Final Paddle of the Season

Today was the traditional Columbus Day/Indigenous Peoples' Day paddle and picnic at Hitchins Pond.  We had at least 15 people with the usual assortment of boats, plus some people hiked in instead.

 

I liked this ground covering of moss and wintergreen where some of our boats were placed.

The weather turned out much better than expected.  Which meant it was a beautiful paddle

and we stayed at the picnic longer than we had intended.  We are driving back to New Jersey tomorrow and the idea was to just spend a short time at the picnic so we would have time to rest before packing the car.  Note to self - do not try to drive back the day after the paddle and picnic.  It is too much fun visiting with our friends, especially since it is the last time we will see them for a while, to try to cut it short.  We should have kept to our original plan and driven back on Wednesday instead.

Fall in the Adirondacks

A beautiful fall day on our driveway.

Another Paddle on the Flow

We wanted to paddle again this week but didn't want to drive anywhere.  It has been a busy week, including a wonderful lunch with friends in Lake Placid yesterday.  So we just put the boats in here and explored for a while.  The temperature was about 70 degrees, which was marvelous, although the wind picked up in the afternoon.  The leaves are gorgeous.

Paddling Black Pond

Another new paddle today.  Black Pond is quite small - we paddled the circumference and went less than 3 miles.  So we probably won't do that again.  But the fall colors were great.

We drove home via Rt 86 toward Saranac Lake so we could view the colors along the way.

Peak Fall Colors

We drove to Saranac this afternoon to see a Hill and Hollow sponsored concert by the Alexander Quartet. It was marvelous.  And so was the drive there.  The sun was out and the colors on the hillsides were at their peak.  Unfortunately, I did not get a photo.

Paddling from Second Pond to Lake Flower

We did a variation on this paddle today.  Due to near freezing temperatures in the morning, and since there is no place to stop along the way for a lunch break, we started the paddle after lunch when the temperatures were much more moderate.  It was a good 6-mile paddle as usual.  And it is always fun to go through the lock.

Paddling the Rollins-Floodwood Loop

We did our usual Rollins-Floodwood-Fish Creek paddle today, with a bit of a twist.  We went with friends so we had a second car, which we parked near where we took out.  We put in at Rollins Pond and paddled into Floodwood, with some difficulty.  There was a beaver dam in the stream which W pulled me and himself over; the other two did the carry which I didn't even realize was there.  Then down Fish Creek, stopping at our usual place for lunch.

I measured exactly 6 miles to the end of Fish Creek.  But instead of stopping there we went through Square Pond as usual and stopped at a vacant camp site, for a total paddling distance of about 7 1/4 miles.  The car was parked nearby so we retrieved the second car, packed up and headed out.  It was a beautiful day.

Paddling Franklin Falls Pond

Today we did another paddle we had never done before - on Franklin Falls Pond.  We paddled the circumference, covering about 7 1/4 miles.  It was a beautiful day, though it started out quite chilly.  We paddled down to the rapids and tried to explore Still Brook, but it was too rocky.

Paddling Little Tupper Lake

We hadn't been on Little Tupper for years, so since the winds were supposed to be light today that is where we headed.  We paddled about 6 1/3 miles.

We explored the nice stream coming into the north shore, getting about .8 mile upstream.  This neat tree was near the entrance.

Then we looked for somewhere to stop for lunch.  Several of the campsites seemed very hard to get into.  And site 6 where we had been before was occupied.

We finally managed to land at campsite 5.

Paddling Upper Saranac Lake

We did another new paddle today.  We put into the southern end of Upper Saranac Lake at the Indian Carry and paddled clockwise around that part of the lake.  We stopped for lunch at campsite 16 toward Bartlett Carry and paddled a total of 7 3/4 miles.  The winds were pretty high in places but my shoulder, in which I had recently gotten a cortisone shot for bursitis, did just fine.