About The Hudson

The Hudson River is an ancient one. It began its life 70 million years ago when the land was flat and many of the local mountains had not yet formed. It currently drains 13,390 square miles of land. The drainage area is in New York State as well as portions of Vermont, Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Jersey.

The Hudson River near North Creek, NY in the Adirondack Mountains. Here the river is about 1000 feet above sea level

The Hudson River rises in the Adirondack mountains, just over 300 miles from its mouth in New York City. The source of the river is officially lake Tear of the Clouds in Essex County, New York, though near Henderson Lake is where the river truly comes into being. The river drops 4,322 feet in its journey to the sea, almost all in its first 160 miles. From Albany south it flows 153 miles and only drops a few feet. In fact, the river is tidal all the way to Albany, allowing sea-going vessels to navigate the river all the way to that city without the use of locks.

The Hudson ranges in width from a narrow mountain channel to three and a half miles wide at Haverstraw Bay. Its deepest point is World's End, where the river is 216 feet deep.

The Hudson is home to a wide variety of salt and freshwater species of fish, shellfish, and other wildlife that rely on it as a source of food. Bald eagles and Atlantic Sturgeons - the largest one caught weighed 800 pounds - can be found in the river.

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