Paddling and Hiking at Massawepie

Yesterday I went paddling with the group to Massawepie Lake.  We did about 6.5 miles around the lake, stopping at the tip of one of the eskers for lunch.  A friend told me how to find the trail around the lake, so today we hiked part of the trail.  It was fantastic, but we didn't get all the way to the tip of the esker we were at yesterday.  We hiked for 1-3/4 hours and since we left late and didn't bring lunch, we were forced to turn around.  It was another gorgeous, still day.

And there were toads everywhere.


We will be sure to go back sometime and plan for a longer hike.  It was wet underfoot some places, so I might be tempted to wear water shoes the next time, or perhaps take them.

Paddling From Rollins Pond to Follensby Clear

It was a gorgeous, still day today, so we did one of our favorite paddles, taking advantage of having two cars.  We dropped off a car at the southern parking area on Follensby Clear Pond.  Then we drove to the put-in at Rollins Pond and launched the boats.


We paddled through Rollins and into Floodwood where we stopped at one of the first campsites for lunch.


Then we paddled across Floodwood and down Fish Creek.


Then through Fish Creek Ponds and Spyder Creek into Follensby Clear, for a total of 8-3/4 miles.

Paddling the Saranac River

It is finally nice weather, so we visited some friends who have just moved into a new house on Lake Flower and we paddled with them on the Saranac River from their house, south almost to the entrance to Kiwassa Lake.  It is the final day of the 90-miler canoe race, so we got to see lots of boats go by.  We were surprised how many held 4 or more paddlers.

Paddling Big Tupper - Again

The winds were forecast to be "light and variable" again today so we tried to come up with a place to paddle that would be away from the holiday crowds.  We settled on the south end of Big Tupper Lake.  We put in at Rock Island Bay and followed the shore south to Bog River Falls.  There were quite a few motor boats on the lake, but they weren't an issue.  Before we got to the falls the winds were already rising, so we headed back to the car.  We covered less than 4 miles, but it was still nice to be out in the beautiful sunshine, though the temperature was cool.

Paddling Big Tupper

We explored part of Big Tupper today since winds were again light.  We put in at the Moody boat launch and paddled down to Grindstone Bay.


Then we came back up the western shore and explored.  We stopped at the lean-to for lunch.


We stopped again at campsite 4 and walked around.  Campsite 3 was occupied.  We need to stop there sometime since it looked like a great starting place for climbing around on the rocky shore.  We headed back to Moody from there for a total of 8.5 miles.

Paddling Little Tupper

We paddled nearly 13 miles on Little Tupper today.  The forecast was for "light and variable" winds, so it was perfect.






We stopped for a break at campsite 6, and several others as well, which made for a relaxing paddle.

Paddling the Kunjamuk River

Today we drove 1-1/2 hours to Speculator in order to paddle the Kunjamuk River.  We did 10 miles round trip to Elm Lake and back.


The water is still high so it was a great paddle.  We only had to get out and pull over 3 beaver dams.  At lower water we would have encountered at least a dozen of them.


This garter snake was sunning itself on the bridge where we stopped to have lunch.

Paddling the Middle Branch of the St Regis River

Since it is a summer Sunday and the weather was expected to be good, we needed a place to paddle that is off the beaten track.  We picked a winner in Santa Clara Flow and the Middle Branch of the St Regis River.  One other boat was around when we put in, but we didn't see it again.  The river was as nice as always, though the water was higher and the flow stronger than in past years, yet another result of all the rain we have been having.


We didn't try to make it all the way to the rapids.  Instead we stopped for a break where we did last year and turned around there for a total paddle of about 9 miles.

Paddling the Lower Osgood

We put in at Meacham Lake to paddle up the Lower Osgood River.  It was a beautiful day with fall-like temperatures.  Even though there were other boats at the put-in, we had the river to ourselves most of the time.


The cardinal flowers were in abundance.


We had not been on the river for a while and were very surprised to come upon downed trees completely blocking the river, just past the house and dock.  We didn't even make it to Mud Pond.


We managed to climb up the bank where others had clearly taken out to carry around the blockage.  But this is what we found on the other side, a mucky mess that we didn't want to walk through.


We elected to turn around instead, so we paddled a total of 8 miles.

Crusher to Moody

Just the two of us had a nice 8-mile paddle on the Raquette River from the Crusher to the state boat launch at Moody.  Since we have two cars here, we can do two-ended paddles by ourselves.  With the iffy weather, it is hard to plan ahead for a group paddle.  Today was very nice with light winds and temperature in the upper 70's.  And we mostly had the river to ourselves. 

I love the reflections on the still water.

We stopped for lunch at the spot we stopped at last time, not too far downstream from the museum.

The while water lilies are finally in bloom.  I think the high water drowned lots of them.

Paddling the North Branch of the Saranac River

Five of us had a great paddle today.  We put in from the Kushaqua-Mud Pond Road in Onchiota and headed up the North Branch of the Saranac River.  It keeps raining so the water was quite high.  We just had to get out twice to pull over beaver dams.  We were able to "skooch" across the others.  We got further upstream than we ever have before.  We were very surprised to find this new dock, which was a great place to stop for lunch on the way back downstream.

We walked up the path behind it and found this sign.


It says to drop off your canoe here, then move your car to the North Branch parking area.  We didn't see such a place, until we explored in the car after the paddle.  The marked parking lot is on Kushaqua-Mud Pond Road north of the put-in, and 0.8 mile from the dock!  There was plenty of room to park cars right by the sign.  Somehow, I doubt that people really move their cars.  It also doesn't seem worth it to put a boat in at this dock.  We only paddled about 3 miles upstream from our cars, so it doesn't seem necessary to shorten the paddle further.

Paddling the Flow

I paddled down to the end of the lake today to go to the post office.  Then I circumnavigated the lake looking for loons.  We do the annual loon survey on Saturday, so this was a preview.  Unfortunately, I only saw one loon.  It was a beautiful, calm day.

The Six Carries Paddle

I did the six carries paddle with the group today.  Since I didn't have anyone to help carry my boat, it was quite a slog that I don't think I'll do again.  The first carry is over 1/2 mile long and there are two others that are at least 1/4 mile.  Some of the "lakes" in between are so small it seems like mostly carries interspersed with short paddles.  I would have liked to pause for photos - the rose pagonia orchids are blooming - but since I am slow on the carries I pushed along on the paddling portions.  After the carries there are three larger lakes but wind can be a problem on them.  This time the winds were at our back so that was good.  We were afraid rain would force us to shorten the trip but the weather was surprisingly good.

Paddling the Saranac River - Sort of

Well, we were paddling, though in a tandem canoe not our own boats, and we were on the Saranac River starting from Pine Street in Saranac Lake and heading downstream, but it was part of the river clean-up organized by a couple of the local paddling outfitters.  We spent several hours on the river and cleaned up lots of stuff.  We thought we would be wading and using the canoe mostly as a garbage repository, but we have had so much rain the water was much too high for that.  So we paddled along the shore and picked up what we could, including two tires, one shoe, lots of bottles, and lots and lots of styrofoam.  Others picked up chairs, dock pieces, a mattress, etc.  The outfitters treated us to a barbecue afterwards.  It was a good day, in part because we actually didn't get rained on while we were on the river.

Paddling the North Branch of the Moose River

We had a wonderful paddle today.  The weather was perfect, not too hot or too windy, but windy enough to keep the mosquitoes at bay, most of the time.  We put in at the bridge off Rondaxe Road and paddled 12 miles down the river to Mountain Man in Old Forge.

The water was high and swift making it a very easy paddle.  We stopped for lunch where North Road crosses the river.  A couple miles further we did the 1/4 mile portage around Indian Rapids.  While waiting for the drivers to shuttle back to the beginning so we could start the paddle we found a number of cedar waxwings stripping berries off a bush.

Paddle from South Creek to Second Pond

We did one of our favorite paddles today, putting in again at South Creek, paddling across Middle Saranac, down the river and through the Upper Lock, and across the western end of Lower Saranac to the take out on Second Pond.  We learned that the Lower Lock is still under construction.
We had lunch at campsite 46 on Lower Saranac, not far from where the river flows in.  It was a beautiful day and not too many bugs.

Paddling to Weller Pond

Another beautiful day and a paddle to Weller Pond with our friends.  The bugs didn't bother us too much on yesterday's wildflower walk.  We weren't sure what to expect on the paddle.  None bothered me as I paddled down South Creek.

But swarms of black flies caught me as I got out onto the lake, which was strange.

Once we got out to the middle of the lake, they finally dispersed.  No wind is great for paddling, but not so good for keeping the bugs away.  We were sure they would be bad when we stopped for lunch on Tock Island.  Be we had no problem at all, even with no wind.

The clouds started building while we were at lunch and got thicker as we paddled back to the car.  The black flies were so bad out on the lake that I resorted to a headnet, which I rarely wear.  I had lots of insecticide on so they weren't biting, but I couldn't stand their bouncing off my face.

Once I was home I discovered bites on my legs and back that had been covered.  I had forgotten how well the flies make their way under clothing.

Despite the insects, it was a beautiful paddle.  But I won't be looking to do more than one a week until after bug season.

Paddling Long Pond

We were supposed to drive back to New Jersey today, but the weather was beautiful and Monday's high winds caused the paddle on Long Pond to be put off 'til today.  Plus it was rainy all weekend so we felt we needed more nice days at camp.  We had another great paddle.  The black flies were about but not biting much and we chose a windy spot for lunch so they didn't bother us too much.

Paddling from Axton Landing to the Crusher

We drove to camp yesterday and joined the ADK paddle today on the Raquette River.  The weather was perfect with temps near 60 and lots of sunshine.