Paddling from Second Pond

We paddled about 8.5 miles today, in two sections.  We put in at the boat launch at Second Pond and paddled down the Saranac River toward the locks.  There were lots of pretty water lilies in bloom.

Along the way we explored Cold Brook until downed trees made passage difficult.

We paddled to the locks then returned to the launch where we got out to stretch our legs.  At that point we had paddled about 5 miles.
We got back in the boats and paddled through First Pond to Bluff Island in Lower Saranac Lake where we climbed to the top of the bluff to eat our lunch and hiked around a bit.  It is one of our favorite spots.

By the time we left the island there were white caps on the lake so we headed back to the boat launch, paddling a total of 3.5 miles more.

Lake Placid Sinfonietta - Concert 3

With guest conductor and pianist William Eddins.  He was very entertaining.  Neat comments about the pieces and fun to watch.

• Serenade for Strings by Dag Wiren - very nice.
• Concerto Grosso No 1 by Ernest Bloch with Eddins conducting from the piano - another nice piece
• Symphony No 4 by Beethoven

Paddling the Middle Branch of the St Regis River

We did one of our favorite paddles today - 12.5 miles roundtrip on the middle branch of the St Regis River, from the put-in off Route 458 in Santa Clara to the rapids and back.  As usual, we had the river to ourselves.  We stopped briefly at the old homesite where we used to eat lunch, but it is very overgrown.  But the scenery was as beautiful as ever.




And the rapids were as impassable as ever.  We again could not find anyplace to get out at that point so we turned around and headed back.


We did find a nice place to stop and rest about 5 miles from the car.


We saw many of our favorite flowers along the way, including cardinal flower


and swamp milkweed.

Lake Placid Sinfonietta - Concert 2

• Brandenburg Concerto No 6 by Bach
• Divertimento Concertante for Double Bass and Orchestra by Giovanni Nino Rota - a fun piece starring the Sinfonietta's double bassist
• Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis by Vaughan Williams
• Symphony No 60 by Haydn

Wood

We had several trees taken down.  Now we have LOTS of sawing and splitting to do.

Lake Placid Sinfonietta - Concert 1

We look forward to our Sinfonietta subscription every summer.  Yesterday's concert included

• Calm Sees and Prosperous Voyage by Mendelssohn
• Three German Dances by Mozart
• Voyage for Flute and String Orchestra by Corigliano
• Three Latin American Sketches by Copland
• Requiem by Faure with the Northern Lights Choir.  They were competent but not very exciting.  I hope our chorus sounds better.

Paddling from Crusher to Moody

We had a great paddle on the Raquette River from the Crusher to the state boat launch at Moody, for a total of about 8 1/2 miles.  It was quite hot so we didn't mind a bit of a head wind to cool us off.  We stopped for lunch at a spot just downriver from the museum where there was a clearing that looked like the end of an old road.  We weren't sure if it was all private property but there were few signs and really no where else to stop.

Hiking Mt Arab

It was a beautiful day today so we climbed Mt Arab and got great views from the fire tower.  It was an easier hike than I remembered, probably because I have a new knee to hike with.  I didn't take my camera so no photos to share.

Whiteface

We have family visiting and decided to drive/hike up Whiteface Mountain, which we haven't done for a long time.  Unfortunately, since it is a holiday weekend, there were LOTS of people with the same idea.  We had to wait about 20 minutes in line before we could get a parking spot.  We hiked up to the top and got a great view, but then decided to take the elevator down since we were short of time.
This is the view of Lake Placid.