Long Pond and Round Pond, 2013, part two

Welcome back to part two of Long and Round Ponds!  Here is Brody, checking out the inlet to Round Pond, which is one of the branches of the Oswegatchie River.

The water was much higher than it normally is when we've paddled here in the past.  There is a swift water area which is indicated by the ripples in the photo below.  The water is usually shallow and the passage has lots of big rocks, making it impossible to paddle.

This time we thought we might be able to make it.  We both began paddling hard and made it most of the way up due to the higher water level.  But there were still a few extremely shallow and sandy areas that stopped my husband.  He decided to turn around rather than get out and pull his kayak through.  I continued on until I reached an area that was deep enough, but the passageway was narrow due to some large rocks.  The current kept throwing me back into a rock and prevented me from making anymore headway.  Since I had spent several long minutes making progress, I decided to get out and pull Brody through the last 15 feet that I couldn't paddle.

I was hoping to find a long stretch of quiet water, and if I had, my husband could have pulled through the shallow area and joined me.  As it was, there was only about 50 feet of calm water before another section of swift and shallow water, as shown near the bend in the river in the photo below.

So, I turned around and let the current take me back down to where my husband was waiting below the swift section in his red kayak.

Here are a couple of cute shots I was able to get of Brody:

We paddled back the way we had come, on our way to Round Pond from the inlet.  As I said in part one, it was a very peaceful day.

On Round Pond, several things caught my eye.  One was this tree in the water:

Another was the clouds.  I had noticed them when we began our paddle, but could not get a photo that did justice to the wispy clouds.  I tried again, and used sunglasses (my husband's great idea!) to capture the clouds in more detail.  The photos still don't really show what we saw, but at least you get the idea.

Brody and I paddled over to see a beaver lodge and as we approached we heard some squeaks that may have been beaver or muskrat.  The noise only lasted a second or two.  Brody's ears perked up immediately and he was on high alert for a minute, but with no more sounds coming from the lodge, he quickly lost interest.

I wanted a low shot of the just emerging reeds in the photo below.

It took several tries, but I was finally able to get the perspective I wanted by holding the camera out and close to the water.  (I had the strap wrapped tightly around my wrist!)

We were soon back at the footbridge marking the connection between Round Pond and Long Pond.
Brody is keeping an eye on his daddy ahead of us.

OK. I took a number of photos of the footbridge from underneath.  Which one (s) do you like best?

1.

 2.

 3.

 
4.

I think my favorite is #3, but then when I look again, I see different things and change my mind.


On Long Pond, we headed back to the put-in/take-out.  The wind had picked up a bit, giving us some ripples, but nothing too serious.  With the hot sun, the breeze felt good.

Brody tracked a loon for a little while as it dove for a meal.  It was too far away for a good photo.

Before we reached the end of our paddle, I turned Brody around for a shot of his face.  He would much rather be facing in the direction we're headed, but graciously posed for this photo.  (I had to hold a treat above the camera just to get him to cooperate-- he usually looks away when I put the camera up to my face for a photo of his!)

Although Long and Round Ponds are not very large, they still make for a nice half-day paddle if you bring a lunch along and take time to beach your boats and stretch for a little while.  We didn't do that on this paddle, but have in the past.

I hope you're all enjoying the paddling season so far.  Here in Northern New York, we had a few rain free days and were able to get a paddle in, but since then we've had days that can't seem to stay dry the entire day.... hope this weekend's weather is better!

Happy Kayaking!

Forked Lake, part two

We left off part one as we were just getting into the water lillies of Forked Lake's inlet.  My husband is in his red kayak, searching for the main channel.

 We found it about 1/3 of the way along the end of the lake if facing south and going from right (west) to left.  It was easy to be sure of the channel once we saw it.  A current was noticeable, even though this has been a dry year.

Once in the channel, we paddled along admiring the bulbous yellow blossoms of one type of water lily and  the more dainty looking flowers of the pickerel weed.

The main channel twists and turns through the marsh area.  We expected to see a few ducks, but didn't see any at all.

We did see a beaver lodge.  I'm sure there were others, but on the route we took through the main channel, this was the only one we saw.  We paddled over to it quietly, hoping to hear sounds within, but they were either sleeping or no one was home!  Brody listened too, turning his head back and forth.  Maybe he heard something we didn't.

With the water being less rippled in this area, I was able to get a few pretty reflection shots:

We were enjoying the scenery and trying to paddle quietly when my husband spotted something in the water swimming through the reeds.  I grabbed my camera and was able to snap this shot.  He's brown and is right in the middle of the photo.  Can you see him?  Do you know what he is?

Well, he could have been a beaver, but looked more like a muskrat.  We weren't positive until he reach the bank and crawled out, dragging his long skinny rattail behind him.  Yes, definitely a muskrat!

Further along the inlet's channel among the marsh, we heard the faint sound of running water.  Brody's ears stood straight up as he heard it too.  We rounded a bend and this scene greeted us:

The beaver dam was the tallest we'd ever seen.  I'm sure they can make them taller than this one, but it was pretty big!  It amazes me how well they build their dams.  Water trickled from the far left and far right, but not a whole lot.  It was holding back a good deal of water.  Brody was intrigued by the structure, as you can see in this photo:

We thought about finding away to carry around the dam and paddle further up the inlet.  I'm sure, with the beaver's efficient work, that we would have been able to paddle quite a while upstream.  But, with the wind still being a factor out on the main part of the lake, we decided to turn around and head back.

Here is a view looking east from the inlet.  I am not sure of all the mountains in the distance, but I'm pretty sure of Blue Mountain and maybe Goodnow Mountain. Then back further, maybe Vanderwacker Mountain and the Santanoni Range.   Anyone with more knowledge of the mountain ranges in the area, feel free to correct me!  I'm using a map to give you an idea of what we might be seeing here.

On the way out of the inlet, we rounded a bend and saw another brown animal in the water, swimming across the channel diagonally, very near my boat!  I was enjoying watching him so much that I didn't think to pull my camera out of my dry bag right away.  By the time I did, he was past my boat and swimming away fast, but I did get this photo of him:

Yes!  Mr. Beaver.  Boy can he swim!  And we are positive he's a beaver because just before I was able to focus the camera on him, his wide flat tail came up out of the water.  As if he was showing it to us for identification purposes.  Thanks, Mr. Beaver!

And if you're wondering what Brody thought of the whole thing, he was hot from the sun and looking for a drink.  I'm pretty sure he missed the beaver entirely.  Don't worry, I gave him a drink shortly after this photo was taken.  See his tongue sticking out?

Here is another shot looking east with the inlet in the foreground, the lake in the middleground and the mountains in the background.  Everywhere we looked, the scenery was just beautiful.

Once back on the main lake, we paddled back to the unoccupied campsite we saw on our way to the inlet.  Here is a photo of the area where we pulled our kayaks out. 

 And this is the same area from the top:

It was a great place to take a break, have some lunch and stretch our legs.  As I mentioned in part one, this site had a picnic table, a nice flat area for a few tents, a fire pit, and in the woods, an outhouse.

Brody thought this was a good place for a walk and some snacks also.  Here he is, licking his chops after a bite of turkey:

And here he is, patiently waiting for another bite of anything we might decide to give him:

After our lunch, we packed up and headed back to our kayaks.  Brody's pfd went on first, then mine.  Once out on the water, we realized the wind had died down quite a bit and was not starting back up with as much strength as it had been doing most of the trip.

This was a big relief for me since paddling in the wind is tough work.  I can do it, but it isn't fun!
We happily poked around the east side of the lake on the way back to the put-in, having come down the west side of this southern arm on the way to the inlet.

This photo looks bit fuzzy, but it really isn't.  That's the kind of day it was-- hazy and cloudy at times, then blue sky and sunshine at other times.  I just love being able to paddle on a body of water with views in the distance.  It's breath-taking.

Here are a few photos of an area along the southeastern shore where we spent some time enjoying the rocks, trees and dead wood surrounding an island.

We were almost back to the put in when the sky decided to brighten up, giving me the opportunity to take a few more cloud formation shots like this one:

And this one:

We spent about 4 1/2 hours on the water, including our lunch stop at the campsite.  It was a great way to spend our anniversary, which just happened to fall on a Saturday this year.  We enjoyed every minute of our paddle here.

We will definitely be returning to this lake in the future.  We still have lots to explore, and it's such a beautiful spot that we're already looking forward to the next time.

This is a photo of Squirrel Point (on the left) from the put-in once we got back:

 As we headed home, satisfied and happy with the great day of paddling on Forked Lake (pronounced with 2 syllables:  Fork-Ed,) I looked back at Brody in his booster seat and he was down for the count!

Thanks for reading and Happy Kayaking!