Pro tip: Don't lose these. Photo of kayak paddle by Flickr user Jan Smith; published under Creative Commons license.
Two men from Pine Bush who hoped to kayak the Neversink River on Sunday, from Holiday Mountain to Cuddebackville, had to be rescued by state police after their river expedition took a harrowing turn.
The pair set off on their journey on Sunday around noon, according to a statement from state police, but ran into trouble along the way, overturning their kayaks several times and losing their paddles. Around 11:30pm, police got a report that kayakers were lost on the river, and began organizing a search for the men. Troopers used the kayakers' cell phone signals to track their location through the night, and found the men's vehicles.
The two kayakers were not found until early Monday morning, and spent a cold and disorienting night on the river, unaware of exactly where they were. A state police helicopter found the men near Griffin Road in the town of Forestburgh, about four miles north of Oakland Valley Road.
State forest rangers and Cuddebackville firefighters went through the woods in ATVs to rescue the two kayakers. The men were unhurt.
State police did not identify the two kayakers.
