water trails, and a lake. In alphabetical order, the categories are as follows:
BEST BEACHES
BEST FOR FISHING
BEST GEOLOGIC SITES
BEST FOR KIDS
41 Norman J. Levy Park, Merrick
BEST SCENERY
BEST FOR SECLUSION
BEST WATER TRAILS
4 Coecles Harbor Marine Water Trail
New York City Water Trail (includes all paddles in Part Three)
BEST FOR WILDLIFE
INTRODUCTION
USING THIS GUIDE
This guidebook provides all the essential information you need to plan the paddling routes described. For each route you will learn about the waterway’s location, size, history, and typical wildlife. A locator map, trip description, and at-a-glance key information will come in handy from start to finish on each paddling trip. GPS coordinates for put-ins, take-outs, and tide stations, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) quadrangles, trip length, optimal paddling conditions, mean monthly water temperatures (where available), shuttle directions, and tide information are among the many crucial pieces of information included.
THE MAPS
Use the overview map on the inside front cover to find the exact locations of each paddle’s put-in/take-out. Each paddle’s number appears on the overview map, on the map key facing the overview map, and in the table of contents.
This book is divided into three regional sections—Suffolk County, Nassau County, and New York City—and prefacing each section is an overview map of that region. The regional map provides more detail than the overview map, bringing you closer to the hike.
Detailed maps show the most common and convenient put-ins/take-outs, and they identify points of interest such as bridges, parks, side channels, islands, and marinas. While these maps are extremely helpful in navigating each body of water, I recommend using them in tandem with more-detailed maps. Examples include DeLorme’s state-by-state Atlas & Gazetteer series (delorme.com) and true nautical charts printed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (nauticalcharts.noaa.gov). Such charts are also stocked at most boating-supply stores, offered as free printable booklets (ocsdata.ncd.noaa.gov/BookletChart), and available by subscription at Trails.com.
A key to the symbols found on all maps appears on the inside back cover.
RUN PROFILES EXPLAINED
Each paddle trip’s profile includes the following elements:
These introductory remarks typically cover the body of water’s most common put-in and take-out spots; points of interest along the way; the history of the waterway and its surrounding areas; flora and fauna that typically can be observed from a kayak throughout the year; and other features such as beaches, inlets, marinas and mooring fields, portages, rest spots, and side trips.
