Columbus Day Weekend Adirondack Canoe Trip

Friday October 11- Monday October 14, 2002

 

By David Gaylord

 

 

            The weekend started Friday evening at the Kanoe Barn in a rain which would end up following us throughout most of the weekend.  Once all of the canoes were on the cars we proceeded to head up to Middlebury Vermont to spend the night at Karl’s girlfriend’s appartment. It was then that sometime after passing into Vermont the canoe began to fall off of the lead car which resulted in all seven cars being lined up on the ride of route 91, until the situation could be corrected.  Once this situation was resolved it was a long and slow drive through rain and fog to Middlebury. After hanging out for a while we all crashed in preparation for the adventure that would await us in the coming days. 

            After breakfast the next morning we proceeded to make the two hour drive through some gorgeous fall foliage and past the Olympic Sky Jump in Lake Placid to Long Lake in the heart of the Adirondacks.  After positioning the cars and a final snack we set out across the lake under overcast skies.  We decided after about two hours and five miles of paddling to camp at the first site that we came to, a decision largely due to the fact that there was supposedly a nearby mountain for us to climb.  After a quick set up of camp Karl, Slash and I set out to climb Kempshall Mountain in the remaining few hours of daylight that we had.  With some difficulty we eventually found the trailhead only to find it closed to hikers.  Following an inconclusive discussion as to why it was closed, we decided to turn around; not knowing what potential disaster would have awaited us should we have decided not to heed the warning sign.  The alternative to mountain climbing ended up being a game of Frisbee while we waited for Karl to cook a scrumptious dinner. Once dinner was over we all gathered around the camp fire for several hours of minute mysteries and jokes made all the more interesting by the combination of German, French, Angolan, Jordanian and American cultures represented on the trip.  To further make matters interesting we all witnessed what Kara described a "possessed deer".  This deer seemingly paid no heed to all the noise that we were making even when several of us walked towards it with headlamps.  As a result it most likely became dinner for the hunters who arrived the next morning.

            The next morning we awoke once again to overcast and rain threatening skies as we prepared to engage in what would be the longest and most difficult day of the entire trip. We paddled the remaining four miles of the lake through some strong winds to the Raquette River where we were sheltered from the wind.  After enjoying about a seven mile cruise down the river we arrived at the crux of the trip, a 1.7 mile portage, made necessary by the impassible falls that the next section of river was comprised of.  Because of the fact that we had six canoes, a lot of gear, food, and eleven people this was not a portage that could be done in just one trip.  The result was most everyone doing the portage three times carrying anything from canoes to 60 pound jugs of water over some rather hilly terrain.  To further complicate matters much of this portage was done in the rain.  At the completion of the portage Ryan and I decided to check out the waterfalls that we had portaged around coming to the conclusion that they meant death to any who were foolish enough to paddle them.  During our trip back to the shelter the drizzle that we had been ongoing for the past hour suddenly decided to become a monsoon.  The result of which was an all out rain soaked sprint back to the shelter for Ryan and I.  About 10 minutes later Karl and Alison emerged out of the downpour having completed that last of the two hour portage even more soaked than the rest of us.  It was around this time that the rain abruptly stopped and a ranger named Tyler stopped by camp to introduce himself and to say that we were welcome to stop by his cabin if we needed anything.  Upon his departure Alison set herself up as the brunt of numerous jokes throughout the night, by saying how good looking she thought he was.  However, somehow through all the Alison and Tyler jokes Karl managed to make another delicious dinner of Spaghetti and the rest of the night was left to more jokes, fire and much needed massages. 

            The following day we all awoke to a very cold but at long last sunny morning.  We had our final breakfast of the trip and broke camp to head back to the river.  Much to the delight of Alison, Tyler made another appearance and she was able to depart with a fresh image of him in her mind despite not having said one word to him. This last day was an easy Columbus Day paddle under bright skies and colorful fall foliage.  Upon arriving at the take out we ran into the problem of only having one car positioned there with six cars at the put in, all of which needed to have the canoes on them for the ride home.  The solution was for seven of us to get cozy in Anita’s Geo Prism for the 45 minute drive to the cars.  Needless to say we all got to know out neighbors much better than any of us really wanted to.  Once the canoes were back on the cars we parted with Karl as he headed back to Vermont and the remaining 10 of us made the six hour trip back to UMass after what was a very exciting and rewarding trip.

 

Distance Paddled

Long Lake: 9 miles

Raquette River: 13 miles

Total: approximately 22 miles

 

The Crew

Karl (trip leader)

David

Slash

Kara

Anita

Toni

Mima

Alison

James

Ryan

Olivier