Northeast Wild

  Sep 27, 2017 - RAQUETTE LAKE afternoon paddle from North Point Rd.  Put-in on W side of bridge, downstream side.  Started paddling in summer, finished in fall!  Mix of private & state land.  1.5 miles to 1st lean-to.  2.5 miles to Boucher Point lean-tos - these have been pushed back back from the water & refurbished - not sure if I missed 1 but only saw 2 - houses right next door.  4 jetskis passed, light moboat traffic.  Passed Beecher Island, around Bluff Pt & into Boulder Bay.  Went up Boulder Brook (grassy mouth, lots of pickerelweed, tamarack swamp to the S) a half mile, lifted over a beaver dam but turned around at the next.  Blue Mtn in the distance.  Wish I had started earlier, would have gone further up the brook.  West Mtn to the W.  Paddled a little S toward Tioga Point & took a break on sandy beach.  Not much wildlife - a gull - then near the end on Outlet Bay some black ducks.  No l...

  May 2, 2004 - UTOWANA LAKE & MARION RIVER canoe camping. Showers & thunderstorms in the forecast so changed original plans to an easy-to-get-to leanto camping destination. As it turned out, we arrived in a shower but day was mostly dry with some afternoon sun - temp in high 60s - shorts weather - some rain after bedtime - leanto leaks in 2 spots on R side (when facing the lake). Utowana has a couple of nice camps but most of shore is undeveloped. Roadnoise intrudes somewhat. Pair of loons, beaver, osprey with fish in claws seen from camp. Purple trillium behind the leanto & leatherleaf flowers on the Marion. Paddled to W end of Utowana - then level 5 minute carry to Marion River. Marion gets wider as one paddles the 3.8 miles to Raquette Lake - we spot an otter. A house to the S is the only development til the lake - cliffs on unnamed mountain to the N. River winds gently thru marsh & bog. Stopped for break at a nice campsite high up on rocks at the lake. Returned...

Spring arrived early this year and I was  anxious to get out and paddle in the  Adirondacks before blackflies made  their presence known. I chose to start out  on Utowana Lake, then carry 0.4 miles on a  trail to the Marion River. In most of North America, the act of carrying a watercraft over land, either between  two bodies of water or around an obstacle  in a river, is referred to as a “portage;” in the  Adirondacks it is simply called a “carry.” From a gravel pull-off on NY Route 28,  between the hamlets of Raquette and Blue  Mountain lakes, I shouldered the canoe and  walked about 200 feet on a path, which led  past a huge boulder to the shore of Utowana  Lake. I do not like to carry a canoe, even a  lightweight one, for longer distances on my  shoulder because the gunwales tend to dig  into the shoulder and hip bones.  Not long after I pushed off from shore,  a pair of loons swam nonchalantly...