Conservationist from Lynn swims a new Mohawk trail

Extreme swimmer and environmental educator Christopher Swain concluded his most recent challenge on Christmas Eve after spending more than two months swimming and analyzing New York?s Mohawk River – all 149 bone-chilling miles of it.The Lynn resident says his goal was to put the Mohawk “squarely in the public eye,” to create a “groundswell of interest and curiosity” about an under-appreciated river.Utilizing photos, interviews, video and scientific measuring equipment, he recorded his findings, chronicling much of it on the spot via social media to students, teachers and the general public in hopes of generating awareness and positive change for an historic river he believes could use a few new friends.?I wanted people to know what the river sounded like, what it looked like, what it tasted like,” Swain said. “I took inventory of the wildlife, sampled the water (for purity) and spent time talking to farmers along the banks to provide a true picture of the river.”But it wasn?t always that easy.When Swain began his watery trek on Oct. 20, a primary concern was to conclude it before the Mohawk froze over. Little did he know that early-trip whitewater would send him “rag-dolling” over waterfalls, resulting in damage to or loss of much of his gear, including photo and essential sampling equipment. Donations helped make up for some of the losses.By the time he neared his destination in Albany, ice was forming. With water temperatures as low as 33 degrees, Swain was experiencing numbness in his hands and feet and headaches. His time in the water each day was reduced from six hours or more to two or three hours at most.?No wet suit can keep you warm in those conditions,” Swain said. “Your core temperature drops and it?s a ticking clock for hypothermia. All those things add to the stress level, the load put on the immune system and the ability to just do basic stuff.”But Swain is no stranger to adverse conditions. The first person to swim the entire Columbia, Hudson and Mystic rivers as well as Lake Champlain, he has braved shark-infested ocean waters, survived collisions with boats and experienced Class IV rapids and 12-foot waves, not to mention water contaminated by arsenic, cyanide and radioactive waste.What did he learn on his most recent adventure??I didn?t know how much intact wilderness there was along the Mohawk, even close to towns and cities,” he said. “Those sections had a tremendous amount of wildlife and intact habitat. We encountered black bear scat, bobcat tracks and saw fox, beaver, mink, deer and every kind of water fowl – a lot of geese and ducks.?It was a real eye-opener, especially in the area where the river starts, just how much unspoiled forest there still is. There are places on the Mohawk where the vista for the swimmer provides much the same view as 400 or 500 years ago.”Such pristine beauty was hardly the norm as Swain progressed south toward more populated areas.?Parts of the Mohawk have been canalized and dammed to create hydro-electric power and for various industrial uses,” he observed. “As such, the Mohawk lost a little of its identity and a lot of its health. In Utica, we came across some orange goop leaking out of a pipe under a bridge. There?s no good kind of orange goop that I know of.”As part of what he considers his job, Swain notified authorities.Swain typically targets three audiences with his information: kindergarten through Grade 12 students, whose classes he engages remotely throughout the journey and in speaking engagements following his swims, people who live and work within the watershed, and government agencies and difference-makers along the river. He estimates that during the last two decades his work has touched more than 80,000 North American schoolchildren.His own daughters, Rowan, 14, and Celilo, 11 (and named for a waterfall on the Columbia River in Oregon), accompanied him on part of the Mohawk trip. So did colleagues, including Andy Norris, a documentary filmmaker who mapped the