Boreas/Atwell/Saranac

 On our latest venture into the Adirondack park, we started by meeting our friends Andy and Carrie at Boreas Ponds. They had never been and we enjoyed some fresh made corn bread while we floated our armada of Hornbeck boats beneath the amazing view of the Great Range. The skies were overcast and the air was crisp which was a welcome change after the sweltering summer that we've had thus far.

We bid adieu to our friends and made our way to Newcomb for the night before the next leg of our journey to downtown Atwell, New York. The tiny hamlet would be hosting its annual picnic and we joined to strap on the feedbag! I regaled Annabel with stories of Atwell Martin (the hermit that lived in the area in the 1800's and she decided that we should bring him some food from the picnic. In midafternoon, we hiked the trail to his hermitage site with some food for him (which is still oddly treeless...) and I'm sure that his ghost appreciated it.

We whiled away the rest of the weekend playing in the water and the neighbors were nice enough to pump up their floating trampoline for Annabel to jump on!

The car headed back to Newcomb for another evening for the next stage of our trip - a camping trip on Middle Saranac Lake. We had reserved the site on Norway Island for two evenings. We packed the car despite smoggy skies and headed north. We found lunch in Tupper Lake where we wolfed down calzones at Guido's Pizzeria...yum.

Because of the smoky skies, we decided to spend most of the first day at the Wild Center where we could duck inside. Annabel particularly enjoyed the spider web, watching the otters and fish and playing with fans on the engineering table.

By late afternoon, we packed our boats and paddled to Norway Island's rocky shore. We set up camp for the next couple nights where we would listen to loon calls and relax.

We didn't venture far the next day - after spending most of the morning on "breakfast rock" as Annabel named it, we took a short trip to Middle Saranac Lake's beach for a swim. After returning to our island, we spent the rest of the afternoon reading Roald Dahl and watching pine needles smolder in the campfire. 

On our final day - it was time to pack out. We filled our kayak holds and packed the car while Annabel helped launch stranger's boats onto the river. It was time for another calzone at Guido's before we headed home. This marked Annabel's first island camping experience!

Tupper Lake

On our most recent venture into the great North Woods, we completed a day-paddling trifecta around the central Adirondacks. We started each day in Newcomb and radiated to our treks from there.

After our arrival in Newcomb, we car-topped Hornbeck Boats and began down the long muffler crunching path that leads to the Essex Chain of Lakes. We carried to the shore of Deer Pond and then carried to Third Lake. We were taken with the landscape surrounding the largest lake of the chain and admired the backcountry setting as we explored the northern arm of the lake. We then followed the chain in numerical order, finally turning around at tiny seventh. The Essex Chain seems lightly used based on some of the weedy channels that we "paddle whacked" through.

On our second day we used our kayaks and met the Atwell Paddlers at Big Moose Lake. We had not paddled on this lake since 2012 but were still enamored with the northeastern arm of the lake where we had our lunch. We also explored east bay and ducked into north bay before heading out, we were on a schedule since we had to make it back to Newcomb for their weekly bands on the beach.

In the evening we met Amy, Ben and Maya at the beach and enjoyed some classic rock sounds before going to Scoops to gorge ourselves on banana splits! Get 'em while they're cold!

Our third installment in our paddling trip turned out to be the biggest surprise of all. We had driven by Tupper Lake for years, but the northern section of the lake from the road never looked like an interesting paddle. Despite this, we decided to give the southern section a try. It was a beautiful area of the lake with interesting islands, bays and mountains surrounding the landscape. It was quite unlike the northern part and rivaled the Saranac Lakes. We paddled into Black Bay for lunch at the lean-to and headed south to see the falls from the Bog River before heading out. We will be back to this spot for sure!

Raquette Lake

After arriving home from our western road trip, we were itching to get in our boats. We strapped our kayaks to the top of the car and headed to Tom's cabin in Newcomb for some kayaking day trips. Fortunately each trip would put us through Long Lake's ice cream corner.

On day one, we headed north to Tupper Lake but were sadly met with strong winds and rain. It was not the experience that we were looking for on such a big lake. We turned the car around and headed to Horseshoe Lake, just south of Tupper for an afternoon paddle. With clouds overhead and some rain, we paddled the mostly wild shoreline, admiring the campsites along the way. This lake seems to be an overlooked portion of the Whitney wilderness.

We got ice cream cones at Hoss's to finish our first day.

Our second day of paddling was at Raquette Lake. Launching at Golden Beach, we followed the northern shore, skirting Big Island and following the shoreline of Osprey Island. We then met the caretaker at Tioga Point where we stopped for lunch as we pursued historic photographs of the building coplex that was once housed there. We continued north to Needle Island and turned around when the wind really started to blow. On our return trip, we skirted the longer side of Big Island and found the lean-to's available for camping.

We got ice cream cones at Hoss's to finish our second day.

Our third day turned into a bit of a bust. Arriving at Long Lake, we saw thunderheads in the sky and decided to have some ice cream at Hoss's to wait it out. It kept looking ominous so we headed back to Newcomb to paddle a tiny portion of Harris Lake. Unfortunately the conditions were not in our favor so we packed out to the orchard for the evening.

Mossy Point

Lisa, Tom and I put in kayaks at the Mossy Point boat launch amid camp owners taking their boats out for the season on the last day of September. Clouds were hanging in the air, but we paddled north to stay warm and had a picnic at the extreme northern section of the lake. We were careful not to hurl ourselves over the LaChute falls - which is redundant in French...

We followed the eastern shore south through calm waters and extremely low boat traffic to find spectacular views of Roger's Rock and Anthony's Nose. I explored Turtle Islands only to find a disgusting pile of guano and not a single turtle.

On the return trip, we admired Cook Mountain which we have climbed on multiple occasions. It was a great day on the clear waters of Lake George.

Opalescent

It was the last weekend before Labor Day and we planned to take a trip that had been on the list all summer, which was a trip up the Opalescent River from its confluence with the Hudson in Tahawus. We brought our Hornbeck boats and spent the afternoon transitioning between paddling and dragging our boats behind us as we walked through the river. We had great views and wonderful solitude as we paddled and picnicked our way up and down the river for a seven-mile trip.

In the evening, we had a picnic dinner at Overlook Park in Newcomb.

The next day, we took the guide boat for a row on Rich Lake in Newcomb and managed to dodge most of the raindrops for the day. We spent the rest of the day at the cabin reading and relaxing!

Long Lake

For one of our last ventures of the summer, we first packed our guide boat and headed to Long Lake for an overnight. We headed north from the launch and found a great campsite on an unnamed island to the south of Round Island. We unpacked gear and rowed north on the Lake, enjoying the mountain views in the distance until we took a break at a beach near Camp Islands. We rowed back to our campsite and spent the evening enjoying the sunset while listening to drumbeats from across the lake.

In the morning, we packed up gear and rowed back to the launch, but then continued rowing south of the bridge and back to the beach for a picnic. We celebrated the trip and the end of summer with malts at Scoops in Newcomb.

Indian Pass

We have been traveling around the Adirondacks for roughly two weeks and this post is intended to catch up on our travels.

Our first venture into the blue line was during the Northeast's longest heatwave in recorded history. With the mercury rising above ninety for a full week and the humidity heading into the 80s and 90s as well it was time to head to camp. We spent four days in Atwell, mostly bobbing around in the lake and canoeing and sailing when we got a chance. It was a great way to cool off in the heat and we had some great times with family.

Once the heatwave snapped, we headed to the Orchard for a day of farm chores followed by an evening paddle on Lake Champlain to the bridge.

Then we headed to Newcomb where we quickly unpacked and headed to Henderson Lake for an evening paddle. We met an interesting couple from Moriah and chatted with them while admiring the view of Wallface and Indian Pass.

Our first hike was into OK Slip Falls, one of the tallest in the Adirondacks. The trail was an easy meander to the impressive view and much to our surprise (despite the dry weather) there was water running over the edge. We ate our lunch while admiring the view before making the trek out.

In the afternoon, we headed to Cedar River Flow. We were quite sure that the road was not correct as it seemed to be taking us up a mountain but we ended up in the right destination. We found a secluded area for camping and paddling that we will come back to explore. The northern section of the pond was navigable but we couldn't venture into the southern part of the pond due to the heavy winds. We will be back to finish our exploration of Cedar River Flow.

Without taking the boats off the car for the evening, we headed to South Pond the next morning. It had always been an option for a day trip but we had never been. We were pleasantly surprised to find an area with few motorboats (only camp owners) and many interesting islands to explore. We watched the skies for potential thunderstorms but explored the entire shoreline before heading back when it started to sprinkle.

Our final day in Newcomb was spent on a hike that we had been intending to do for years...Indian Pass from Upper Works. We had read horror stories about the muddy scrambles in this pass and in a wetter season we could easily see them being true. However this season has been so dry that we were able to hop over most of the mud and enjoy the house sized boulders when we entered the pass. There were many caves that demanded exploration and we enjoyed this hike unlike any other in the Adirondacks. We ate our lunch under Wallface Mountain while admiring the view of the Santinoni Range and Henderson Lake to our south. Despite the stories, we would be glad to do this one again!

Burgess Island

For the first time, we made a second trip to Lake George before the summer deluge began. We went with Tom and Amy, as well as Ben and Maya (!) for their first island camping adventure. After loafing (packing the boats) at the Washington County Beach for a few hours, we eventually unpacked on Burgess Island to set up camp. The kids seemed to have skinned knees and splinters immediately...

We spent the days swimming and paddling. The kids really enjoyed the stiff north wind that afforded them the opportunity to crash around in the water. They also discovered two pirate coves on the island which were fortunately unoccupied.

The only unexpected swim of the trip was when Lisa dropped the walkie talkie off the dock into about six feet of water.  Luckily, Lake George is beautifully clear and she was able to retrieve it with a refreshing dip, a kayak paddle and some fancy footwork.  After a day of drying out the walkie talkie is back online.

On the final morning of the trip, we paddled to "turtle cove," our nickname for a small bay in the Harbor Islands. We were glad to see four big turtles sunning themselves that morning. We paddled around to see the Franciscan Chapel before packing out.

It was a great bonus trip, but now we won't be on Lake George until after Labor Day weekend...

Lake George

With three nice days forecasted before the release of students from the New York school system, we headed for our annual island camping trip on Lake George. We launched at the Northwest Bay Brook access loaded with gear and paddled down the bay with the wind at our backs. Being a Sunday afternoon, there was some boat traffic but not nearly the deluge that would take over the lake in another week...

After turning around Montcalm Point (or Not Calm Point as Lisa calls it) we headed into a stiff wind for the last mile to Juanita Island. We somehow managed to set up our tents without them blowing away and waited to register our campsite for the next day so that we could rest our weary arms. We enjoyed the scenery and enjoyed a campfire that night while the sun set.

The wind continued through the night and started to abate a bit the next morning. We scarfed down a delicious Lake George breakfast before getting ready to paddle for the day. There were still some whitecaps but we managed to register our site on Glen Island where the ranger informed us that we were not alone on Juanita Island, there were nesting eagles above us. We had already noticed the signs, and had been looking for them already.

We paddled north to Paradise Bay where we saw dozens of turtles as well as a fierce looking set of ducks. We snacked a bit while enjoying the protected bay before heading south into Rock Bay for lunch. We continued to follow the shoreline south, exploring all the nooks and crannies until we ended up at the same latitude as our campsite. On our return to the island, the eagles put on a great show for us, popping out of the nest. The mature eagles were there too. Lisa snapped enough pictures that the camera seems to now be broken...good work.

We made some stew over the fire and watched the Mohican cruise by before heading to bed for a much less breezy night than the previous one.

We bid adieu to the beautiful scenery the next morning as we packed our gear into our kayak holds and paddled back into Northwest Bay. We let the now shifted wind blow us back to our destination while enjoying the views and wildlife along the way. It was another successful trip to Lake George...now everyone else can use it for the summer.

St. Regis

With a decent stretch of weather forecasted we decided to strap our boats on the car and head to St. Regis Canoe Area to explore some of the backcountry ponds that we had yet to see. Lisa, Tom and I met Jeff and Lisa Cornell at the foot of Little Clear Pond and shoved off, intending to camp on St. Regis Pond for two nights.

The first carry, despite being fairly short was brutal. We had not yet figured out proper weight distribution and we made it to the river landing huffing and rubbing our shoulders and wrists. Launching boats went smoothly except for one member of our party who took the first swim of the trip unexpectedly...

We found a campsite on the southeastern corner of the lake with a great view of St. Regis Mountain and we set up camp quickly before spending the rest of the afternoon exploring the shoreline of St. Regis Pond. We particuarly enjoyed the views from a small hidden bay on the eastern edge of the pond.

The next day we ate big breakfasts and got ready to explore some of the furthest reaches of the canoe area. We carried from St. Regis Pond to Ochre Pond then to Fish Pond, Little Long Pond and Lydia Pond. On the return trip we paddled Little Long Pond, Little Fish Pond, Fish Pond, Mud Pond, Ochre Pond and followed the west branch of the St. Regis River rather than carrying back to St. Regis Pond. We were tired! But enjoyed the increasing solitude that came with each portage.

On the final day, we made a much more successful carry with our gear back to Little Clear Pond and capped off the adventure with a trip to Donnelly's Ice Cream stand where we went through the line three two times! It was a fantastic trip.

County Line Flow

With Hornbeck Boats car-topped, we headed to County Line flow to paddle one of the most innocuous sounding locales in the Adirondack Park. The access was easy and despite having to pull-off one leech, it was an easy access.

The flow offered a great view of Kempshall Mountain and despite being surrounded by private land to the north and route 28N not far to the south, had a feeling of solitude. We followed the shoreline, electing not to try to take our boats over the dam. Turning to the west, we found the inlet to the flow and followed Fishing Brook north as far as we could. The windy brook was lovely and although we found ourselves getting around two beaver dams, the third forced us to turn around.

This was a perfect spot for a morning paddle - plenty of solitude due to a boring sounding name. We like it that way.

Long Lake

With a slight window of halfway decent weather for a day, we packed up the car and headed for Long Lake. We headed south, watching sea planes take-off and land among the busy area around the bridge. Ben couldn't resist the beach and convinced Tom to paddle there so that he could swim. Lisa and I continued south to the end of the lake, enjoying the relative calm to the busy launch.

After meeting back up on the return trip, we headed to Hoss's for some ice cream before returning to the cabin in Newcomb.

With questionable weather the next day, we snuck in a walk to the Sananoni farm complex between thunderstorms. We ate our lunch in the creamery before our walk out and a stop for ice cream and donuts at Scoops and Kelly's Farm Stand respectively.