91��Ƭ��

Some summer adventures are planned years in advance, and others come together in a matter of weeks.  

For 91��Ƭ�� Ph.D. student John Henkelman, it was the latter. With less than two months of preparation, he set out to canoe the entire Hudson River — 315 miles from the Adirondacks to New York City. Henkelman, who is pursuing a doctorate in , saw the trip as an opportunity to make the most of rare free time between jobs while keeping a promise to himself and his wife.  

“I previously worked in the pharmaceutical industry and got burned out,” Henkelman says. “When we moved up here to pursue this second career path, my wife made me promise to do something crazy and adventurous like this.”

In the weeks leading up to his launch, Henkelman studied maps, refreshed whitewater canoeing skills he’d learned in the Department at 91��Ƭ��, and gathered the equipment he’d need to paddle through both wilderness rapids and busy city channels. 

Henkelman launched in July from Henderson Lake in the Adirondacks, the headwaters of the Hudson. Over the next month, he collected data about the river’s water quality, spoke with people about their connections to the river, and raised funds for American Rivers, a nonprofit that supports clean waterways. 

The trip tested both his body and mind, with long days under the sun and stretches of wilderness that left him completely alone. 

“That first week was the hardest because it was so isolated. The (Hudson River) Gorge is wilderness, nobody else is out there, and it gets lonely fast,” Henkelman says.   

To keep himself from giving up on the hardest days, Henkelman made a rule: he wouldn’t consider quitting until he’d had two nights in a real bed and a couple of hot showers. By then, he knew, the exhaustion and doubts would fade — and they always did.  

Henkelman says the best part of the journey was the people he met along the way, from riverside residents who invited him in for meals to fellow paddlers who shared the water. In one town, a couple welcomed him into their home to wait out a storm and ended up introducing him to local history and community life.  

In another, strangers insisted he sit down and share lunch before helping him stash his canoe safely on their property.   

“You don't know these people, but they pretty much bring you into their lives, and it's just amazing how nice they are,” Henkelman says. “I stayed at people's houses across the political spectrum, and everybody agrees that we need clean, healthy rivers. We might differ on how we want to have clean, healthy rivers. But we all have that same fundamental agreement that what we've done in the past isn't necessarily the best, and we can do better.”  

Henkelman’s data collection included what he called the basic “river vital signs” such as dissolved oxygen, nitrates, phosphates, and carbon dioxide. He found that the Hudson River is healthy for animal and plant species to survive, with oxygen levels remaining high throughout the trip, even in New York City. While these vital signs are a good start, the river does have larger issues that still plague its overall health, Henkelman added.  

Henkelman stressed that his goal wasn’t to publish the data, but to educate the public about water quality, while learning from the people he met during the trip.  

“My research looks at an individual’s sense of belonging and attachment to a natural resource. That’s where the water quality fits into the bigger picture. As I went down the river, I noticed that people feel connected to their section of the Hudson, but rarely think about the river as a whole,” Henkelman says. “Seeing that the water was fairly healthy reminded me how regional people’s views are, and how little academic research filters into everyday life. Most people only think of state or federal policies, not the studies behind them. For me, this reinforced the importance of making research accessible to the communities who live and work on the river.”  

As Henkelman starts a new academic year at 91��Ƭ��, he’s considering a similar paddling project closer to home on rivers like the Merrimack, Salmon Falls, or Saco. He says his experience on the Hudson also reinforced his long-term goal of helping communities see rivers not just as resources, but as vital parts of their identity and future.  

“I think we take our rivers for granted. When you’re out on the water, you realize how amazing these places are and how much they mean to a community, whether it’s for recreation, drinking water, or simply having a beautiful place to enjoy,” Henkelman says. “Too often, though, we’ve treated rivers like dumps. Recreation helps change that perspective, opening people’s eyes not only to what’s wrong, but also to the possibilities.” 

You can learn more about his project at .