Quilt 72

This one is appropriately called "Antelope Canyon."

 

Paddling from Forked Lake up the Brandreth Lake Outlet

We had a great paddle today.  We put into Forked Lake at the canoe carry from Raquette Lake and repeated the paddle we did last year.  We paddled up the Brandreth Lake Outlet.

The tree we had to maneuver under last time had been cut out, but we still had to get out of the boats and carry around it, but it was easy to do.  And this time the water was so high we got all the way to the rapids.  This isn't a great photo, but was the best I could do since the water was pushing us backwards at a great rate.

Then a beautiful paddle back to the lake and to the landing for a total of 6.7 miles.

The campsite we stopped at last time was occupied but we found another one on the north shore that we marked on the map.  And a nice one on the south shore also.  We actually ate lunch where we had to get out of the boats to get around the downed trees.

Hiking to Lower Saranac Lake

It was warm and very humid today, so we got mighty sweaty on our hike.  We started at Forest Home Road and walked down an unmarked but easy-to-follow trail to the north shore of Lower Saranac Lake.  We had our lunch there and some folks swam in the lake.  Then back to the car for a total distance of about 5 miles.  I took my phone expecting to get at least one photo to record the trip, but it was so hazy due to the fires out west that it wasn't very photogenic.

Paddling on Cranberry Lake

Four of us did a nice 8.5 mile paddle on part of Cranberry Lake today.  We put in at the site in Wanakena that is marked on the Paddling Map, which was farther downstream than we had been before.  There was very little place to park cars and when we took the boats out at the end they were covered with foam generated by the rapids nearby.  It is better to put in further along where the land narrows on Ranger School Road.  The weather was iffy, but other than a few showers was actually quite nice with very little wind.  Sun would have been better, but I'll take the calm water over sunshine any time.  And the fires out west are causing haze here in the east, so even if it hadn't been cloudy, it probably would not have been a bright sunny day.  We stopped at campsite 42 for lunch, then found that site 43 looked even nicer, with a nice picnic area somewhat removed from the campsite.  We kept going around Flatiron Point and explored the islands a bit, then crossed over to go past campsites 27 and 28 before heading back to the cars.

Hiking at the VIC

We took a brief hike at the VIC today.  We had to turn around before we got to the bog since I was not feeling well.  But we did see a very large toad.  It hopped to the side of the trail and stopped to get its picture taken.

When we came back up the trail it had not moved much, but was on a log where it was even better camouflaged.

Paddling Lake Clear

We did a new paddle today, putting into the Lake Clear Outlet off Forest Home Road, at the bottom of the map.  The put-in is 0.7 mile from Route 30.  We paddled through the outlet and under the road into Lake Clear.  We paddled across the lake to the Girl Scout Camp where one of our group had arranged for us to stop and have lunch on their picnic tables.  The camp won't be open until next month.  Then we returned to the cars for a total of six miles.

Paddling South Creek to Second Pond

We did one of our favorite paddles with the group today.  We dropped off the boats at South Creek and shuttled the cars to Second Pond.  Then paddled down South Creek  

into Middle Saranac Lake, then down the river and through the Upper Locks into Lower Saranac Lake.  Since it is a holiday, there was lots of boat traffic and we had to wait our turn to get through the locks.  And most of the campsites were taken, so it took a while to find a place to stop for lunch.  We finally stopped at site 43 on the northwest shore where I don't think I had been before.  Here is the view from the lunch spot.

Then across the lake and down into First Pond then Second Pond.  Someone said we paddled about 8 miles.  Given how much rain we have had recently, we were very happy with the gorgeous weather.

Another Wildflower from the Driveway

This one is Shinleaf (Pyrola elliptica in the Pyrolaceae.)