Boating in the Catskills

Photo of the Pepacton Reservoir by Christopher Mooney.

The Catskills are home to most of New York City’s drinking water supply, which is stored in six man-made reservoirs. For generations, those pristine lakes were off-limits to everyone but anglers.

But this year, four of the reservoirs are open to canoes, kayaks, rowboats, sculls and sailboats: The remote Cannonsville in the western part of Delaware County, the Neversink in Sullivan County, the Schoharie in Schoharie County, and the vast Pepacton in Delaware County.

If you’re looking for something a little less tranquil and more adrenaline-fueled, try tubing. The Esopus Creek in Ulster County is a Class II/III stream that has been a popular destination for tubers for years.

Below: A map of local tubing companies, boat rental spots and outfitters. Many of these businesses are also certified steam-cleaners, where you can get your own boat cleaned and permitted to launch on a New York City reservoir. Click on a pin to see more information about the business.

View Boating and Tubing in the Catskills in a full screen map

DEP: Boat rental businesses can store boats at reservoirs

By Julia Reischel
5/11/13 - 11:49 am

On Thursday, the New York City Department of Environmental Protection announced that it would allow boat rental businesses to store rental vessels directly on the banks of the NYC reservoirs. The policy change will make things easier for rental companies, which had to store their boats elsewhere last season and schlep them to and from the lakes for every paddler. 

The DEP, working with the Catskill Watershed Corporation, has purchased storage racks to house 120 rental boats, but it's unclear how they will be split up between the reservoirs. 

Read the full press release about the change below:

DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION ANNOUNCES PROGRAM FOR WATERSHED BUSINESSES TO STORE RENTAL KAYAKS AND CANOES AT NEW YORK CITY RESERVOIRS

Rental Boats Will be a Boost to Outdoor Recreation and Tourism Economy in Catskills  Read more

Lost kayakers spend the night on the Neversink River

By Lissa Harris
4/9/13 - 10:37 am

Pro tip: Don't lose these. Photo of kayak paddle by Flickr user Jan Smith; published under Creative Commons license.

Two men from Pine Bush who hoped to kayak the Neversink River on Sunday, from Holiday Mountain to Cuddebackville, had to be rescued by state police after their river expedition took a harrowing turn. 

The pair set off on their journey on Sunday around noon, according to a statement from state police, but ran into trouble along the way, overturning their kayaks several times and losing their paddles. Around 11:30pm, police got a report that kayakers were lost on the river, and began organizing a search for the men. Troopers used the kayakers' cell phone signals to track their location through the night, and found the men's vehicles.  Read more

DEP opens the Cannonsville to motors -- and watershed land to trails

By Lissa Harris
1/10/13 - 3:29 am

Above: The Cannonsville Reservoir looking serene, if a bit low on water, in July of 2012. Photo by Flickr user mountain_man_ny_2; published under Creative Commons license.

The agency that manages New York City's water -- and its vast upstate watershed -- is taking another small step toward opening up its reservoirs for public use.

This April, the Cannonsville Reservoir will be opened up to fishing boats with electric trolling motors for the first time. If the pilot program is successful, it may be introduced at other reservoirs, following the example of the city's recreational boating program. Launched on the Cannonsville in 2009, the recreational boating program now allows canoes, kayaks and sailboats on four upstate reservoirs.

The program, according to New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) deputy commissioner Paul Rush, is for fishing boats only. But allowing electric trolling motors will make it easier for anglers to access more of the reservoir, and open up the reservoir to people who are physically unable to row.

Deposit resident Lloyd Hornbeck, avid fisherman and longtime proprietor of Hornbeck's Sport Shop, said that local anglers had been talking with the DEP about allowing motorboats on the reservoir for some years.
  Read more

Racers brave 30 hours of cold, wet adventure in national championship

By Julia Reischel
10/13/12 - 4:46 pm

Canoes line up at the Adventure Race National Championship on the Pepacton Reservoir yesterday morning. Photo by Carol O'Beirne. 

For the past two days, the Catskills have played host to a grueling 30-hour trial of physical strength and endurance: the 2012 USARA Adventure Race National Championship. 

Adventure racing is a team sport that involves an obstacle-course-like route of paddling, hiking, cycling, navigating  by compass, and rappeling down rock faces. The idea is that just by finishing the race in one piece, you win. (There are prizes for the fastest racers as well. But the real prize is survival.) 

Every year, the US Adventure Racing Association picks a new location to host its national championship race. This year, the 100-mile course was in the Catskills, beginning with a canoe-paddle on the Pepacton Reservoir in Delaware County yesterday and ending at the Hudson Valley Resort in Kerhonkson, Ulster County, this afternoon.   Read more

A guide to boating on Catskills reservoirs

By Julia Reischel
6/29/12 - 8:38 pm

Above: Canoeing the Pepacton Reservoir. Photo by Dennis Schvejda, via the Watershed Post Flickr pool.

Boating on Catskills reservoirs in 5 Steps

The reservoirs hold drinking water for eight million people, and New York City's Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is pretty obsessive about keeping them clean. So before you get out on the water, you'll have to jump through a few hoops. You have to have a permit and a steam-cleaned vessel processed by an authorized steam-cleaning vendor. And you must use a DEP-approved launch area for putting in and taking out your boat, which can only be a kayak, canoe, rowboat, scull or sailboat.  Read more

Barges, boats, cranes and divers to clean up Pepacton oil spill

By Julia Reischel
6/28/12 - 9:46 am

Photo of a small tugboat and an oil spill surrounded by yellow booms on the Pepacton Reservoir. Taken on Tuesday, May 15 from Route 30, near the pump station for the East Delaware Tunnel, by Lissa Harris.

The New York City Department of Environmental Protection announced yesterday that a professional environmental recovery crew is cleaning up suspected fuel oil from a spill caused by a mysterious object buried beneath the Pepacton Reservoir.

Preparations for the cleanup, which will involve four barges, three boats, two cranes, a diving team, and a containment boom, began yesterday, according to a press release from the DEP. The plan is for a team of six divers to spend next week removing all traces of oil from the buried object. (A happy Fourth of July to them.)  Read more

Pepacton the hottest spot for new reservoir boating program

By Lissa Harris
6/22/12 - 3:05 pm

Above: A sailboat glides on the surface of the Pepacton Reservoir on May 26, 2012 the opening weekend for boating on the reservoir. Photo by Tina Schvejda; posted in the Watershed Post's Flickr group pool.

On Memorial Day weekend, three new Catskills reservoirs were opened to public boating. The Pepacton, Neversink and Schoharie reservoirs joined the Cannonsville in welcoming kayaks, canoes, rowboats and small sailboats to their pristine waters.  Read more

This Saturday, Kingston Kayak Festival splashes down at Kingston Point Beach

By Lissa Harris
6/7/12 - 11:22 am

A kayaker at the 2011 Kingston Kayak Festival. Photo courtesy of Kenco; for more photos of last year's festival, check out their Facebook album.

On Saturday, June 9, the Kingston Point Beach hosts an all-day kayakstravaganza (shhh, that's totally a word), featuring skills workshops, kayak tours of Kingston Point, pro tips on how to pick a kayak or paddle board, and local outdoor outfitters on hand to show off their freshest gear and give advice.

This year, with three New York City reservoirs opening to kayaks and other small boats for the first time, the Catskills region is looking a lot more enticing to outdoor enthusiasts. If you don't know how to kayak, this Saturday is a great opportunity to get your feet wet -- and if you're a seasoned kayaker, you can help spread the love. As one famous river rat once said, there is nothing half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.  Read more

East Branch becoming a boater's paradise

By Aaron Bennett
5/18/12 - 5:25 pm

Above: The Pepacton Reservoir in August 2011, before it opened for public recreational paddling. Photo by S58y, via the Watershed Post Flickr pool.

Aaron Bennett is the consultant to the Enhanced Recreational Access Project for the upper East Branch of the Delaware. He's sharing his considerable waterway expertise with us on this story.

A few friends of mine have kayaked twenty-plus miles down the East Branch of the Delaware River from its source near Grand Gorge to Margaretville. It's no small task: the upper East Branch puts the phrase “navigable waterway” to the test.  Read more

DEP to open three more reservoirs to boating

By Lissa Harris
2/9/12 - 9:37 pm

Photo of Cannonsville Reservoir by Flickr user kmitschke. Published under Creative Commons license.

The New York City Department of Environmental Protection plans to announce publicly that the recreational boating program that has been running on the Cannonsville Reservoir since 2009 will be opened up this year to three more reservoirs: the Pepacton, Neversink and Schoharie.

The announcement will be made at 1pm tomorrow, February 10, at the Catskill Watershed Corporation's headquarters at 905 Main Street in Margaretville.

From a DEP press release issued this afternoon:  Read more