Well, It’s been quite a summer!  Lisa and I spent six weeks traveling through the northeast visiting with family and friends in Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Connecticut.  And, of course we paddled in many places along the way. 

New York State:

Paddling Cayuga Lake: Our first paddling stop was in Ovid, New York where Lisa’s cousins have an annual reunion on Cayuga Lake.  For you non-New Yorkers, Cayuga Lake is one of the five Finger

Lakes.  It is long, narrow and deep.  We were staying at the Driftwood Bed and Breakfast, right on the lake at Sheldrake point.  Five of the cousins are paddlers.  We all spent time on the water in front of the B & B, but I wanted more of a paddle.  So the next morning I set out for Taughanock Falls State Park.  I was told the park was eight to ten miles south, near the end of the lake.  Lisa would pick me up at the park around noon. 

I paddled along the west shore.  There was a light headwind blowing, which was good, because it was hot.  In less than an hour the wind had built enough that it was feeling like work.  But just as I was thinking I wouldn’t make it to the park by noon, the wind stopped all together.  Now it was hot, really hot, sweat in your eyes hot.  I’d scoop a hat full of water out of the lake and pour it over myself.  It was a shock because my Florida body wasn’t used to the cold water of the Finger Lakes! 

The Finger Lakes are not generally a great paddling destination. 

They are beautiful, but the shoreline is very regular with only a few shallow bays and no islands.  Most of the land along the shore is privately owned and inaccessible to paddlers who might need a break or an escape from the wind.  Still, I was looking for the opportunity to paddle and be on the water, and this filled the bill. 

Soon enough, I thought I could make out the outline of trees in the distance that might be the park.  A light breeze came up on my rear quarter and helped push me along.  I reached the park before noon.  I called Lisa who arrived to pick me up just before a light rain. 

Paddling Irondequoit Creek: Irondequoit Creek feeds the south end of Irondequoit Bay.  Irondequoit Bay, located near Rochester, New York, is one of the few large bays to be found on the south shore of Lake Ontario, the smallest and eastern most Great Lake.  Lisa and I wanted to take two of our granddaughters paddling.  We located the

Bay Creek Paddling Center where the creek meets the bay, just off Empire Boulevard.  We rented a double for ten year old Hannah and me, and a fourteen foot single for thirteen year old Gabrielle (a.k.a. Gabby).  Lisa paddled her own boat. 

We had gotten a late start, so it was nearly eleven o’clock before the first paddle hit the water.  The day was hot, but as we paddled up the creek we began to have close encounters with various ducks, turtles, insects and other birds.  There were also unusual plants.  These kept the girls interested for quite awhile. 

Both girls had paddled with us before, though not for some time.  Hanna was a trooper in the front seat of the double.  She paddled steadily, when she wasn’t exclaiming over some new animal or plant she had seen.  Gabby easily learned how to use her rudder to maneuver her boat and was a strong paddler, even if her technique was that of a novice.  Best of all, they were enthusiastic about paddling!

After about an hour, Hannah got tired, hot and bored Because of the noonday heat, all the animals had sought shelter and were not to be found.  We headed back, taking a shortcut and then all went out for a good lunch!

Paddling Lake George and Northwest Bay: Our friends Don and Carol generously allowed us to use their cabin for a relaxing week on Lake George.  Lake George lies in the Adirondack Mountains about an hour north of Albany, within the Adirondack Mountain State Park.  Lake George is arguably the most beautiful of all the Adirondack Mountain lakes.  It is filled with bays and islands providing paddlers with abundant opportunities for interesting day trips.  The cabin is located on the west side of the lake in Northwest Bay, just north of Bolton Landing.  Across the bay stands Tongue mountain and the entrance to the Narrows that is filled with many state owned islands. 

As it turned our, other friends were staying at their cottage on an island directly across the lake near Sandy Bottom.  They picked us up in their powerboat and we spent two days visiting with them.  I managed to sneak off in a borrowed Dagger Atlantis for a few hours.  This boat was about seventeen feet long and had an integrated rudder.  Rather than the typical rudder that sits on top of the rear deck and must be deployed when needed, this rudder is an articulated part of the keel, controlled in the usual fashion with sliding food peddles.  I was skeptical about this setup at first, but grew to like it. 

I paddled across Sandy Bottom and into Log Bay in a moderate wind, quartering out of the southwest.  Exiting the north end of Log Bay, I entered the lake proper.  I continued north along the shore until I came to a point where I headed northeast, into the narrows.  I paddled among and around many islands until I cam in sight of the Ranger station at Glenn Island.  This was my turn around point. 

I headed back, staying in the shelter of as many islands as I could in the building headwind.  Lake George is a big lake; long and narrow.  Winds from the south or north can build a sizable swell.  The slog back to Log Bay once I entered the main part of the Lake was interesting.  Because I was staying close to shore, the waves rebounding off the rocks were somewhat chaotic.  Even the stretch across Sandy bottom was a challenge, especially since this boat had no spray deck and I was taking waves over the bow and along the starboard quarter.  I must say that I liked the boat and the way it handled.  It was stable, easy to control and reasonably dry, given the conditions.  I got back to the camp just as it began to rain.  Good timing!

Northwest Bay: Our second adventure was a paddle from a put-in at Northwest Creek, south to our cabin near the entrance to Northwest Bay.  Our plan was to drive north on Route 9N to the launch point, paddle down the creek to the bay, then follow the shoreline back to the beach at the cabin.  Lisa would end her trip at the cabin, while I paddled back to get the car.  A good plan, but again, those heavy headwinds out of the south would complicate things. 

The launch at Northwest Creek is small, but parking and room to unload and load car-topped boats is adequate.  We launched at midmorning and had a lovely and leisurely paddle down the winding creek.  The creek is hemmed in on both sides by steep mountainsides.  It flows through a wetland full of wildflowers.  We came upon two fathers and their sons, camped on a wide ledge at the base of an impossibly steep slope.  They had no boat so I asked if they had hiked in.  They had, and had somehow managed to get down the slope to that ledge pinned between the mountain and the creek.  I wished them well and quietly hoped for their sake that there wouldn’t be any heavy rains while they were camped there. 

The entrance to the lake narrows where two points of land come

together as if to create a pine arched gateway.  On the lake, Lisa was bothered by the chop raised by the south wind, so we stayed close to shore, first heading west, then south.  This added time to the trip but also made it more interesting.  As we headed south, the wind began to build and Lisa’s pace began to slow.  About an hour and a half into the trip, she was out of gas and ready to quit.  We began to look for places to pull out so that she could rest and wait while I went back for the car, but there was no place where we could land.  Finally, I hooked onto her boat with my towline and began to tow her south toward the cabin, with her assisting by continuing to paddle.  I kept thinking that the cabin was just around the next point.  I was disappointed several times till I was finally surprised to find myself alongside the cabin’s beach – things look different from the water!  It had taken us a little under three hours to reach the cabin. 

Lisa needed the car to visit a friend that evening, so I grabbed a quick snack and some Gatorade and headed back.  This time I didn’t follow the shore.  I headed directly toward East toward Tongue Mountain.  When I was two-thirds of the way across, I turned north where I could see what looked like the gateway to Northwest Creek in the far distance. This was the shortest route back to the creek. I paddled directly toward it, as fast as I could manage.  With the wind at my back, I was able to surf some of the time and maintain a reasonable speed.  I reached the creek in about forty-five minutes and the take-out in about sixty minutes from the time I left the cabin’s beach.  I loaded the boat and surprised Lisa by arriving back at the cabin about ninety minutes after I left.

Next, we spent a week in Chatham on Cape Cod, Paddling each day.  Stay tuned for that report.

Return to the New Yackman.com