Paddling Massawepie

The scout camp at Massawepie hasn't started yet so today we did a group paddle around the lake.  It turned into another "adventure paddle" due to very high and gusty winds.  But it was a beautiful sunny day with lower temps than we have had recently and much lower humidity.  Since we paddled the circumference of the lake, we were able to hide from the winds about half the time.  We stopped at a great spot for lunch at the end of an esker jutting into the lake.  This leopard frog greeted us at the landing spot.

There is a great trail along the esker - this is the view of a bay on one side of the trail.
I got a trail map and am looking forward to hiking there in the fall.

Paddling Rainbow Lake

Today was the traditional Memorial Day paddle and picnic, so there were 19 boats paddling Rainbow Lake.  We put in off Clark Wardner Road at the southwest end of the lake and shuttled cars to the northeastern end of Rainbow Narrows on Kushaqua Mud Pond Road.  We paddled up the Flow then into Clear Pond then through the esker to a campsite on Rainbow Lake for lunch.  After lunch we headed down the lake toward the narrows.  There was a lot of wind behind us so we were glad we had the cars at the other end.  When we got to the underpass leading to the narrows things got interesting.  Just looking through under the road you could see that end of the lake was several inches higher than the water we were on.  There must have been lots of water coming down the North Branch of the Saranac River.  The current was very swift.  A few brave and very strong folks managed to get through, helped in some cases by a hardy soul who waded into the breach and helped pull some boats along.  Most of us got out on a handy dock, dragged our boats up over the road, and walked down the road a ways before finding a place we could get back in.  With that many boats it took us some time.  Nothing like an adventure paddle to work up an appetite.  Then we headed to our hosts' home for a leisurely visit and picnic.

Hiking Stone Valley

We had a nice hike today in Stone Valley.  We spotted cars and just did the ~3.5 mile one-way hike.  The water is quite low, but it is still picturesque.  We were surprised that we encountered no bugs.  That might have something to do with the temperature - mid 80's and humid - so we were awfully hot by the end of the hike.  The group stopped at Hideaway Cafe for a late lunch afterwards.

Paddling Long Pond

Seven of us paddled on Long Pond today.  There were few mosquitos but lots of black flies, though we managed to find a breezy spot for lunch so they didn't bother us there.  The temperatures are unusually high for this time of year so it was a very pleasant day.  Although our lake is low, there was plenty of water there to paddle up to Pink Pond and to Little Pink.

At Camp

We drove to camp today.  The weather seems unusually warm, in the low 70's.  We are surprised the trees are not much leafed out and the painted trillium are in full bloom.

NJSO Concert

I have decided to start keeping a record of the concerts we go to.  There are so many great ones and it would be good to be able to go back and look up favorite artists, etc.

Last night we drove to NJPAC in Newark for an NJSO concert.  The program was

• Mendelssohn "Hebrides Overture"
• Tchaikovsky "Violin Concerto in D Major" with soloist Augustin Hadelich, who was absolutely amazing.
• Brahms "Serenade No 1 in D Major"

Quilt Show Success

I got 7 ribbons in the quilt show!!!

My favorite quilt got a ribbon for best use of color, plus first place in its size category.


I got a second place.


Two third place.




And two honorable mention.