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.