Northeast Wild

  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...