Saranac Canoe Trip Report

“Introduction

The trip's attendees were the Tree Family, minus the Twignut, who opted for a stay in Pennsylvania, Matt and Vicki, our UK friends from across the pond, and their two little one, Jamie (8) and Katie (5).

Chapter 1

We set out from the Island of Staten Thursday AM. Got Maple's 'yak' tied down to the roof, with the other four tons of stuff packed into the car. Set out for Brooklyn, where we were to meet up with Matt and Vicki. After tending to several details, we finally got on the road shortly after noon. Not much traffic getting out of the city, and soon we were on our way to Lake George, where we were to spend the first night. Lake George was beautiful as was the weather this fine day. We arrived the the Lake George Battlefield campground. Well, to say that the sites were a bit close together was a bit of an understatement, but the other people weren't very overbearing and, as long as this wasn't where we were spending the bulk of the weekend, it was suitable. had a good dinner and then we ventured out for a walk to check our the history behind the area. After viewing the monuments, we took a nice walk down by the water checking out the boats and the hundreds of spiders as Mapleleaf went camera crazy with them. I am convinced she no longer takes photos of people, only wildlife and boats!

Chapter 2

We got up fairly early and had breakfast and packed up camp as we had several hours still to drive to Middle Saranac Lake. We arrived up at the canoe outfitters and had to make two trips with our canoes, so that, combined with the registration stop, took some time and by were on the water by midafternoon. Matt and I took the families and some of the gear over to the island in the boats, dropped them there and came back for the rest of the gear. A beautiful afternoon out on the water and the site was absolutely magnificent. What a great spot for a campsite. It's the po' man/woman's way of getting his/her own island! Started a nice fire and got ready to do some really good grillin'. We brought along aome Amaretto, wine, and I made sure I grabbed my Bloody Mary fixin's off the Tree bar before I left (shaker and all). What a nice night. We were treated to one of the most picturesque sunsets I have ever seen. Hope they come out well when I do the pictures.

Chapter 3

Woke up early Saturday morning to start getting breakfast ready as we had a long day of paddling ahead. When we set out, our son, Land Stalker, took Maple's kayak out for his first solo. Matt and Vicki took Jamie in theirs and we took little Katie in our canoe. Packed up a nice bag lunch and set out towards Lower Saranac Lake. The day appeared to be picture perfect weather-wise and the ride was so enjoyable. Land Stalker did over 4 miles on his own. He did a great job! Not bad for a first time. His hands got a little tired so we towed him after getting through the lock halfway up the estuary between the two lakes. After completing what I believe was around 6 miles to Devils' Pulpit on Lower Saranac, we stopped and all got out on this big rock and had our lunch. Matt decided to walk to the land on this wobbly log, but made it and went up about 80 feet to get a quick view from the top. At this point, the weather was looking like it was taking a turn for the worse, so we decided we better high-tail it back to Middle Saranac. No sooner than we boarded the boats, it started to rain on us. Maple and I looked at eah other and had similar thoughts of a year ago, when we paddled Middle SL, two miles into very high winds and extremely choppy water. Well, it didn't disappoint. Maple and the Tree were not getting away for a return trip through the same route unscathed this year either. The rain turned into a downpour as we all donned our parkas and raingear. We paddled a little ways into the estuary and then the lightening and thunder cracked very close together. We went to the shore, not wanting to stay in the middle of the lake or go into the trees on land. We figured that staying by the edge might just be about the safest position considering we were at a pretty cruddy vantage point here. Well, the storm moved out fairly quickly and the thunder and lightening stopped about 15 minutes later, but the downpour ensued as we braved through it, trying to at least reach the lock. It wasn't until we went about 3-4 miles before the rain let up and the sun tried to peek through. Luckily, when we reached Middle Saranac, it wasn't choppy like when Maple and I went through last year( we literally almost got blown out of the water). However, we did have a bit of a headwind, so we were not out of the woods yet. So, wet and waterlogged, we went back to camp to see what devastation was wrought on our tents. Fortunately, we took some precautions before leaving and there was minimal damage to our possessions. Matt and Vicki's tent got a bit of water as they were not far from a grading near where they pitched. We we also greeted by Jack Canine and his friend, Wayne, upon our arrival. They were up by St. Regis for several days and we arranged for them to join us the last night on the island. We got into some dry clothes and set up a fire, drank some Bloody Marys, etc. and had a nice meal. Just some good campfire conversation on tap for that night and then all turned in.

Epilogue

Day 4 was simply breakfast, packing and transporting materials back to shore. But, alas, this was not done without a bit of adventure. Our first trip off, we took the families (Jack and Wayne had left already) and some gear. The weather looked like it could turn at any minute and it was a bit windy and overcast, so we didn't waste any time getting off the island. The ride over wasn't too bad, just a bit of a headwind. We dropped everyone and the gear off and Matt and I went right back to the island. Well, I couldn't believe that the choppiness had kicked up in the water so rapidly in just a few scant minutes. We struggled, even with the wind at our back, as the water became rougher and rougher to manage. We got back to the island, packed in the rest of the gear and really had to dig it out getting to the mainland. It just didn't want to let us go without a fight. The weather from the day before appealed to our sense of adventure and Matt and I were sort of enjoying this, but not quite as much as enjoying it in retrospect. The rest of the day consisted of returning canoes, dropping off garbage, eating lunch and a seven hour trip back to our respective homes in the city.

Some pics to follow later!”

“Nice trip! Looking forward to seeing your pictures.”

“I am not posting on this thread until you post on the Dolly Sods thread.




Okay, so I will....
Thanks for the report. Sounded like you had lot of fun. I can picture maple going "spider" crazy...if it's anything like the bird fetish she has....oh boy!!!

AND...didnt' I tell yall not to drink so much?? j/k”

“You guys have all the luck on the high seas.

Was it one of those storms where you had to yell to communicate?”

“Hum. I was in the Southern ADKs (Great Sacandaga Lake) and we only got about 5 minutes of rain on Friday night. Amazing how different the weather patterns are in the mountains.”

“Gem, I was posting on the Sods site about when you were posting here. Of course, I probably started before you did, as several hundred pictures take a while to go through! :)


LZ, it seems that the differences start when you get into the high peaks. Once we got down yesterday, it calmed down. Up there, I thought the wind was going to take Maple's kayak, straps and all, and send it flying to Kansas (somewhere over the rainbow).

Yeah, Mark-O, communication wasn;t at it's best at that time!”

“Yeah the weather in the High Peaks tends to be completely different than the rest of the state.”

“That storm was pretty intense for a while. Gotta give kudos to those kids, though. They really braved it out rather well! Poor little Jamie got kinda scared during the lightening and thunder phase, but hey, I was feeling a bit apprehensive at the time. I could imagine what an eight year old was feeling like!”

“It's definitely no fun being out on a boat during weather like that.”

“In some ways I think it's worse than being above treeline when hit by such storms.”

“The choice was either, stay out in the middle of the estuary, go to the shore where there a a slight overhang of trees, or go on shore under the trees. I chose the middle one. It seemed the safest, which isn't saying much!”

“Maybe Mapes should trade in some of her fleet on a submarine.”

“Dang, Geo, I think you have a great idea there! Hell, I could even set up a bar in it...”

“We all live in a yellow submarine
yellow submarine
yellow submarine”

“GIVE ME PHOTOS, OR GIVE ME DEATH!”

“Bar??

Is it really smart to get pissed in a submarine?”

“Who played Gilligan?

Sounds like a goooood time! Waiting on the pics. I don't see any pottymouth posts, did ya leave her up there ?!?”

“where are the pictures? i'm too lazy to read your long azzz trip report :)

all i want to know is - did you have great time? did Maple sprinkle peanuts around your tent?”

“Oh no, treebeard returned without Maple.”

“We had a wonderful time. The storm gave the trip a little touch of adventure that it needed. The pics are still on the camera at home. Will work on them tonight...”

“Yeah, where is Pottymouth?”

“Maple's got the back-to-work blues today. Boss may be keeping her busy, so...”

“That's just wrong!”

“Great trip report. Can't wait to see the pictures.”

“Hopefully, there's more than just pictures of spiders and birds. Maple had the camera... :)”

“Did you do any fishing?”

“No, Zac. We didn't. Kinda wish I had brought some gear though. The ranger told me the island was a good fishing spot...”

“Too bad, I've heard Saranac has good bass fishing. Oh well sounds like you had plenty of other things that kept you occupied.”

“Can't wait to see the pictures and read Mapes' version of the trip report!”

“The XXX trip report.”

“Any one-eyed trout in Saranac?”

“Fun trip report, waiting for the pic's!!!!”

“Wow, those sunset pictures are awesome.”

“Great pics! Looks like a good time was had!”

“What have you done with maple?”

“Her computer at work has been messed up all week. So, she hasn't been in posting mode as a result. She should be back on soon.”

“Great Gawd, Poor Mapes must be turning the air blue, cussing out the computer and the geeks!”

“Something like that, Geo!”

“The sunset pix were GREAT!
I had to laugh at the 'rough Stu' pix. ;-)”

“SS, when I saw it as a thumbnail, at first, I was wondering who the hell that is!”

“treebeard - If I had seen you on a street corner like that, I would have given you a dollar. ;-)

Mapes - Dang it woman! You have a home computer!”

“LOl I am still alive.

did tree tell you how he thought he was drinking a cup of water the first night we were on the island?

it realy was vodka. he got pretty buzzed. it was funny

we had a blast. cant wait to go again. the storm did get scary but everyone remained calm.
I was so proud of our son. he did 4 miles of solo kayaking for the first time. he wants one, so i was talking to the outfitter and he said to give him a call at the end of Aug. he might be able to hook us up.
the sunset pics are mind blowing. i could have stayed there all night taking pics.”

“That's some damn good vodka.”

“I forgot about the vodka! I poured a couple jiggers into a shaker with some ice (making a Bloody Mary) and then stopped and had to tend to a few things. When I came back ten or fifteen minutes later, I looked at the ice and thought that was water from melting. So, I downed it fast and then realized it was wud-ka! You had to be there, I guess!”