Paddling the Oswegatchie River

We just completed our final paddle of the season.  We head back to NJ on Saturday.  We put in the Oswegatchie at Inlet

and paddled the 3 1/4 miles to campsite 42 on the river where we took a break.  The current was quite fast so it took us 1 1/2 hours to get there paddling upstream.


But then it was an easy paddle back downstream, taking us less than an hour.

Paddling from Second Pond to Lake Flower

We took advantage of having two cars and paddled a bit over 6 miles to where we parked a car in Saranac Lake, then went to Hotel Saranac for lunch before retrieving the other car from Second Pond.  Another beautiful day.

Paddling the Bog River

We had another beautiful day today.  We put in at Low's Lower Dam and paddled the 3 miles to the carry at Hitchin's Pond.  There was no wind when we started out so the reflections were perfect.






We had not climbed up to the ridge for many years because of my bum knees.  So we did the climb of a little over a mile to spectacular views.

Raquette Lake to Blue Mountain Lake

We are back in the Adirondacks, having driven up on Saturday.  We had a great but exhausting paddle today from Raquette Lake through the Marion River and Utowana and Eagle Lakes to the beach at Blue Mountain Lake, including a fairly long carry and a big beaver dam, for a total of over 13 miles.  It was a beautiful day with plenty of sunshine, cool temperatures, and not too much wind.  We have done the paddle several times before but this time it seemed exceptionally long.  I guess we are just getting older.




A well-deserved lunch break after the carry.

Paddling Follensby Clear Pond

It's been a while since we paddled anywhere but on the Flow, so it felt good to put in on Follensby Clear Pond this morning.  We paddled the circumference for a total of about 6 miles.  We found these flowers in abundance again.  They are Swamp Loosestrife (Decodon verticillatus) in the Lythraceae and they grow out into the water in several places around the lake.




There was the usual log covered in sundews.


We stopped for lunch on a small island and were serenaded by loons on both sides of the island.


We saw a couple of loons with babies.


At one point we saw a group of at least nine loons and wondered if they are already gathering for migration.

Paddling the Raquette River

Today we took advantage of having two cars here and did the two-ended paddle on the Raquette River from Axton Landing to the Crusher.  It was a total of 7 miles.

Paddling the Upper Osgood

We had a beautiful paddle today; total distance about 9.4 miles.  Our leaders had determined that it is still possible to get through the canal from Church Pond into Osgood Pond, so we put in at Church Pond.  I hadn't been there for several years so I was anxious to see the rose pagonia orchids, which are still there in abundance.


I didn't get a very good photo - hard to spend enough time on photography when you are in a group.


We did manage to get through the canal but just barely.  It won't be many more days before the water is too low.

There is not enough room at the end of the navigable portion of the creek for many people to get out, so we stopped for lunch at a spot about 1/4 mile from the end.

Paddling South Creek to Second Pond

Eleven of us had a great paddle today.  The weather was perfect and there were no bugs.  Which was quite a surprise because the mosquitoes were really bad in the driveway when I was putting my boat on the car.

This is a great view of Devil's Pulpit in the Saranac River after going through the locks.

We stopped for lunch at campsite 46 on the north side of the river before it opens into Lower Saranac Lake.  It is a beautiful site with the excellent landing spot complete with small beach quite a ways up the river from the actual camping site.

Paddling South Inlet to Raquette Lake

We had a somewhat abbreviated paddle today.  We were supposed to paddle the South Inlet to Raquette Lake and then, since that is such a short paddle, move the boats and cars to Raquette Lake "downtown" and paddle down Brown's Tract and back.  We had a wonderful paddle down South Inlet.  There were lots of pitcher plants in bloom along the way.


And the falls at the end are very picturesque.


Then we drove to Raquette Lake and had lunch on the shore.  But then W decided he was not feeling well so we drove home without doing the rest of the paddle.  He immediately went to bed and slept the rest of the day, so I guess that was the right call.

Paddling Rollins to Square Pond

We did one of our favorite paddles today.  We put in on Rollins Pond and paddled into Floodwood with plenty of water to spare, unlike our low-water paddle last year.  We went down Fish Creek into Fish Creek Pond then Square.  We stopped at an unoccupied campsite where we left the boats.  Then W walked to Rollins to get the car.  I didn't do the walk this time because my knee was quite tired.  But I did manage to get out of the boat several times essentially by myself.  The trick is to get out on the left side of the boat, or must I say port side.

Paddling the Flow

We've already paddled the Flow twice, once on Monday and again today.  Today was perfect with no winds but fewer bugs than just two days ago.

Paddling South Creek to Middle Saranac to Weller

It was a beautiful day for a paddle.  Middle Saranac had quite a few black flies but the scenery can't be beat.


We explored Little Weller then Weller, eating lunch on Tic Island.



We weren't bothered by bugs much after we left Middle Saranac, and paddling back the wind had picked up, keeping the bugs at bay.

There probably isn't any need for me to keep track of progress on my knee here, since I don't have another one to replace, but the leg was quite swollen by the end of the trip, presumably from sitting still for so long.  And I still needed quite a bit of help getting out of the boat.