Finally Back to Blogging (I hope!)

Hello everyone!  I want to thank those of you who have followed me in the past, and I hope you'll continue to read, and hang in there with me.  Life has thrown some curves and some mountains in our way but we're carrying on...   My husband is not able to kayak this season, at least not yet.  I've been able to paddle just 3 times so far this year with our daughter.  It has been a great stress-reliever, and Brody is ALWAYS ready to go!

I promise to finish up later with Taylorville Pond from the last time I blogged.  But wanted to share a few more recent photos instead for this post.

Here is Brody.  Remember this guy?  He still enjoys kayaking as much as I do!  He looks so serious here.  He may have been watching for my daughter who was behind us taking photos of her own.
Brody's still our navigator and usually faces forward in my kayak.  He turned 5 years old in January and is still as active and excitable as most Boston Terriers!

Our first paddle of the year came very late, but it sure felt good to get out on the water.  We chose the Black River since it's the closest to us and we didn't have a lot of time.  It was a perfect late morning in June. 

 Brody likes to keep an eye on our daughter.  As she went ahead of us, he was happier and went back to facing forward as he usually does.  The pine pollen was very thick this year as you can see by the water lines on the rocks in the photo below.  Also, it made many areas of the slow-moving river appear "dirty" in my photos due to all the pollen floating on top!

I want to thank one of my blog readers for contacting me recently and letting me know that they enjoy my blog, use it to find places to paddle, and asked if all was well.  I have been so busy with work and doctor appointments for my husband, etc. that blogging just fell by the way-side.  I missed writing and sharing our kayaking adventures, and the message just reminded me of that.  I would also like to thank a good friend who has been a huge supporter, especially of my creative endeavors-- photography, writing, music...  it is very much appreciated!  

I know this is a short post, but I wanted to write something, share a bit of our first paddle with you, and thank you all for reading.  I hope you have all had a great season of paddling so far! yXp

I'll leave you with another photo of Brody as the navigator on the Black River.

 

 Happy Paddling!

Francis Lake 2015, Part 2

 
Above is Brody, enjoying Francis Lake as we paddled around.  He is not wearing his Doggles and had no interest in them on this day.  He is often very good about keeping them on, and at other times is not so good about it!



And below, Brody in his position as navigator.  This photo was taken in the shallow area past the esker, and out of order... in fact, so is the one above.

Here is Brody looking so intent!  I have a feeling he's watching my daughter.  Look at that face!  He is such a cutie and is always good in the kayak!

This is a view of the esker, on the left, as seen from the shallow northeastern lobe of the lake.

Brody interested in some lily pads just out of the frame. Don't you wonder what he's thinking?

My daughter is approaching the esker.  It's a pretty spot except when the bugs are thick.  There is a place to camp, and even an outhouse. 

The trail up from the water can be seen through the trees in this photo. It's a pretty walk and you can see parts of the main lake, and all of the northeastern lobe from the esker.  The landing spot is a bit tricky depending on the water level.  I think the higher water makes it more difficult to get out as there is less of a flat area, but it is possible, and is pretty simple in lower water level conditions.

An iconic BRODY photo as we head toward the main part of the lake...

My daughter, back on the the main part of the lake.

 

Out of the northeastern lobe, past the esker, the wind had picked up quite a bit, as you can see by the waves in this photo of my daughter paddling.  The breeze was good for keeping the black flies and mosquitoes away.

Brody was interested in the waves, but with the wind picking up in the afternoon, we decided it was time to head back to the put-in/take-out.

On the way back, as the wind increased, we took a quick detour to the area off the main lake on the western side.  It is not as protected as the northeastern lobe and not as shallow, but the rocks give it some character.

We didn't linger since the wind was gusting at times, making our progress slow.  I put my camera away after this shot and we paddled back, happy to have spent a few hours on Francis Lake!

If you are interested in Francis Lake, please use the "search" feature for my blog and you will find a number of posts concerning this pretty lake.  It is one of our favorites for 3 reasons:  It isn't big, so it's great for a few hours of paddling, but has enough nooks and crannies that you could spend most of a day here if you felt like it.  It is not a long drive from our home (though that is relative... we live in a sparcely populated area, so an hour is "not a long drive.")  And it is a quiet lake which only allows electric motors, so we share the water with small fishing boats, canoes and kayaks, and usually there aren't many of them!

Thanks for reading.  I hope you are all enjoying the summer.  For my fellow kayakers, I hope all of you are enjoying lots of great days paddling!    Happy Kayaking!

Raquette River, Part 2

Welcome back to the Raquette River!  Here is Brody, watching the riverbank's shadows in case there is a duck to be found.  He's panting just a bit because by the time we got on the water, the sun had warmed the air to a comfortable 72 degrees or so and felt much warmer with the sun's rays beating down on us.

As I mentioned in part one, we're paddling downstream from Axton Landing.  The river has a gentle flow most of the time.  There are lots of twists and turns with some spots that are extremely quiet-- the current is negligent in these areas.

Brody likes to keep an eye on his daddy, as is evident in this photo:

I took so many photos on this trip due to the brilliant colors and the backdrop of the blue sky.  It was not only a perfect day for paddling, but a perfect day for photography!

The tree in the middle of the photo caught my attention as we paddled by.  The large bottom branch/trunk is so sinuous, it's snake-like.

As we passed this grassy area, I imagined the tree standing guard to the entrance of a side-passage.  Some of the branches looked as if they were waiting for someone to enter, at which time the would raise the barrier higher.

This close-up photo gives you a better idea:

I may not have mentioned that we use a paddler's map for some of our kayaking trips.  It is helpful when there are a lot of side-channels or any carries for rapids, etc.  Although we try to plan trips where carries aren't necessary.  It's also nice to know how much progress (or lack of it) we've made on a trip.   We use the Adirondack Paddler's Map for Canoe & Kayak Travel.  It is a detailed waterproof map. It shows the northern areas of the Adirondack Park and its waterways.  It is very handy for finding primitive campsites that are only accessible by water.  We used it on this trip to find an unoccupied campsite.  (Yes, there were people camping here in October. We saw one bow hunter at his campsite.)  The primitive campsites are, well, primitive.  But we like to use them for our picnic lunches.  We had to pass by several occupied sites before we came to the site we where we stopped.  This is the tranquil area just before we stopped for lunch.  The campsite is in the middle of the photo where it's lightest along the water's edge (sandy.)

I'm not sure how I got a photo of Brody NOT looking at his daddy!  There had to be something quite interesting to our right-- but I don't remember what.

 This photo of my husband shows the nice gradual sandy bank at the campsite. 

 

The site itself was up from the river bank.  Isn't it a pretty spot?

We spread our "Neat Sheet" on the pine needles and opened up our cooler for our lunch.  You'd think Brody was looking for a treat from our sandwiches in the photo below, but he wasn't.  He heard chipmunks all around us in the pine trees.  His attention was more focused on them than our food!  BUT that doesn't mean he didn't take a bite of chicken when it was offered!!

I'll end this post with another tranquil shot of the river from the campsite.

Join me soon for part 3 of Raquette River.  And happy kayaking to those of you in the south!  Most  of us in the northern areas (unless we have dry suits and like being out in the cold) have resigned ourselves to the fact that kayaking season is over and winter is on its way.  (Our temp. 2 mornings ago was 18 degrees!)  I'll be continuing to blog over the long, cold winter months.  I have tons of photos and many locations that I haven't yet blogged about.  I am looking forward to sharing them with you.

 

West, Canada and Lily Lakes, Part 3

Welcome back to part 3, the last installment of our adventures on West, Canada and Lily Lakes.

 Here is Brody, below, checking out the scenery on pretty Lily Lake.

On the southern bank in one area of Lily Lake, the woods were right up to the water.  I found the bright yellow-green moss growing here intriguing.  I had to investigate to see if the bright color was due to the sunshine in that patch, or if it was really that bright.  Well, the sun IS shining on the moss, but it is still a very vivid, almost neon color.

Dead trees in the water always interest me.  I love trees and hate to seem them down, but their dried "skeletons" have neat shapes.  Sometimes they can even be used to frame other subjects, as in the 2 examples below (sorry-- I know the subject is pretty small-- I actually took both of these without knowing my husband was being framed!)

Brody looks like he has a big head and no body in this shot!  He is also not looking particularly happy.  He really doesn't like to look at me when the camera is hiding my face.  I also did not have a treat handy.  If I had, he would certainly have looked a bit more excited!

There were some pretty marsh areas along the shores of Lily Lake.  Brody is looking for ducks.

Here is another one of Lily Lake when the sun was behind the clouds.  But I love the patterns in the sky, don't you?

The sun is back out in this one, and Brody is looking back at me like I need to get paddling instead of taking more photos!

Going back toward Canada Lake, we cut off some of the corner gong through the reeds.  It's a risky move-- sometimes there is a lot less water than you think!  But this time, we made it with neither one of us getting hung up.

Here is Kane Mountain.  It's tough to see in this photo, but there is a fire tower on top.

I just loved this cloud.  It had such definition from the darker areas.  It looked like someone had taken a cloud sticker and pasted it on the sky.

We've paddled back across a small section of Canada Lake and are now back on West Lake, headed for the put-in.  West Lake's eastern and southern banks are completely wild-- not a camp to be seen.

Yes, I do like clouds.   I couldn't resist taking a photo of them.  As you can see, I was not checking the frame, just trying to get the clouds I wanted a photo of... hence, the tree tops on the bottom.

Below are more of the clouds with the creek flowing into West Lake. 

We enjoyed our time on West, Canada and Lily Lakes.  It was an area we'd never visited by car or kayak.  The mountains in the distance as we paddled back gave us something interesting to look at.  Although it's a busy area with the 3 lakes, we were pleasantly surprised at the quiet and the lack of motor boats in the areas we paddled.  There were speed boats, fishing boats and pontoon boats, but in our few hours of paddling, we encountered only 5 or 6, and once we got on Lily Lake, I think we only encountered a fishing boat and no other motorized ones.

I'll leave you with this last photo of Brody and my husband.  Brody is still searching for ducks and has one eye on his daddy ahead of us.

I hope all of you in the northeast will be able to get in a few more paddles before the weather completely turns.  We managed to get on the water last weekend, but not the one that has just passed-- too rainy. 

Happy Kayaking!

West, Canada and Lily Lakes, Part 1

August was a busy month!  We haven't gotten much kayaking in since the end of July, but we've had a great time visiting our daughter in Michigan and visiting with my husband's brother who came to visit from California.

We had planned to kayak on West, Canada and Lily Lakes a few times but it never worked out.  We made it there this summer, finally.  I have to admit that one of my favorite spots on the entire paddle was the little creek where we put-in, north of West Lake.  Here is the put-in. It is made for trailer-ed boats, so it's not as gradual a slope as we prefer.  But we got in without much trouble.

The creek twisted and wound around before reaching West Lake's northeastern shore.  There was a tiny breeze, but the reflections were still quite visible.

Brody liked this part best also.  He loves the closer shores of creeks and narrow rivers, compared to the openness of lakes.  I think he is some times bored with the expanse of water and far away banks of many lakes.

I forgot to mention that West, Canada and Lily Lakes are in the southern part of the Adirondack Park.  There are no large towns in the area, but it is northeast of Johnstown.

Here is my husband, on his way to West Lake from the creek.  As you can tell, it was a beautiful day!

 
Brody really enjoyed the views, and I enjoyed not only the views but the reflections as well.

After reading about the area, I knew that our favorite type of paddling-- in the wilderness, was not what this destination is about.  There are many camps on Canada Lake, quite a few on the north and western shores of West Lake, and some on Lily Lake.  We crossed West Lake, paddled through a small portion of Canada Lake, and ended up on Lily Lake where we spent most of our paddling time.


As you can tell, Brody was featured quite prominently in my photos of the first part of our trip.  Here he is showing you the southern and western shores of West Lake.

And this is a view looking east from the entrance to West Lake.

We paddled along this peninsula once on Canada Lake.  The peninsula divides the waters between West and Canada Lakes.  Anyone know why these 2 bodies of water are named separately instead of being one bigger lake with one name?  I wonder if it has something to do with the water source?  Or is it just "the way it is"?

After paddling along the peninsula past a number of camps, we arrived on Lily Lake.  And it is full of lily pads, so I see where it got its name!

Since it was a weekend summer day, we did encounter some motor boats.  In the morning there were only a few and most were fisherman who slowed for us and gave a friendly wave.  There were also people outside around their camps puttering around or getting their boats ready for a spin.

Brody watches both lily pads and the shoreline for anything interesting.  He didn't find much except the rock ahead of us,but he was intent, just in case!

I have more photos and descriptions of the area to share with you.  Join me again soon for part II.

Happy Kayaking!