Below are a selection of photos from an assignment by Scenic Hudson to help promote regional identity within the Hudson Valley. Visit Scenic Hudson’s website
www.scenichudson.org
At the water's edge, a fishing line goes out while the smallest wades in to see what's there.
She turns her back on the trail and throws both arms open to the Hudson.The last day of the paddle: chop off Lower Manhattan, the towers behind.
Kayaks rest in their steel racks behind the mesh, the late sun slipping through to find them.
Two runners take the boardwalk through the ferns at full stride.A lone paddler in the sun's glitter, the highlands black against the evening.
Three hikers stand on the ledge as the sun drops toward the river, the bridge a thin line of light below.
Life vests on, the group listens before putting in, a rainbow of kayaks waiting on the grass.The ruined turret rises straight out of the river.
Two kayakers on the Hudson paddle out into the evening glow toward Breakneck Ridge, shouldering up on the right.
Volunteers in matching blue shirts empty their buckets into a barrel during the cleanup.The dock at the start of the river, kayaks waiting under the lift bridge.
A boy pops a wheelie across the basketball court while his friends shoot around.
A paddleboarder finds her balance on the open water, green hills on every side.From above, two kayaks hug a sandy cove under the wooded bluff.
Eyes closed, legs crossed, she meditates on the rock while the Hudson winds away below her.
A boy shoots out of the tube slide while his friend races around for another turn.The old arsenal, its name still written across the walls.
From the bow of a kayak, the group paddles up the marsh under summer clouds.
Two paddlers find their rhythm on the river as evening settles over the hills.The sun breaks over the ruin as the red bow glides toward the arch.
A pair of hikers and their chocolate lab stop on the rocks, one of them pointing across the river.
Backpacks climb through stacked slate and blazing autumn leaves, and the one out front throws his arms up at the top.From the bow, the castle falls behind in the evening light.
Late light lies across the meadow, the grasses turning copper at the tree line.
A mown path through the grey autumn meadow.Arms flung open to the sunset, she has the whole valley to herself for a moment.
From the air, the planting field set out in rows of pots.
Goldenrod blazes in the foreground as the forest beyond begins to turn.The island ruin under a low winter sun.
Visitors gather on the boardwalk beneath a steel outline of the boring mill's back shot wheel.
Volunteers spread across the field, saplings going into the ground.Two toddlers take the wheel of an old red tractor, neither one ready to give it up.
Circling a schooner under full sail as the sun goes down.White water pouring below the creek's dam.
A small boy grips the pole and grins, not about to let go.An oak sapling, and a smile over it.
A mountain biker picks a line down the rocky trail, roots and stones every foot of the way.
A red kayak drifts beneath the ruin.Over the reed marsh and into the sun.
Kids crowd around the Scenic Hudson table, bent over the papers.
Two pots carried out between the young trees.Three boys duck into a bark-covered shelter in the woods, the smallest keeping watch outside.
A tug pushes its barge under the Bear Mountain Bridge, a kayak riding the wake below.Low over calm water toward a rock crowded with gulls.
Two boys hang off the playground climber, the late sun pouring through the bars.Kneeling to plant beneath an orange-leaved sapling.
The playground train fills up fast, the river glittering just beyond the grass.Wildfire smoke settles over the river, the bridge a ghost beyond the cliff.
Gloved hands pressing the soil around a sapling.A plaque names the West Point Foundry a historic engineering landmark, its brick building and cupola standing behind.
Cedar roots on the shore over wind-driven water.A girl with beaded braids reads right there at the Little Free Library, too curious to carry the book home first.
The Highlands from above, the river cutting through.Potted saplings with blue tags, waiting their turn.
A guide holds up an old photograph so the group can see what once stood among these trees.Low over a wide stepped cascade in the bare woods.
A toddler peers out from the end of the tunnel, deciding which way to go next.Snow dusts the mountain where it falls straight into the Hudson.
Two shovels and the field behind.
A hiker rests on a throne of stacked slate, the maples burning red around her.A stream pouring between mossy boulders.
A red truss bridge spans the river between fields and forest, the hills rolling away to the horizon.
A ruined brick tower, a tree growing from its crown, above the river's braided shallows.Tussocks and a lone snag in a marsh mirroring the sky.
From above, a scatter of kayaks gathers where the railroad crosses the marsh.
A creek winding through the marsh.A boy scrambles up the rock wall on hands and knees.
AquaBlitz 2026
Community science on the river, September 2026: the Port Ewen marsh, then a fish survey on the Fall Kill in Poughkeepsie.
Late sun breaking through the reeds over the marsh water.
Sun glitter across the marsh as a wader works the shallows.Light rays over the bridge, a dip net in the creek, waders in the current.
A still pond and its boulders under a high blue sky.Sun flare through the reeds, waders moving through the floating plants.
Two waders working a channel through the wet meadow.Bark crowded with winged insects.
Reeds leaning over the lily pads.
A red bucket of pulled plants among the lily pads.Backlit reeds in the late haze over the marsh.
Surveyors in the creek beneath the leaves, pole and net in the water.Sun rays fanning across the river toward the bridge.
A small fish cupped in two hands against the AquaBlitz shirt.Surveying the stream along the old stone wall.
A tiny fish held over the net.
A cattail head among the tall marsh leaves.Pressed wildflowers from the marsh, held flat on cardboard.
