Boat Building

We put the deck on today. It needs lots of trimming, sanding, fiberglass, epoxy.... But we're definitely making progress.

Kayaking Round Lake

The sun was finally shining today. Yeah!!!

But it was also windy and we wanted some time to work on boat building, so we just did a morning paddle on Round Lake (see last year's post for a map). We did a leisurely explore of the shoreline for a total of about 7 miles.

The water was quite high from all the rain. The water lilies were having trouble keeping their heads above the water and some were completely submerged. We saw this flower that was new to me. It is some sort of bladderwort (Utricularia) in the Lentibularaceae.

Boat Building

We're to the stage of planing the top surfaces of the boat (known in boat builder's parlance as shear clamps) in preparation for putting on the deck. So at the moment the garage looks like a large hamster cage with wood shavings all over the floor.

New Wildflower

We took part in the annual loon census this morning, and W found our pair of loons and observed them for nearly half an hour.

On the way back I noticed a water plant that I didn't remember seeing before, with very small flowers.I used my new "Manual of Vascular Plants" by Gleason and Cronquist and the accompanying "Illustrated Companion" to identify it as Nymphoides cordata in the Menyanthaceae.

Orchids at the VIC

We finally made it to Paul Smith's Visitor Interpretive Center, otherwise known as the VIC. Someone told me that the Boreal Life Trail was the place to find orchids and we weren't disappointed. There were lots of White Fringed Orchis (Habenaria blephariglottis),Rose Pogonia (Pogonia ophioglossoides),and Calopogon (Calopogon pulchellus).We spent so much time on that trail all we had time for besides it was the short Barnum Brook Trail which has nice bridges over the stream. We saw some toads and this snake.We'll have to go back sometime and explore the other trails.

On the way home we saw this snapping turtle about to cross the road. We herded it across to the other side out of the traffic and took its picture.

Kayaking the Middle Branch of the St Regis River

We finally took a nice long paddle today. We drove to Santa Clara and launched the kayak onto the middle branch of the Saint Regis River, where we had never been before. We did a 12 mile round trip paddle from Route 458 upstream (south) to the rapids and then back downstream. This map only shows a portion of the route.

The weather was perfect and we had the gorgeous river all to ourselves.

The only disappointing thing was the lack of landing spots. The river channel was quite deep and steep sided so there was little opportunity to land. We did manage to pull up on a couple of mud flats but couldn't get inland. One map we have showed a carry around the rapids and we had hoped to get out there and stretch our legs a bit. But we saw no sign of the trail.

We saw lots of great blue herons and belted kingfishers and a beautiful yellow warbler. The most exciting wildlife sighting was a beaver that swam across the river in front of us then slapped its tail and dove out of sight.

There were many flowers in bloom, most of which we saw last year on our paddle on the lower Osgood River.

In Memoriam

JHG passed away this morning after declining steadily over several weeks. He had a good life and it was time for him to go. We spent time today doing things he would have liked as we thought of him. We picniced by the lake, climbed up Coney Mountain for a view of the Adirondacks he loved,and roasted weiners over a campfire for dinner. I think he would have approved.

Boat Building

We've made a lot of progress on the boat. The interior of the hull is completeand the exterior is ready for fiberglass.

Kayaking Raquette Pond

We did a joint paddle with Nancy and Larry today. We put our boats in at the boat ramp in Moody and paddled through Raquette Pond into Piercefield Flow.

New Jersey for the 4th

It has been several years since we watched the sandcarving competitonand watched the fireworks from the beach.

Another treat today was this osprey that landed in the tree across the parking lot from our deck.