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.

 

Raquette River, Part 1

 

Hi everyone!  Welcome back to my blog about kayaking in NY state.  I usually start my posts off with photos that are chronologically from the beginning of our paddle, but I decided to post this pretty photo of Brody to give you all an idea of the GORGEOUS day and beautiful Raquette River.  Don't be fooled by the photo above-- our paddle here was 3 weeks ago-- the brilliant leaves have all fallen in this area.  But it was a great day to be on the river that Saturday.

We paddled the Raquette River a few years ago and I have some great photos of the reflections from that summer day.  The river was lazy and very still in many spots as it twists and turns and contorts back on itself.  That trip was taken from the state boat launch just north of the village of Tupper Lake.

This time, we decided to put-in further upstream at Axton Landing.  Below are 2 photos taken from that put-in.  The first is looking upstream from the creek which is only 50 yards or less from the river.
The second photo is  looking downstream, with the Raquette in the background on the left.

Once on the river, the yellow leaves were so bright, they were almost neon!

We headed downstream from Axton Landing.  Here are my husband and Brody just a few minutes after starting our paddle.

There was enough current to float us along, but it was sometimes almost non-existent.  Brody is checking the banks, just in case a duck is hiding there somewhere.

As I mentioned, the day was just gorgeous.  The sky was a perfect blue, there was a barely detectable breeze, and the sun warmed us up nicely.

Here is one of my favorites photos from our paddle that day:

I love reflections and love taking photos of them.  I also love how usually the reflections in the water are more vibrant that the actual objects!

I took this photo as I was floating by these leaves in the water.  The resulting photo reminded me a bit of a Monet watercolor-- not in composition or technique-- just the general "feel" of it.

As I am looking over the photos for this blog post, I am realizing that most of my favorites were taken during the first half of our paddle.  I think there are 3 reasons for this:  One, morning light (even late morning light) is better for photos than afternoon light.  Two, we paddled downstream when we started and it's much easier to float and take photos while going downstream rather than up. And three, a breeze began in the afternoon which makes the water ripple, so reflections aren't as clear.

At any rate, another of my favorite photos from this trip is below.  In fact, I think it is THE favorite:
*NEWS: The photo below just won Photo of the Week on Adirondack.net!!

This next photo, as we paddle downstream, shows just how little current there was in some spots.  It looks like a lake, doesn't it?

And, what do you suppose this is, hanging out on the bank of the Raquette River?
 

We really got a kick out of it.  My husband spotted it first and I snapped a shot for posterity!


Brody in his red dfd (doggy floatation device) and my yellow kayak fit right in with the colors of fall, don't you think?

I actually got one of his face!  He's such a sweet boy.

If you're looking for a place to paddle that allows you to get out and stretch your legs, this one should be on your list.  I'm sure in the middle of the summer, and/or especially on weekends in the summer, there are a lot of people on this river, including motor boats. But in the fall, there are less people around  AND the primitive campsites along the river are great for a picnic lunch.  They can be used as long as no one is already occupying them.  A big plus is that they are, naturally, made for boating campers so the sites are easy to get to-- gradual sandy banks.

This was such a relaxing paddle.  It's exactly what we're looking for when we plan a trip.  Here is another photo showing the stunning yellows with the bright blue sky as a backdrop.

We're about a third of the way through our trip, so I'll end this post now and pick up here next time.
I hope you are all enjoying the fall season and have been able to get in a few more paddles if you're in the northeast.  Those of you further south, keep on paddling!

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!