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!

Forked Lake, part one

A few weeks ago we were able to get to a new kayaking location!  It was exciting since we weren't able to explore much last year. Plus, it's been a busy summer so we hadn't yet ventured a long way from home.  If you know where Raquette Lake is, then finding Forked Lake on a map is easy.  Just look north and you'll see it.  It's a bit more convoluted to get to though, since there are no roads that way.  (But you can paddle across Raquette and carry over to Forked.)  You need to travel further north from Raquette Lake on Route 28 to Blue Mtn. Lake and take Route 30 toward Long Lake.  The turn for Forked Lake is off Route 30.  There is a campground on Forked Lake, just a few miles off Route 30, but we chose to put-in at the other boat launch which is south of the campground on another road.  *note that the campsites are accessed by a trail or by boat.  Here is a link for more info on the campground:  http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/24467.html   This lake is a popular place.  But very pretty, don't you think?

 
Forked Lake (pronounced with 2 syllables:  Fork-Ed) is a large lake with, you guessed it-- forks.  I call the three of them "arms" or "branches" because on a map they are narrow (relatively speaking) and each goes off in a different direction.  One lies west, another east and one points north.  Because 2 of the arms lie west to east, the wind can get some decent sized waves going.  We encountered unusual (for northern NY) morning winds, creating rolling waves.  I was disappointed, having come so far.  The idea of paddling hard all day and being worn out was not appealing.  But, the winds were not howling, just blowing steady for 5 or 10 minutes, and then dying down.  We set out for the pennisula in the photo above.  I think it's called Squirrel Point.  There are posted signs on it.  From this point, we could see north, up that arm and there was another smaller set-back area behind Squirrel Point.

Here is the view looking west after we were on the water:

And the view looking north when near Squirrel Point:

And the view looking east:

As you can see by the photos, the sun and clouds were competing against each other.  You would think these are photos from 2 or 3 different paddles to this spot rather than all from the same day.

Because we weren't sure about the wind's chances of increasing, we did a quick look around from Squirrel Point.  I wanted to be able to say that I knew where each arm of the lake was.  Then I choose to go back to the western arm where there is an inlet.  With the wind, this area would be the most calm.  We'd still need to paddle back to the boat launch on the main lake, but at least we be rested from a relaxing paddle along the inlet and marsh area.

Brody, as usual, was up for the adventure!

Like most Adirondack lakes, Forked Lake is filled with rocks and boulders, both in the water and along the shore, sometimes lining the banks into the woods.

Below is a photo of the south end of the lake, our goal.  The highest rounded peak is Pillsbury Mountain, according to my guidebook.  In the middle of the photo at the waterline, do you see a line of white?  It's hard to see in this photo.  Anyway, the large light spots to the right along the water's edge are boulders and rocks, but in the middle is the marshy inlet, so no rocks there.  It's actually waterlillies, which from this distance looked like one line of white on top of the water.

Here is an example of the rocks in the lake.  The shoreline is also very jagged which makes it much more interesting to look at as you paddle along.

Brody certainly likes the varied scenery!  Whenever we get close to the shore, he stands up and looks intently at the woods.  I think he's hoping to see a chipmunk or a squirrel.

We heard lots of birdsong in the woods along the lake, but didn't see any birds flying.  I spied this dead tree in the distance and hoped I'd find some kind of bird perched on it.  No such luck.

I love cloud formations, and these just begged for a shot:

As you can see by the ripples in the water, the wind was definitely blowing.  At times it seemed strong, maybe 7-10 mph. but it luckily didn't stay that way for any length of time.

Here is Brody with the cloud formation as a backdrop:

I got a kick out of these trees.  They were taller than the trees around them and were a great indicator of the  wind's usual direction on the lake.

We saw two different groups of loons in this southern area of the lake  They all looked like adults, but there could certainly have been juveniles among them.  We were too far away to see much  except their heads sticking out of the water.  We counted 7 in one group and 2 in another group.  They called a few times, making Brody's pointy ears stick up just a bit straighter as he tried to see what the noise was and just who was making the racket.  There were places along the lake where sound would echo back-- confusing Brody.  We stayed out of the loons' way and they continued their fishing.

Here is another shot of cool cloud formations with Brody in the foreground:

We spied an empty DEC campsite along the shore before reaching the marsh area and inlet.  It had 2 different sandy banks to pull a kayak or two out on and the tent area was flat.  There was a picnic table and a stone fire pit.  We made note of its location so that we could stop there on our way back.  Lunch and a stretch of the legs were looking good by this time.

Another spot that would have been possible to land a kayak was here near the end of the lake before the marsh area.  We thought the 2 boulders looked like dinosaur eggs or something, just sitting on the edge of the lake.

I will leave you with my favorite Brody photo of this trip.  In fact, it's one of my favorites overall.  I'm using this one as a screen saver right now.  He's in the water lillies, which is where we will pick up part two of my description of our paddle on Forked Lake.

If you haven't checked out my website yet, please do.  It's full of useful information with 20 locations completed and another 18 yet to go.  Find it at:  www.quietkayaking.webs.com

Happy Kayaking!

South Inlet, part one

This is the second location we paddled over Memorial Day weekend.  It's one of our favorite "short" paddles since it's easy to get to, the carry is short, and the put-in is a gradual sandy bank.  Since we've been here often, I didn't take a shot of the put-in this time, but I'll look for it in photos from previous paddles.

The photo below is once we're on the water and heading upstream.

South Inlet is the inlet for Raquette Lake.  It has a current, but usually it's not noticeable when paddling, until you reach the rocky area marking the end of the paddle.  Since this connects with big, beautiful (and popular) Raquette Lake, with its many camps, homes, people and motorboats, you may have to share the water with some smaller gas guzzling and smelly watercraft.  But, it's pretty easy to avoid these by coming early in the morning, weekdays, or before/after summertime when everyone is on vacation.  We usually see at least one canoe or kayak here, but only on a summer weekend did we see lots of paddlers.

I found a photo of the put-in from 2010.  As you can see, there is a bit of a hill down to the water and there are some tree roots, but it is not steep and we have no trouble navigating with the kayaks down to the water.  We do, however, take them one at a time since the path is narrow.

Here is another view of the put-in, also from our 2010 paddle, this time from the water.
 

Here is Dick, paddling upstream, with Brody squinting in the sun since I hadn't yet put his Doggles on him.  Our wide, stable Wilderness Systems Pungo 120's are perfect for the addition of our dog to the cargo!  He has plenty of room to sit.  Sometimes he faces me, but usually he's facing in the direction we're going.  He wants to see what's around the next bend as much as we do!

Here he is, later in our paddle, trying to catch a nap.

As we paddle upstream, there are marshy areas and no good place to beach your kayak until the end of the upstream portion of the paddle.  But there's plenty to see from your kayak, including a few beaver lodges.

As you can see by the photo below, it was a gorgeous day for a paddle.  Sorry about the tilt.  Hopefully the next time we kayak, I'll remember to double check the horizon-- Brody in my kayak makes me sometimes sit a little to one side or the other, as is evident in this photo.

We have seen kingfishers flitting among the trees along this waterway, but didn't on this trip.  We almost always see great blue herons here, but not one was fishing the day we paddled.  The other constant in the wildlife sightings on South Inlet is the black duck.  We saw these ducks and felt better since we were beginning to wonder where all the birds/waterfowl had gone. 

It's interesting that we've never seen a common loon on this waterway.  My guess is that there is not a suitable place for their nest which has to be very close to the water.  Common loons don't travel well on land, being much better swimmers than waddlers, with their legs being set so far back on their bodies.**Please see South Inlet, part two for a correction. I've marked the spot in the blog with these same red asterisks.**

Here is Brody with an eye on the black ducks beside and behind me.  He seemed very interested in them but I watched him close since when we were on Francis Lake, he thought maybe he'd lunge at them like he does our cats.  Thankfully, I still have pretty good reflexes and was able to grab him before he went in the water.  This trip, he was curious about them, but seemed less inclined to take a swim with them!

Well, I've been having some issues with the photo uploader, so I'll end this half of the description of our paddle on the South Inlet of Raquette Lake.  Please join me for part two which should be posted by the end of the week.

Thanks for reading, and happy kayaking!