The Kayak Chronicles
©
by Darren Caffery
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PADDLING THE ADIRONDACKS:
Little Tupper Lake
August 10, 2008
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CAMPING & KAYAKING |
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Little Tupper Lake is located between Tupper Lake and Long
Lake in the William C. Whitney Wilderness Area Little Tupper Lake was
purchased by New York State and is now the largest motor-less lake in the
Adirondacks. Little Tupper Lake is suitable for daytrips and overnights for
both canoes and kayaks. Camping on the lake is first come, first serve.
Little Tupper Lake has one access point located on the northern shore. For
an adventurous paddling exploration, one could make the traverse to Lake Lila via Rock Pond, Hardigan Pond, Salmon Lake Outlet, Lilypad Pond, and Shingle Shanty Brook.
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It was our second day of paddling in the
Adirondacks. After a hearty breakfast at the Long Lake Diner our group of
paddlers headed over to the launch site for Little Tupper Lake.
JSSKA
members, Doug, Tom, Val, Jean and I arrived at the launch site at Little
Tupper Lake at around 9:30 and met up with member Michael C. The sky was gray
and despite the forecast for rain, we donned our rain gear and launched into
the lake at about 10 am. We paddled a westerly course along the
shoreline of the lake and soon after launching, some light rain fell as we
paddled. The air temperature was in the 70’s so the rain felt alright and was
not at all bothersome. After paddling a little more than 1.5 miles, we
entered a small creek. The creek was even quieter than the lake and the
shoreline was lined with quite a few different types of beautiful yellow and
purple water flowers. If you took stopped paddling, you could hear the sound
of many buzzing bees in the stillness of the creek. The creek soon narrowed
and became un-navigable after only after a little more than a half-mile.
At that point, we turned back around and began our paddle back out to the
lake.
We continued to paddle along the shoreline of
the lake, passing some designated wilderness campsites. The rain stopped and
started back up a few times as we paddled. After paddling another 3.5 miles,
we decided it was time for lunch and we looked for a good place to land.
When we saw some lightning bolts in the distance, we decided to get off the
water and just paddled to the nearest place to land and seek some shelter in
the woods. After landing at about 1 pm, we made our way away from the
shoreline and deeper into the woods, trying to seek shelter under some of the
more smaller trees in the area. We finally found an area that looked like it
would provide adequate shelter as the rain began to come down harder and some
thunder boomed. It was there we ate our lunch and chatted as we waited out
the storm.
We finished lunch and chatted some more,
however the rain continued and the sky continued to look ominous. As a
result, we weren’t sure whether we should try to high tail it back to the
take-out or wait a little longer for some clearing. Me and a few others
preferred to wait it out, however our group leader appeared to be getting a
little antsy, and thought we should head back before the weather got worse.
After a few from the group saw some lightning, a few of us decided we weren’t
getting back on the water. We all waited a little longer and although the sky
hadn’t fully cleared, we again considered the option to take our chances and
start to paddle back to the takeout. I thought it might be better to wait a
bit longer for some clearing but at little after 2 pm, we all launched back
into the lake anyway. My plan was to stick close to the shore and at the first
sign of any more lightning, I was going to just get myself back onto land and
into the woods. My paddling pace picked up quite a bit as the dark clouds
blew overhead. It continued to rain on and off a bit and when it
looked like there was some clearing, I set my GPS to navigate the shortest straight line
course back to the takeout point. After
paddling about 2 miles we saw some lightning in the far distance over some
mountains but the sky gave no evidence of anything threatening over where we
were paddling. After another continuous 2.5 miles of paddling, we neared the
takeout and the sun began to creep out. With each paddle stroke, we got
closer to the takeout and the sun began to shine brighter. Ironically, it
turned out to be a beautiful, sunny day, just as we reached the landing and
began to take our kayaks out of the water! It was a great paddle, despite the
rain but I was disappointed we rushed back to the takeout so abruptly. It
would have been nice to explore some more miles of the lake under the sunny
sky! While loading our gear, Jean noticed a leech on her leg and began to
dance a wild jig to get it off. Despite the wild jig dance and some yelling,
the leech continued to cling to Jean's leg. When Jean yelled for Val's
assistance and was finally able to keep still, Val calmly plucked the little
bloodsucker off her leg.
On the return trip, Doug played tour guide
again and took us to see
Buttermilk Falls.
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