How long does it take to swim across the Hudson River?

The Hudson River winds 315 miles from Adirondack Park to Manhattan. Over hundreds of miles it courses through mountains and forests before emptying out in New York City. And it took 53-year-old Lewis Pugh just 30 days to swim end-to-end.



Swimming across the Hudson River—specifically the stretch between Manhattan and New Jersey—is a feat that typically takes an experienced open-water swimmer between 20 and 40 minutes, depending on the exact location and tide conditions. The distance from the World Trade Center area to Exchange Place in Jersey City is roughly 0.8 to 1 mile. However, the Hudson is an estuary with powerful, unpredictable currents that can reach speeds of 1 to 2 knots; if you time it poorly, the current can sweep you several "blocks" off-course, effectively doubling the distance you have to swim. For example, a swimmer starting at 75th Street might end up landing at 60th Street due to the downdrift. It is important to note that unauthorized swimming in the Hudson is illegal and extremely dangerous due to heavy commercial boat traffic, ferries, and water quality issues. While professional "expedition" swimmers like Lewis Pugh have swum the entire 315-mile length of the river over the course of a month, the casual cross-river swim is usually only done during sanctioned events like the "NYC Swim" where safety escorts are provided.

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Geology. The Hudson is sometimes called, in geological terms, a drowned river. The rising sea levels after the retreat of the Wisconsin glaciation, the most recent ice age, have resulted in a marine incursion that drowned the coastal plain and brought salt water well above the mouth of the river.

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This results in a total of 59 bodies floating down the lower Hudson every year (49 or 50 from NYC, 5 or 6 from Bergen County, and about 4 from Hudson County). 59 divided by 365 gives you about 0.16 bodies per day.

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The short answer is “Yes!” The long answer is that it depends on when and where. Issues like sewage outflow and algal blooms keep many areas along the Hudson from being swimmable, particularly after rainfall.

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Yes, You Can Swim On Your Period. It's safe to hit the water on your period, as long as you wear a tampon or menstrual cup while you're swimming. We've got the facts on swimming on your period and what period products can help and which one's you should probably altogether avoid.

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Sullenberger, who now lives in Northern California, is no longer a commercial pilot but is an author and continues to work as a public speaker and aviation expert focusing on air safety.

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Saving the River's Fish. For schools of migratory shad, sturgeon, river herring, blue crab, menhaden and striped bass, the Hudson is an unimpeded corridor from the Atlantic to their ancestral spawning grounds.

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The Congo is the deepest river in the world. Its headwaters are in the north-east of Zambia, between Lake Tanganyika and Lake Nyasa (Malawi), 1760 metres above sea level; it flows into the Atlantic Ocean.

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