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.

 

Rollins Pond and Floodwood Pond, 2013 part one

How is everyone enjoying the paddling season so far?  It has been very wet in the northeast (and other places) this year.  We have had rain here for almost every day in the last 6 weeks.  I can only remember one day out of those that was completely dry for the whole day. 

So!  We haven't done as much kayaking as we would have liked.  We have also had some other commitments on the weekends that have kept us off the water.  But we did take a Friday off several weeks ago and made it up to Rollins and Floodwood Ponds.

This beautiful area includes many ponds that can be visited in the same day by way of a creek that connects some of them and others that are a short carry away.  It is a great area because there are loops you can do to return to your starting point.  I am only writing about Rollins and Floodwood because we did not do a loop on this paddle and only explored those 2 ponds.

There are a number of campgrounds in this area which is north of Tupper Lake.  The point of access to Rollins Pond is at the Rollins Pond Campground (which you reach by driving through Fish Creek Campground-- both of these are NY State campgrounds) and their boat launch as shown in the photo below: 

There is also a dock:

Once on the water and headed north, this was our view:

Brody already has an eye on a loon. But I didn't get any good shots of it.

Rollins Pond is very pretty.  And so is the campground from what we saw, and from talking to others who camp there every year.  It can kick up some waves if the wind is more than very mild so keep that in mind.  The campground covers almost every bit of shoreline on the eastern side and some of the southern bank, but the western side has only a few homes/camps.  There are a number of nooks and crannies to check out as well on your way north from the boat launch toward Floodwood Pond.

I took 3 or 4 shots of Brody when we had just started the paddle and this is the best of those.  He looks so serious (but handsome) doesn't he?

Here is my best shot of a loon later in our paddle:

And here are Brody and I still near the beginning of the paddle.  As you can see, it was still chilly that morning.  I have my hoodie on.  But the sun was very warm so in less than an hour, I was warm enough to remove it.

It was a gorgeous day for a paddle!  It takes us quite a while to get to this destination, so we did not get an early morning start, but we did manage to be on the water by 9:30.  Most of the campers were up but not making too much noise as we paddled by.  We saw only 2 paddlers on Rollins Pond that morning, but plenty more in the afternoon when we returned.

Here is my husband with mountains in the background.  There was pretty scenery like this during the whole trip.

And here is Brody as we got closer to the end of Rollins Pond.  Looks like he needs the Doggles on-- the ones he had just pawed off a few mins. before this photo!

At the top/northern end of Rollins Pond is Fish Creek which connects it to Floodwood Pond.  It is in the northeastern corner of the pond.  The entrance to the creek is about in the middle of this photo.  It seems difficult to discern from the photo and as you approach it on the water, but once you're in that northeastern corner, you will see the creek without a problem.  The current is flowing north, into Floodwood Pond, so you will have an easier time getting to Floodwood than returning to Rollins as we did.  (But if you do a loop, you won't have to paddle back upstream on this creek.)

Here is a better photo showing the entrance to the creek, right in the middle of the photo.
We really enjoyed this next stretch of the paddle, as the creek was closed in with rocks along the way and many close-up details to look at.  Brody enjoyed it as well.

I'll leave this part of the description with one more photo of Brody enjoying our paddle.  Meet me back here for the next part of the description and photos of Rollins and Floodwood Ponds.

Happy Kayaking!