Born as a mountain brook, the Hudson River courses through dangerous rapids and waterfalls in a dramatic plunge of 4,000 feet. Then, remarkably, the river slows and widens, becoming over the next 154 miles a massive arm of the sea, with saltwater and powerful tides.One summer Peter Lourie set out to explore this extraordinary river by doing what no one had ever done: he canoed the entire 315-mile Hudson, from its source in the Adirondack Mountains to its mouth at the southern tip of Manhattan, where it meets the Atlantic. This exciting day-by-day account of Lourie's journey, complete with full color photographs, gives young readers the feel of shooting wilderness whitewater, gliding through the fjordlike Hudson Highlands, and, finally, plying the ocean shipping lanes off Manhattan's shore.Far more than a canoeing adventure, this book paints a vivid portrait of a river that is a nation's treasure.