Paddling Little Tupper

We had a wonderful paddle today.  The winds were forecasted to be calm, so the two of us headed for Little Tupper Lake.  We paddled 14 miles, taking most of the day with several stops.

It was nice to take the time to explore for a change instead of being with the group.  The weather forecast was correct and the still waters were beautiful.

Paddling the Oswegatchie

We led a paddle on the Oswegatchie River today.  We put in at Inlet off route 3 west of Wanakena and paddled to High Rock where we had lunch

with a great view

The group came to our camp for snacks afterwards.  It was nice to see everyone.

Back to Camp

We had a very nice visit in New Jersey.  We drove back to camp today and will stay for a little over 2 weeks.

In New Jersey

We drove to New Jersey yesterday.  This evening we took part in the chorus' summer sing - "Elijah" by Mendelssohn.  It was great to sing again.  We'll head back up to camp sometime late next week.

Paddling "Round the Mountain"

The group paddled 10.5 miles today, from Ampersand Bay on Lower Saranac to the park on Lake Flower in Saranac Lake.

This is one of our favorite views, looking south from Second Pond.

We went through the locks on the right; not over the dam.

Another Raquette River Paddle

Today we paddled another section of the Raquette River.  We put in at the "crusher" access point, at the top of this map, and paddled upstream, toward the bottom of the map, and back again for a total of about 10 miles.

 Among the many sites are interesting, undermined tree roots.

The cardinal flowers are in bloom

and there was LOTS of pickerel weed.

We decided to see how close we could get to Follensby Pond, at the bottom of the map, which has been acquired by the Nature Conservancy but is not yet open to the public.  As can be seen on the map, the area is quite overgrown so we paddled a very serpentine track for over a mile to get to the dam that marks the beginning of the lake.

Brownies Kaboom

No, that is not a new dessert recipe.  It is more like an anti-dessert.  I put a double batch of brownies in an "ovenproof" Pyrex dish into the oven.  Fortunately, we were sitting nearby a bit later when we heard a muffled explosion from the vicinity of the oven.  I opened it and found glass shards and brownie batter all over the oven.  Fortunately, we reacted quickly, turning off the oven and pulling out the rack and placing a cookie sheet underneath to catch what was not already on the bottom of the oven.  After the oven cooled we cleaned and cleaned and hopefully got up all the glass.

I guess our guest is not getting dessert tonight.

Paddling the North Branch of the Moose River

We had a great paddle today - 12 miles down the North Branch of the Moose River.  We put in off Rondaxe Road in Old Forge and took out at Mountain Man where cars had been left.  The gelato at the ice cream place in Inlet on the way home was good too.  The only down side is that we drove about 2 hours each way, but the paddle was worth it.

Wildlife

This morning was the annual loon survey, so we were on the lake at 8 AM looking for loons.  I found the residents - 2 adults and a chick - and watched them for about half an hour.  Then later in the morning W saw a doe with a nursing fawn on the driveway.  My approach spooked the mother but the fawn ducked in next to the woodshed long enough for me to take a picture.

Paddling Middle Saranac and Weller

The two of us paddled about 9 miles today.  We put in at South Creek

paddled through Middle Saranac Lake

and into Little Weller where we saw this amazing sight.  We couldn't tell what we were seeing so we got closer than we should have to this loon on a nest, which was trying to look like a log.  We backed off as soon as we realized what it was, but I got a great telephoto shot.

Then we paddled into Weller Pond and explored, lunching at campsite 85.  The white water lilies (Nymphaea odorata in the Nymphaeaceae) are in bloom

and so are the pickerelweed (Pontederia cordata in the Pontederiaceae).