Forge Pond to Riverhead

Trip Overview

I launched at Forge Pond in Calverton, NY. I had planned to head east to Peconic Lake, However curiosity got the best of me and I couldn’t help but find out how far west I could go. I paddled through a bit of a winding section until I got to the bridge for I-495, I decided to paddle under. It was a bit tight and one of the longest tunnels I had paddled through, it was pretty clean and I didn't run through many spider webs, although I could see several in the corners. It was a bit narrow to use the paddle without scraping the side of the tunnel so I palmed the roof of the tunnel to propel myself forward and through. Unfortunately there was a large branch down just on the west side of the bridge so turned around and headed back under the bridge and toward Forge Pond. From Forge Pond I headed East toward Peconic Lake paddling through quite a few aquatic plants. It wasn't long until I came upon the lake. It was not as large as I had expected, however it was quiet and beautiful. With the exception of a few jon boats with electric trolling motors the lake was void of motorboats and the accompanying noise. The river and lake were busy and I encountered many fellow Kayaks, Canoes, and SUPs. While the waterway was busy it didn’t feel crowded. In no time I had arrived at the end of the lake at Dam Rd. From Forge pond to Dam Rd was about 1.2 miles. To continue the river trip from Dam Rd requires a portage. I got out on the west side of Dam Rd at a low platform and carried my kayak about 40 ft across the road. There is a stairway leading down to another launch on the east side of the Dam Rd. Next to the stairway was a kayak luge/ramp. I’m not sure if it was designed to be ridden down or if it was just a ramp to help assist people get their boat up and down the stairs. I used it to assist my boat down the stairs and found that the ramp was missing a part of the rail near the bottom. I launched from the dock and continued east. Just east of the dock was a bit of shallow water where I grounded slightly but was able to push forward. There was a deeper channel if I had been more to the right. This section of the paddle was by far the thickest with plants. I was pulling quite a few up accidentally with my paddle. It was a bit clearer of plants if you hugged either shore, this section of Dam Rd to Middle County Rd also had white a few old stubby tree trunks poking just out of the water that might be hard to see with all the vegetation. I paddled east through the vegetation about 1.5 miles until I reached Middle County Rd. To continue the river trip requires another portage across Middle County Rd. There are no docks but on the west side of the road there is a place to get out and carry across the road and down a short set of stairs to a launch area. On the east side of the road there is also a separate area to park and launch maintained by the NYS DEC, there also happens to be an ice cream parlor just north of the portage. I launched on the east side and paddled about 200 ft until I reached a small USGS measure station and a small dam. To get around this required another small portage bypassing the dam about 50 feet through the woods. After launching on the east side of the dam I paddled another 250 ft and came upon the Roadhouse, a brick oven pizzeria. There are signs on the bank welcoming paddlers to stop and eat. They had plenty of outdoor seating so I stopped for a bit of rest and had a salad and a beer. The river was shallow just east of the Roadhouse but the river quickly got deeper. I continued east into Riverhead and after a few bends the river opened up wider. I continued on past Farm Country Kitchen, another restaurant, continuing into Riverhead. I paddled under the bridge for Center Drive and was approaching the heart of town. I reached Milton L Burns park and paddled under a bridge for one of the walking paths of the park. Suddenly I reached Peconic Paddler, a canoe and kayak rental shop that I suspect outfitted quite a few of the other paddlers I had passed along the way. The leg of the trip from Middle Country Rd to Peconic Paddler was about 1.4 miles. Curiosity got the better of me again as I wondered if you could paddle south down Little River, I was able to make it under the bridge to Nugent Dr but the river closed up pretty quick. I decided to turn around and started to head west retracing my path back to Forge Pond. On the return trip I spotted a few turtles and a deer. My trip in total (roughly calculated in google maps) was about 8.2 miles It may be possible to portage across Peconic Avenue in Riverhead and continue east. On the map it looks like there is a canoe and kayak access point at Peconic River Park, just East of Peconic Ave and Peconic Paddler. The section of the river east of Peconic Ave however does not appear to be isolated from motorboats. Hopefully I can make it back to this area to explore some more.