbled across the Academy's parachuting team in training Zack King is captain of the team and has done 490 jumps over the course of his three years here at West Point this time of year is so beautiful up there you got all the different colors it's awesome on uh game days we always do a practice jump in the morning and so it's like a sunrise jumped into the stadium and so you get all the colors you get the sun just coming up over the river and it's unparalleled you can't match [Music] it The Majestic Hudson River is carrying us closer to our destination of New York City and as we pass through yet another pristine landscape Untouched by time we continue our journey in the most natural and Timeless way possible under sail aboard the Good Ship abalonia her Captain Sam Meritt is on an interesting mission to bring freight sailing back to the Hudson the Hudson is a commercial Waterway and we like to talk about when the Hudson used to be a saale powered commercial Waterway back in the 1800s and we like to think about you know in the next 100 years how it will become a saale powerered commercial Waterway 5 years ago Sam bought this 60-year-old steel H Schooner and set about restoring her this is her first season on the war as an eco-friendly commercial cargo ship our mission is to move things with sailboats on the Hudson River um and by moving things we want to connect people um and that's both producers to Consumers um in Friendly safe uh non-polluting ways and also people to each other um to remind everyone about where they live on the river who else lives on the river and that the river is more than just a beautiful backdrop it's a place you you can ride your jet ski today we are carrying 2300 lb of malt and a shipment of hot sauce both from local Hudson Valley manufacturers a brewery 30 km down river in oening is expecting The Malt delivery this evening Sam is hoping to meet that deadline but we're going to need some wind there's very little wind and it's mostly coming from the direction we want to go which is uh the least useful we make the choice uh to sail and not run the engine we look at our engine as a means for um safety and docking the wind may not be cooperating this morning but the tide is on our side for now here on the Hudson the tides switch every 6 hours changing the direction of the river several times a day the native term for this River was the mahikan tuck um which roughly translates into the river that flows both ways and so that uh that highlights the utilitarian nature of the river to me it's very useful if you're patient you can always have a favorable current hello Evening Star aalona 13 hey how it nor good I was going to try to throw you a beer or like a bottle of hot sauce but yeah let to get that from me some other time okay off is certainly drawing lots of attention and for Sam the more eyes on the appollonia the better we Bastards of the river we get to sail get to move stuff and displace carbon emissions but actually the larger impact we can make on the river is every single person who sees the boat can realize why we're doing it and hopefully then they can start to care about what they're doing to minimize their own impact 23 km from our destination we sail under the bare Mountain Bridge and pass dunderberg Mountain according to Mariners folklore this is home to an imp that controls the winds around here as everyone around here knows you got to doop your hat when you get close to dunderberg Mountain if you don't the Imp will scare up a storm Mr imp the Imp is suitably impressed the wind has risen quadrupling our speed we are now approaching oening well ahead of schedule for our malt delivery a day that started out with just a whisper of wind has turned into a raging success it's about to be action time start taking sails front to back the jib and the stage [Music] we're going to tie up starboard [Music] 2 nice work you got to witness what I hope is what we just keep doing which is finding new places with friendly people we can tie up with things we can unload and distribute I I am very very very [Music] pleased we have reached the final leg of our journey and as we passed New Jersey Palisades we catch one last glimpse of the natural wonders of the Hudson believe it or not we are just 16 kilomet North of New York City and we are cruising downtown in style aboard the Manhattan a replica 1920s commuter yacht she comes up here several times a day from the city to give classic Harbor Line tours of the river we're just above the George Washington Bridge the great Monumental Bridge the only bridge to span the mighty Hudson was completed in 1931 and it brings a uh important sense of modernism to the city at the time that it's completed through that magnificent steel structure we can see the particularly tall towers of Midtown and beyond that the skylines not only of lower Manhattan but of Jersey City in a remarkable uh Symphony of skyscrapers many people are not fully aware of the fact that New York is really a city on the water that in fact that has 520 Mi of Waterfront that that's more than the waterfronts of Boston and Miami and San Francisco and Los Angeles combined as we cruise down the west side of Manhattan passengers enjoy a glass of champagne and take in A New Perspective on an iconic [Music] Skyline I love the Hudson I love the calmness it's beautiful it has magnificent city views to offer what many people don't know is that for a long time the architectural Splendor of New York was really overlooked but in recent decades New York's contribution and America's contribution to World architecture the skyscraper the symbol of American Democratic capitalism the built symbol of it par excellance have really come to be appreciated and savored and the view of Manhattan skyline is I think nowhere better appreciated than from the water this amazing collection of buildings which says New York like nothing else with the sun setting on a spectacular day we arrive in New York Harbor what better place to end our more than 500 km River Journey than here at the Statue of Liberty a monument to America standing proud over her Mighty Waterway staring out to where the Hudson joins the sea we have taken an unforgettable Journey on the Hudson through pristine Wilderness sweeping valleys and breathtaking Highlands alongside the people who live on its banks and enjoy its Waters we have witnessed how this diverse River feeds nature drives industry inspires culture makes history and continues to shape a [Music] nation [Music]

Channel: TRACKS - Travel Documentaries

Views: 121,489

Keywords: American culture, American rivers, American travel, East Coast USA, TRACKS - Travel Documentaries, cityscape views, cruise ship travel, cultural river, diverse waterways, historical landmarks, natural beauty, outdoor adventure, scenic beauty, scenic river journey, tourism destination, travel adventure, travel destination, travel diaries, tugboats, vibrant river

Id: KWNT9OlVA50

Length: 47min 4sec (2824 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 29 2024