Walking at the Paul Smith's VIC

I'm excited to report that I hiked about 1-1/4 miles at the VIC this morning and my knee did very well, just complaining a bit on the downhill slopes.

This was our annual trek to see the orchids and we weren't disappointed.  I was trying out the new camera we got for our Arctic voyage and found I still have a lot to learn.  Some of the plant photos came out ok.

Rose Pogonia Orchid

Calopogon Orchid

White Fringed Orchid

Pitcher Plant and Flower



Marsh Cinquefoil


And this great photo of a cedar waxwing from quite a distance.  I couldn't tell what bird it was until I loaded the photo onto my computer.  Pretty impressive.

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.

At Camp

And the first thing I did was look for the lady slipper orchids, finding about a dozen of them in our woods.

A New Jersey Farewell

We are finally leaving for camp on Saturday.  So today we headed for the beach to say goodbye to New Jersey for a while.  And to escape the heat and humidity further inland.  We drove to Point Pleasant Beach and walked on the boardwalk

ate Kohr's orange and vanilla twist ice cream, played miniature golf,

walked on the beach,

and ate crab cakes and boardwalk fries for dinner.

Inaugural Paddle

With the new knee, that is.  And not in the Adirondacks.  We are still in NJ.  We did not make the Memorial Day paddle and picnic.

Yesterday I tried getting into and out of the boat while it was sitting on the lawn.  Piece of cake.  But the true test is getting out once I've been paddling for a while.  For that test we drove to Princeton to the put-in on the Delaware and Raritan Canal off Alexander Street.  We paddled south for about 45 minutes then turned around.

I figured 1 1/2 hours of sitting in the boat was a pretty good test.

And sure enough, I could not get out by myself.  So no solo paddling for a while.