Kayaking Moodna Creek in New York

Kayaking Moodna Creek in New York was quite the terrific idea! First off, don’t let the word “creek” detour you from taking advantage of this awesome inlet to the Hudson River.

When I think of a creek, I imagine a 2 ft wide trickle of water rolling at a snails pace along the ground. Let me assure you, this is not the case with Moodna Creek…at least near the Hudson River. Of course you know that already since you watched our video. 🙂 If you would like to know how we transport our kayaks, we made a post on that as well.

How We Transport Our Kayaks

ACCESS TO MOODNA CREEK

To get access to Moodna Creek, we drove up 9W between Cornwall and New Windsor, New York to a park called Plum Point Park. There are a few picnic areas if you plan on having a bit of lunch or snacks before you head out on your trip.

We have kayaked from this spot a couple times and each time we launched from the southern part of the sandy beach. Be sure to glance over at Bannerman Castle on the other side of the river.

If it looks like it is far away, that is because it is. Just as a tip, make sure you are wearing your life jackets and are very careful if you plan to head across the shipping lanes on the Hudson River. The wake from those boats can toss our little kayaks around like toys.

DEFINITELY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK FOR THE HUDSON VALLEY

In case you are wondering where we find all these places to kayak, we reference this book a lot. Definitely recommend this as we have use it a bunch in the past as a guide in the Hudson Valley area!

Amazon Affiliate Link (disclosure):
A Kayaker’s Guide to the Hudson River Valley: The Quieter Waters–Rivers, Creeks, Lakes and Ponds

HOLY COW THOSE MOUNTAINS

Once you set foot on the beach you’ll see exactly why this is one of our favorite places to kayak. Oh that sweet and wonderful view. We were pretty lucky this time as the waters were really calm with very few waves. Definitely check the weather before you paddle anywhere on the Hudson River as this is not always the case.

LAUNCHING AREA

Right where Deanna is standing in the above photo is where we launched from. The railroad crossing over Moodna Creek is pretty easy to get to if you hug the shoreline as you travel south.

There is also a little hut you can spot along the side of this river. Unfortunately I don’t know any of the history behind it. If you know about the hut, please inform us in the comments below!

SUGARLOAF MOUNTAIN, BREAKNECK RIDGE, & STORM KING MOUNTAIN

On the left shore you can see Sugarloaf Mountain as well as Breakneck Ridge.  In the upper right hand corner you can see Storm King Mountain making its presence known.

There is definitely a lot to do outdoors in this area of the state whether you like kayaking or hiking. If you head back between those two mountains that will lead you to where we kayaked previously near Constitution Marsh.

BEAUTIFUL MARSH

Once you make it underneath the train tracks you are greeted by a beautiful marshy area in the mouth of Moodna Creek. All the wake from the Hudson River disappears and you will more than likely have very calm water to deal with until the 9W bridge crossing.

Be sure to be on the lookout for the many types of wildlife roaming around this area. We saw geese, ducks, heron, as well as a few types of fish and crab.

STARTS TO GET SHALLOW

The water does begin to get shallow around the 9W bridge crossing. On this particular kayaking trip we had to get out of our kayaks and take them across this shallow area. However, once we got to the other side of the bridge the water was plenty deep enough to go for a little ways further.

TRICKLING CREEK

Just a bit further up the river from the bridge was a very shallow area that we really enjoyed. If you bring some snacks along with you, this is a great spot to relax and enjoy listening to the creek charging through the rocks.

The water is moving swiftly through the area so be careful if you chance stepping in some deeper sections. We just stuck to the 1-2 inch deep sections cooling off our feet on the warm summer day.

SKIPPIN’ ROCKS

There are also plenty of smooth rocks in this section of the river just waiting to be skipped for your enjoyment. 🙂 I probably could have stayed out there for a couple more hours, but we did have to get back to the pups at home as it was getting later.

SUCH A GORGEOUS DAY

You can definitely try to race through the creek, but we prefer to take the time to relax and unwind from a long week at work. We picked the perfect day to go and we weren’t about to waste that opportunity soaking in the sun and letting the gentle breeze carry us down the creek.

STILL WATERS

As you can see by the picture above, the only waves in this creek were the ones we created. This area of the creek rises and lowers with the tide along with the Hudson River. We have never had any issues bottoming out in this area of the creek, but we have only been here twice so I definitely wouldn’t chance it at low tide.

We hope you enjoyed our little adventure kayaking down Moodna Creek in New York! We definitely recommend it if you are around the area and own a kayak. I’d say that the views alone are worth a little extra travel to paddle this incredible portion of the Hudson River as well!

NOTE FROM WRITER

If you enjoyed this blog post or the video to go along with it, feel free to share it with your friends.  You can find us on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. You can also subscribe to our channel’s RSS feed via the subscribe button on the sidebar. If you have any questions or comments go ahead and leave them below and we will try our best to get back to you! Thanks for reading/watching!

Also be sure to check out Deanna’s food blog when you get the chance! A lot of awesome and healthy recipes to use there!

Adventure On!