Given all the rain, we saw some neat fungi.
We also walked the 1.25 mile carry around the falls. It was a nice hike, but can't imagine carrying heavy boats and gear as everyone else was doing. The sign at the top of the falls gives an idea of how treacherous it is - that is the ripped-off bow of a canoe hanging on the sign.
The reason for doing the paddle today was to see the maple trees at their peak. But we discovered that most of the trees lining the river are silver maples, which haven't begun to turn yet, instead of red maples. So while it was colorful,
later would have been even better. After the paddle and hike we drove into Saranac Lake for dinner at Nonna Fina, which we had been wanting to try. It was not worth the drive; no better than Little Italy. But the sunset over Lower Saranac Lake was great.
We went from Raquette Lake through the Marion River,
Utowana Lake, Eagle Lake, and Blue Mountain Lake as we did last year, for a total of 12.5 miles of paddling plus the carry from Raquette Lake to Utowana. The weather was great though it got a bit windy on Blue Mountain Lake. This year, due to road construction, we could not stop at the beach on Blue Mountain Lake for wine and cheese before heading for dinner. So we paddled directly to Hemlock Hall where 17 of us had a nice dinner.
And the falls were as great as ever.
There was a lot less water than there is earlier in the season, but that means there were more rocks to scramble on and it was easier to ford the little streams flowing into the river as I made my way upstream.
We had never been on Lake Lila, mostly because of the rough 1/3 mile carry from the parking lot to the lake. Though the 5.6 mile rough dirt road is not much fun either. We took our single kayaks and took 2 trips to carry them down to the lake. So we got plenty of walking in addition to a 9 mile paddle, which included about a mile each way on the river, going down until we hit rapids. The lake has a reputation for rough water so we were glad that though the day turned gray, the water was calm enough not to cause problems.
One problem with my paddling my single kayak, particularly while trying to keep up with a group, is that I don't get a chance to take pictures. The leaves are beginning to turn and once they get prettier I'm going to insist on going out more by ourselves so we can get lots of nice photos. Also, we'll need to go back to Lake Lila, probably next fall since it is so crowded in the summer, so we can explore it more fully. Today we made a beeline for the river, stopped for lunch at a campsite, then headed directly back to the carry.
Here is the before view. Quite a contrast.
We woke this morning to yet another damaged bird feeder. I don't know why I bother. These little hand-like prints in the dew on the steps identified the culprit.
The adventure part is finding the correct channel through the reeds and grasses at the southern end of the flow. We did it right coming back but going from the flow to the river we didn't do so well. Here are W and Cindy saying "there has to be a channel here somewhere".
I had the brilliant idea that a recent satellite view would be better than our old maps so I was trying to follow it. But since I didn't know where I was most of the time, that didn't help much. W's instincts were better, but we led him astray. After fighting through narrow channels lined with alders and pulling over a large downed tree, we managed to find the river. We paddled down to the lean-to on the Northville-Lake Placid trail for a relaxing lunch. Then we turned around and headed back.
Sometime when we don't spend so much time looking for the channel, I'd like to explore more of the river. Maybe next year.
