October 9, 2010 Nick's Lake

We traveled up to the Old Forge area today. We went to Nick's Lake. There is camping, hiking & boating available there. We bought a day use pass and headed for the beach, where we launched our boats. Today we kayaked with Doug, Cindy, Gary & Sharon.

The weather was beautiful. We were a little concerned on our drive up there. All of the lakes we drove by had significant waves. Nick's Lake had quite a bit of protection, so lucky for us we didn't have the waves & white caps we had see driving in. The air was warm in the sun and fairly cool in the shadows. We didn't see any ducks, loons or deer as we had hoped we might. :-(

The trees were quite pretty. Many were past peak color though. In some areas you could see lots of color mixed in with evergreens and trees that had already lost leaves.

We saw this pile of rocks with a stick in the middle. Don't know what that was all about.

There were a lot of little coves to paddle in. The Lake was larger than we first thought when we looked at it from the beach area.


Sharon, Gary, Tim & Cindy

There were some areas that were very sunny. The water looked very sparkly as the sun shone across it.



Sparkly water

 When we circled back around towards the beach we went under a bridge and into a pond area. There was a sign that said it was a safe area. This meant that there was no shooting allowed in that area... good to know!



Tim at the Bridge

 Apparently there is a path around the lake for hikers. The bridge was a part of that path. There were quite a few people hiking today.


Nance under the Bridge

 This may have been our last trip for the year, but if weather holds up we may get out again! If not, see you in 2011 !

October 3, 2010 Henderson Lake

This was another trip planned by Doug Galpin. We all met in the parking lot at the Tahawus Preserve to kayak on Henderson Lake. There is a short portage to get from the parking lot to the lake. We got our wheels out and double staked our kayaks for the walk. Tim took the front and I took the back. Megan walked in with Doug.

Meg- suited up and ready to go!



Doug & Megan portage in

Once we launched we headed out towards the center of the lake and then headed to the left. We  stayed fairly close to shore as we paddled. The group this weekend was: Tim, me, Megan, Doug & Cindy, Gary & Sharon, Patty S., Eileen, her son & his girlfriend. It was a nice size group.
The wind picked up a little and so did the waves before we reached the end of the lake. Tim stopped and put his spray skirt on to keep the water out of his boat.



Tim paddles through

The scenery was beautiful. Most of the trees had turned and were close to peak color. We tucked in and out of small coves to get out of the wind and the waves and allow everyone to catch up and stay together.



The group

 We paddled for several hours; enjoying the scenery & the company. We didn't see much wildlife this trip- just a duck or two. There were a lot of hikers though. The parking lot was full of cars, and we didn't pass any other boats on the lake. As the season gets later, we see fewer and fewer kayakers.



Meg & Nance wait for the others in a calm cove

We hope to get one more trip in before we hang up the boats for the winter. The air & water are getting colder and the days are getting shorter. Here are a few more pictures to enjoy from our day.




Megan

 

Tim



Such a beautiful view!



October 2, 2010 Harrisburg Lake a.k.a. Mud Lake

On Saturday October 2nd Tim & I headed to Harrisburg Lake in Warren County. Last Fall Tim, his dad Art and his brother Tom went for a drive up there. Art wanted to show the lake to Tim to see if it was a place we might like to try kayaking. To get there you drive up Rt. 9N through Corinth and into Luzerne. Turn left just past the High School (onto Bay Rd. ?), go left over the Bridge, up the hill and then right onto Harrisburg Road at the Hadley General Store. This 11 mile road dead ends at Harrisburg Lake.

                                                          Tim in cold weather gear

The Lake is split by the road. Since there were already some people (duck hunters) at the section on the left of he road; we decided to paddle on the right side. (besides I wasn't wearing Camo, so I would have felt out of place). This section is pretty shallow and is much smaller.

                                                              Nance with fall leaves

We headed out and were glad to see how clear the water was. You could easily see the bottom and the leaves that had settled there. It was pretty.

                                                                         Leaves

                                                  
We found a beaver dam that was pretty long. The water was flowing over the top of it in a few areas. I am always amazed by the work the beavers do. The dams are so secure. I am also disappointed by the limits they put on us when we are kayaking. There are many dams that you can't paddle over. As at Harrisburg Lake, you can't go any further because there is no place to step out and carry your boat around the dam.

Beaver Dam

This lake had many piles of "mud" scattered about the water. There seems to be no rhyme or reason for them. We had to paddle around them and between them. At one point Tim was going to hit one, so he used his paddle to push away from it and his paddle just went into it like it was hollow. We spent a lot of time wondering about them.

                                                                   Random Mud Piles

There were also a number of stumps at one section of the lake. We wondered a lot about those as well. I haven't been able to find much information about this lake except for the fact that the Pickerel fishing is good!

                                                                   Random stumps

There are several islands in this section of Harrisburg Lake; including this tiny one. Two trees, and one of them blew over!

                                                      Tim paddles past the 2 trees island

Almost every tree along the shoreline that had fallen over; fell towards land and not into the water... interesting.

We had a nice paddle and would like to return to see what the lake at the left side of the road is like.

September 24, 2010 Stewart Pond with Erin

On Friday September 24th we borrowed a kayak from our friend Doug for our daughter Erin to use. We took her to Stewart Pond. We were hoping to be able to show her the bald eagle that we had seen earlier in the summer. we set off with high hopes. The weather was beautiful, so no matter what, it was going to be a good paddle.

We paddled out to the point where we had seen the eagle before. We looked carefully in the trees and on the ground. We didn't see the eagle, so we continued toward the dam. The trees were beautiful. There were many that were near peak color.

We had the lake to ourselves. It was great. No boats or waves to contend with! We had a nice leisurly paddle. We searched for the eagle again on our way back to the launch. I guess we were there at the wrong time of day. No eagle sighting. :-(

When we got back to the launch we sat and had some lunch. Erin had fun feeding a squirrel. He ate one piece of bread and then hid one piece of bread up in a tree. After lunch we headed back home. We had a nice day with Erin. It's nice when the kids want to spend the day with us on the water!

September 18, 2010 Guyanoga Creek off Keuka Lake

Tim and I drove out to Phelps, NY to spend the weekend with Dave & Kathie Clark; Jason's in-laws. We get along great with them and try to spend time with them when ever we have a chance. We drove out on Friday after work and sat around the fire pit swapping stories that night. It was very nice. Saturday morning we got up and went out for breakfast. We headed to the Keuka Lake area. We put our boats in at the Guyanoga Creek boat launch.

We paddled along the creek until we came to a fork in the creek. We decided to go to the right. It was a nice paddle. The water was shallow, but very negotiable. Tim, as usual, enjoyed paddling under some downed trees.

                                                           Tim goes under a fallen tree


We paddled until there were too many branches down and we couldn't go any farther.
We turned and went back the other way. This didn't get us very far either. The water got very shallow. We headed back to the launch and then out to Keuka Lake. We passed an observation tower where people can bird watch. Access is from a path near the boat launch.

Dave and Kathie have their pontoon boat and houseboat at a marina on Keuka Lake. We paddled over there to see them. They were gettng things ready for our ride down the lake.

We had a short paddle, but we enjoyed our trip. Next time we head out that way we would like to paddle near the Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge. 

                                                         Cathy & Dave at the House Boat

September 10-12, 2010 Middle Saranac Lake

Well, we finally did it! After about 15 years of no camping, we not only went camping this weekend... we went kayak camping! Back in the day, we used to go to Indian Lake and paddle our canoe full of gear out to the islands for a weekend in the woods with our family &/or friends. We had ONE perfect trip as far as weather was concerned. After that almost all other camping trips we ever took were almost guaranteed rain. Tim was convinced he was cursed and the camping trips stopped.

The group we kayak with has little by little gotten Tim interested again. He's been online researching all sorts of camping gear. The trip was all planned and site reservations made. Now we had to be able to pack whatever we needed into the hatches on our kayaks: tent, sleeping mats, sleeping bags, food, etc. We headed out on Friday morning and headed for Middle Saranac Lake. The 10 of us arrived at the boat launch and packed up our boats and headed for our sites.

Some of our gear

We went down a channel that opened into Middle Saranac Lake. The weather was holding in spite of the dark clouds over head. The waves were small and we were able to paddle across the lake without any trouble. Once we reached the other side we went down a channel that lead us to Weller Pond. As we paddled through I noticed that the trees on the shore looked like they had been trimmed along the bottom edge. Some of us think that maybe deer trim the bottom branches, but not sure.

Paddling Middle Saranac

Channel to Weller Pond

We paddled across Weller Pond and left Doug, Cindy, Patty, Victor, Cindy & nephew Alec at their site on Tick Island. Gary, Sharon, Tim & I had to continue on past Tock Island to our site, # 85. We had a nice set of stairs leading up from the shore to the camp site. We got our tents all set up and then looked for fire wood. We had a beautiful view looking out over Weller Pond.

Tim gets us set up

We went over to Tick Island for dinner. We each had a nice freeze dried meal. Mmn Mmn. Tim had Spaghetti with meat sauce and I had Beef Stroganoff. They were pretty good. (No room in a kayak for a grill and pans for cooking).

View from Our Camp Site

We paddled back to our site before dark and went to bed at 8:15! It was dark and we were tired, so why not?

Saturday morning you couldn't even see the water. It was so foggy out! We fixed breakfast. Have you ever had freeze dried scrambled eggs with bacon? Don't. After Tim had a taste, we tossed them and had a bagel with peanut butter instead.

Me on Friday night

Alec, Doug, Cindy & Chris

The fog cleared and Gary sounded his chicken call. We paddled over to Tick Island to meet the group for our day trip. We were heading for Lower Saranac. We went out the channel that connected Weller Pond to Middle Saranac. As we made our way across the lake I paddled directly over a large rock just below the surface. I didn't tip over, but it left a nice scratch across the bottom of my boat. Ouch.

Saturday morning

Tim has breakfast

Once in the channel to Lower Saranac we saw a Bald Eagle soaring above us. I wasn't able to get a picture, but Cindy did and will get me a copy. What a beautiful bird! We arrived a the manual lock and loaded in. Gary stayed out to operate the lock for us. Once in we held on to ropes to steady our boats while the water level dropped. Gary let us out of the lock and met us on the other side.

In the lock

We paddled a short distance into Lower Saranac Lake and spotted a nice sandy beach. It looked like a nice place for lunch, so that's where we went. We "parked" our boats on the shore and ate, explored and waded in the water. It was a very nice camp site. A short time later we headed back to our sites. You couldn't have asked for a nicer paddle. We were probably gone about 4 1/2 hours.

Lunch time

Sunday morning we packed up and headed out. The weather had taken a turn for the worse. Wind & waves had both picked up. Thank God our boats were loaded and had some extra weight in them. It was a much tougher paddle. We fought each wave and the wind as we headed across the lake. Tim & I headed for Ship Island to catch a break from the waves for a little bit. As we approached we heard a loud screech and watched a beautiful Bald Eagle fly out from the Island and fly away. What a great view we had. Again, no picture. The waves meant that my camera was secured under my spray skirt. Darn!

Nancy

Once we got back to the boat launch we packed up and headed out. It was a good weekend. Tim is ready to buy a new tent and will camp again!

Saturday afternoon

Alec, Cindy, Patty, Victor, Chris

Monday September 6, 2010 Hudson River

Sign at the gate

Today we started out from the boat launch at Richardson Street near the Feeder Canal in Glens Falls. We put the boats in near the dam and paddled towards the boat launch at Big Boom Road where we paddled last weekend. We decided to paddle this direction so that we would have an easier paddle on the way back; wind and current going with us.

Boat Launch at Richardson Street

The river split right away and we stayed to the right side.The water temperature was nice and there wasn't too much wind either. As we paddled along we noticed a lot of trees sticking up in the water. We were really curious why there were so many. You had to be careful not to hit the tops of the shorter stumps, as the waves kept them somewhat hidden.



We saw a Heron walking along the shore. He was funny. His beak was always open. Don't know if he was fishing or just walking around. As usual we scared him off.

Heron along the shore

In this area of the river there were a lot of piles of rocks that looked like little islands. A few of them even had a tree on them. A man at his dock told us what the piles had been used for years ago. Cables were strung between the piles of rocks to catch the logs floating down the river. Apparently they were sorted according to their final destination or use. The logs would be across the entire river and be about 20 feet high. It was very interesting to hear about.

Tim approaches the "rock islands"

Shortly after this we turned back. We were meeting Megan back at the launch after her bike ride to Lake George. We'll have to do this stretch again when we have enough time to go from launch to launch.

Piles of rocks

Some of the rock piles

End of another trip