We wanted to walk in Holmdel Park one more time before we move - yes, the project in progress is a move away from New Jersey where we have lived for the past 50 years. So we are revisiting favorite places. We had a nice walk, then went to Bell Works, the amazing space which used to be Bell Laboratories, where we both worked, and which has since been repurposed into a home for many companies and retail stores. But it still looks the same.
It has been nearly two months since I posted anything here. We have been very, very busy on a project that I hope to reveal soon. But in the meantime, here is a Holiday greeting from a trip to the Longwood Gardens Christmas show. Unfortunately it was raining, so we didn't explore the outdoor lighting. And parts of the conservatory are still under construction, so it is not as extensive as it has been and will be again in a couple more years. But what we saw was impressive.
Then there was the organ!! OMG! I'm sure we never saw this before. It has over 10,000 pipes and you can walk around behind the room containing the console to see the rooms and rooms of them. Here are just a few. We think those small white objects are Simplisafe sensors, probably monitoring temperature.
We did 16 paddles this year, three of them on Piercefield Flow.
Today was the traditional Columbus Day/Indigenous Peoples' Day paddle and picnic at Hitchins Pond. We had at least 15 people with the usual assortment of boats, plus some people hiked in instead.
I liked this ground covering of moss and wintergreen where some of our boats were placed.
The weather turned out much better than expected. Which meant it was a beautiful paddle
and we stayed at the picnic longer than we had intended. We are driving back to New Jersey tomorrow and the idea was to just spend a short time at the picnic so we would have time to rest before packing the car. Note to self - do not try to drive back the day after the paddle and picnic. It is too much fun visiting with our friends, especially since it is the last time we will see them for a while, to try to cut it short. We should have kept to our original plan and driven back on Wednesday instead.
We wanted to paddle again this week but didn't want to drive anywhere. It has been a busy week, including a wonderful lunch with friends in Lake Placid yesterday. So we just put the boats in here and explored for a while. The temperature was about 70 degrees, which was marvelous, although the wind picked up in the afternoon. The leaves are gorgeous.
Another new paddle today. Black Pond is quite small - we paddled the circumference and went less than 3 miles. So we probably won't do that again. But the fall colors were great.
We drove home via Rt 86 toward Saranac Lake so we could view the colors along the way.
We drove to Saranac this afternoon to see a Hill and Hollow sponsored concert by the Alexander Quartet. It was marvelous. And so was the drive there. The sun was out and the colors on the hillsides were at their peak. Unfortunately, I did not get a photo.
We did a variation on this paddle today. Due to near freezing temperatures in the morning, and since there is no place to stop along the way for a lunch break, we started the paddle after lunch when the temperatures were much more moderate. It was a good 6-mile paddle as usual. And it is always fun to go through the lock.
We did our usual Rollins-Floodwood-Fish Creek paddle today, with a bit of a twist. We went with friends so we had a second car, which we parked near where we took out. We put in at Rollins Pond and paddled into Floodwood, with some difficulty. There was a beaver dam in the stream which W pulled me and himself over; the other two did the carry which I didn't even realize was there. Then down Fish Creek, stopping at our usual place for lunch.
I measured exactly 6 miles to the end of Fish Creek. But instead of stopping there we went through Square Pond as usual and stopped at a vacant camp site, for a total paddling distance of about 7 1/4 miles. The car was parked nearby so we retrieved the second car, packed up and headed out. It was a beautiful day.
Today we did another paddle we had never done before - on Franklin Falls Pond. We paddled the circumference, covering about 7 1/4 miles. It was a beautiful day, though it started out quite chilly. We paddled down to the rapids and tried to explore Still Brook, but it was too rocky.
We hadn't been on Little Tupper for years, so since the winds were supposed to be light today that is where we headed. We paddled about 6 1/3 miles.
We explored the nice stream coming into the north shore, getting about .8 mile upstream. This neat tree was near the entrance.
Then we looked for somewhere to stop for lunch. Several of the campsites seemed very hard to get into. And site 6 where we had been before was occupied.
We finally managed to land at campsite 5.
We did another new paddle today. We put into the southern end of Upper Saranac Lake at the Indian Carry and paddled clockwise around that part of the lake. We stopped for lunch at campsite 16 toward Bartlett Carry and paddled a total of 7 3/4 miles. The winds were pretty high in places but my shoulder, in which I had recently gotten a cortisone shot for bursitis, did just fine.
We had a great paddle with friends on the Saranac River. Instead of starting in Saranac Lake we drove north on Route 3 and put in at a spot that is north of the Moose Pond trailhead and south of the school bus garage. It is where there is a small parking area at a private bridge over the river and a portage that can be used when the water is too high to paddle under the bridge. We paddled about five miles to the high water take out above the rapids where we had parked cars. We much preferred paddling just that section of the river since we avoided all the noise from the quarry and most of the road noise. Then we went to Teddy's in Bloomingdale for ice cream, but found they didn't open until 2:00. So we drove on in to Saranac Lake and stopped at Mountain Mist instead.
Today's paddle was about 6.5 miles on Carry Falls Reservoir. We put in at the Parmeter site and paddled down the Raquette River until it got too rocky. Then we turned around and went up the lake. We stopped on the shore for lunch. It wasn't hard to find a sandy spot since the water level is so low.
On the way back south we paddled into the Jordan River, but didn't get very far. At this end it is a pile of rocks with a bit of water running through.
Today's winds were forecast to be light so we headed for Saranac Inn and the boat launch at the northern part of Upper Saranac Lake. We did nearly the same paddle we did two years ago. The lake and the mountains were beautiful, not that you can tell much from this photo.
We followed the northern shore and tried to get up Hatchery Brook, but again there was too much vegetation to get very far. So then we tried the outlet to Black Pond and made it all the way to the bridge.
We stopped at campsite 2 on Green Island for lunch.
Then back to the landing for a total paddling distance of about 6 3/4 miles.
Six of us put in to Forked Lake at the carry from Raquette Lake and headed west to the Brandreth Lake Outlet, hoping to go upstream quite a way as we did last year. But not far upstream we encountered a large beaver dam with no way around or over it.
I swear the beavers are getting more and more active. Maybe they like the warmer weather. Anyway we gave up and paddled back into Forked Lake. We stopped for lunch at a campsite on the southern shore about half way between the outlet and where we put in. The site is on the shore to the right of this photo.
As the picture shows, it was quite cloudy, but very still. After lunch we kept going east, past the put in and hoped to get all the way to where the Raquette River flows in. But I had an appointment later in the afternoon and needed to get back so we turned around before reaching the river. We paddled a total of about 6 3/4 miles.
We paddled about 8 miles today. We put in at the St Regis Carry road off route 30 and circumnavigated Upper St Regis Lake. It turned out to be a longer paddle than I expected, so I cut short some of the paddles into the smaller bays, but it was still the longest I have paddled so far. The great camps were as amazing as always. This was a small building belonging to a camp with an Asian flair.
We paddled into North Bay, looking for the two lean-tos the paddlers' map shows on the east side. We never found them. They must just be reachable via a trail since the hillside up from the water is quite steep there with no place to land. But we did manage to land at the end of the carry from Keese Mill Road for lunch. And we met four paddlers coming down the portage, which is long and goes over a steep hill. Then we headed down the west side looking for the metal sculptures hidden in the woods on the Topridge property. These are a few of them.
And this marvelous stone-columned building was nearby. Notice the dragon on the roofline.
Today was a gorgeous day for a paddle and the weather doesn't look good for the group paddle tomorrow, but we didn't want another car ride, so we just started from our place on the Flow, carried around the dam, and went upstream for a while, then retraced our steps. This is the view upriver.
The pickerel weed seems more abundant than usual this year. This is the view at the upper end of the carry.
The winds were forecasted to be too high for paddling so we went for a hike instead. We were hoping to do the entire Heron Marsh 3-mile loop at the VIC, but I had a sore ankle so we just went one mile then retraced our steps. But it was still a nice walk.
I finally did a long paddle with the group today with no ill effects. We put in at South Creek, which was as picturesque as usual.
It was a gorgeous, still day so even Middle Saranac was great for paddling.
I did most of the paddle, resting instead of paddling into Little Weller Pond, and went about 7 miles total. We had trouble finding a place for lunch since the campsites were full. Seven of us split from the group and managed to find a place to take out opposite site 81.
Today I did an "official" paddle on the Flow, or part of one at least. The group met at a member's house upstream from the dam and paddled downstream and carried around the dam. I paddled up from our place and met them there. We paddled down to the pump house where we had lunch. Then they returned the way they came and I paddled home. I even managed to get in and out of the kayak without help.
I've now been paddling on the Flow several times. As long as my pain pill has kicked in, I seem to do ok, so I'm working my way up to enough miles that I can go on a group paddle. My main issue seems to be that I am out of shape in general since it has been months since I have done much. But being able to paddle at all is wonderful. I did 4.2 miles today.
A couple of days ago we found this clear indication that we have otters, who love the fresh water mussels and seem to enjoy eating them on this log sticking out of the water.
