I just got back from doing Ticonderoga to Rouses Point.  Champlain was wet - rain and thunderstorms every day.  Huge thunderstorm last Friday.  We had to get off the water and take shelter and a tree fell near us.  Saw more evidence of the destruction everywhere we went.  Stopped on Woods Island in the Inland Sea.  There is a campsite on the south end with a large tree down on either side of the campsite and another tree took off the roof and the front of the john. 

I went with Rob and Karl and we left our cars at the fishing launch at Ticonderoga.  It was ominous all day, but only drizzled until about 2, then we started to hear thunder off to the west over NY.  That's when the lighting storm hit and we took shelter outside

of a house on the point at White Bay.  We put in the first night (Friday) at Button Bay State Park (VT), about 24 miles.  A nice following wind the whole way.  It is a nice campground but a long schlep from the landing up to the campsites. It rained again overnight. 

Saturday we stopped at the Champlain Maritime Museum at Basin Harbour. Lots of great wooden boats of all types and a great museum.  I think there was a little drizzle at one point but all-in-all, a very pleasant paddle.  We got separated from Rob (he didn't stop at the museum) and later a powerboat hailed us to tell us he would meet us at Red Rock.  We stayed that night with a friend of Rob and Karl's in South Burlington.  We traveled about 23 miles.  The next closest camping site was the expensive North Beach Campground in Burlington or the much farther away Law Island. 

Sunday we paddled (22 miles) up to Law Island, then through the causeway and up to the Sandbar and under the bridge into the Inland Sea.  Again it was drizzling but there was only a light wind from the northwest.  We camped in a lean-to overlooking the lake at Grand Isle State Park.  We didn't see any bugs and it was great not having to set up and break down the wet tents.

Another grey and drizzling day with the weather report forecasting rain and thunderstorms again.  Every day we woke up at 5 and were usually on the water by 7.  We veered east to visit Burton and Woods Island.  They would both make great places to camp and Woods is the Island that had the damage from Friday’s storm.  We then skirted south of Knight Island over to North Hero and up to the culvert that gave us access to Carry Bay.  We had enough water and headroom to get through but I guess sometimes you have to haul the boat up over the embankment and road.  We planned to stay at Summerplace Campgrounds on Isle La Motte but actually we didn’t have its exact location.  Rob had an address on Quarry Road and our maps showed that on the west side of the island.  We called and the girl who answered the phone assured us that the campgrounds faced New York (west).  We called again and got the same girl and again she gave directions to the west side of the island.  So when we got to Isle La Motte we paddled over to the first Marina we saw and asked other people who were out and they all directed us up the east side where we found Summerplace  (21 miles). 

The campgrounds was totally disorganized.  They had been hit by Friday’s storm and had lost power and their bathrooms were all messed up from problems with the pumps.  We never found anyone at the office to register and finally one of the maintenance people just told us to camp on the lawn near out boats.  That was great as the real campsites were about half a mile from the beach.  And the lawn was very soft.  On the down side because of the storm there were no bathroom facilities or water.

Our plan had Karl and I catching the 12:05 pm Amtrak at Rouses Point down to Ticonderoga, retrieve the cars and return to Rouses Point where Rob would spend the afternoon watching the kayaks.  We got up at our usual 5 and skipped breakfast to make sure we get there in time.  There is only one train a day going south and we did not want to have to spend a day waiting for the next train.  It was only 11 miles and the weather was fair so we were there by 9.  Just before Rouses Point we stopped at Windmill Point, there is a small lighthouse and a steel tower that had an Osprey nest and two adult osprey.  We checked out the landing (a village launch on Montgomery) and Karl ran over to check the distance to the railroad station. 

We then paddle over to Fort Montgomery or as Rob calls it, Fort Blunder.  First we stopped to have the Customs people on their dock take our picture with the Fort in the background.  There are the remains of a railroad bridge across the mouth of the Richelieu and Karl pointed out a large number of fairly large fish below us. A local fisherman said they were Sheepshead (?).  We got the boats out of the water and we left Rob there to read for the five hours we assumed it would take for the round trip to Ti.  At the railroad station we discovered you can only get on if you have a reservation.  We had to search around to find someone to borrow a cell phone to call Amtrak (I left mine with Rob) and then the automated answering system couldn’t recognize Rouses Point.  Fortunately the train was delayed.  Customs finally came by with a middle aged man who they handcuffed and drove away.  Finally one of the conductors sympathized with our story though if it had been up to the other conductor we’d still be in Rouses Point.  Rob ended up having a longer wait than expected but as usual he met the owner of one of the huge boats moored nearby and had drinks with him and his wife on the boat.

All in all it was a great paddle, everything we had was always wet but the wind and waves were never bad and the countryside was beautiful.  I’d like to go back and camp on Woods Island (as long and there were no powerful

Bruce Romanchak on this year’s GHRP

thunderstorms).