The Kayak Chronicles
©
by Darren Caffery
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PADDLING THE ADIRONDACKS:
Raquette Lake & Marion
River
August 9, 2008
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KAYAKING RAQUETTE LAKE |
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Raquette Lake is the source of the Raquette River in the
Adirondack Mountains of New York State. Raquette is the largest
natural lake in the Adirondack Park and has 99 miles of shoreline with
pines and mountains bordering the lake. Raquette Lake developed into
one of the most prestigious summer getaways for the elite in the 19th
century. In 1877, William West Durant started work on what would become the
first of the "Great Camps". The many bays of this
large lake will provide hours of exploration. Keep your eye out for
some of the Great Camps. Explore the two-mile channel of South Inlet and
Browns Tract Inlet where a one-mile carry that connects to Eighth Lake on
the Fulton Chain. From the northeast outlet bay, a half-mile carry leads to
Forked Lake.
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After about 6 hours of driving from the
Jersey Shore, Tom K and I arrived at the
Lake Harris Campground
in Newcomb, NY at about 3 pm on Friday
afternoon. It was a bit rainy when we arrived and our campsite was a huge mud
puddle. Doug, our trip organizer had already set up his tent and we awoke him
from a snooze when we arrived. Within a few minutes, Val and Jean walked over
to greet us and after the rain stopped a bit, Tom and I put up our tent and
prepared our temporary home for the week.
After we were all set up and relaxed a
bit, the five of us took a short ride into the town of Long Lake and had
dinner at the Adirondack Hotel.
After a hearty dinner in the dining room of the old hotel, we made a stop in
the nearby general store for some last minute provisions. On the way back to
the campsite, Doug was an excellent tour guide and took us to the
Newcomb Overlook park
which provided a panoramic view of the High Peaks region. From a kiosk at the
park, we obtained a very informative brochure, "Trail Guide to Newcomb Area:
Hikes and Canoe Trips" printed by
The Newcomb Chamber of Commerce.
When we arrived back at the campsite, we got
a campfire going but the local wood we bought from the area was a bit too
“fresh” and damp from all the recent rain. Instead of blazing, the wood just
smoldered with a small flame. On our first night, we hung out around a small
smoldering campfire which needed more maintenance than most of us were willing
to give it. Doug tried splitting some of the logs with his axe but that had
little effect and the fire just continued to smolder, crackle and pop from the
moisture. We had some snacks and wine so it was really no big deal.
The smoldering campfire broke up the hootenanny
a bit earlier than normal. Temperatures dropped into the low 50’s into the
night. It began to rain and ended up storming through the night, so we
bunkered down in our tents. The sound of rain pelting the tent roof continued
through the night and into the early morning. When it finally stopped in the
morning, we joked about hosting a mud wrestling event at our site.
As a result of the rain, we emerged from our
tents a little later than planned on Saturday morning and after breakfast, we
travelled about 38 miles to Raquette Lake for our first paddling trip of the
week. As we drove to the lake, the sky got more clear and it turned out to be
a beautiful Adirondack day with clear blue sky, puffy white clouds and
temperature in the 70’s. We launched from
Golden Beach on the
southeast shore of Raquette Lake at about 11:15 am. The shoreline of Raquette
Lake was spotted with houses, camps and was somewhat busy with boat traffic.
After paddling about 4 miles on the lake we looked for the entrance to the
Marion River. There were a number of inlets along the shore and there was
some confusion as to which inlet lead to the Marion River. There was a large
outdoor wedding going on at one of the large homes on the lake with lots of
people outside. As we passed by we asked which inlet lead to the Marion River
and a group of men broke into a song which revealed the way to the river. A
bit odd but interesting nonetheless. As we rounded Big Island, we approached
the Marion River and decided to paddle in. The river narrowed and became less
developed and more wild as we paddled farther into it. The Marion River was
very quiet and peaceful and offered a very beautiful view of Blue Mountain in
the distance. After paddling a mile into the river, we looked for a place to
land for lunch. We ultimately found a small area to land. The area had a
sunny rock ledge overlooking the river and it looked like the perfect lunch
spot. As we ate lunch on the rock, occasional groups of paddlers passed by on
the river. After lunch we continued for a few more miles and after paddling
about 7 miles, decided it was time to turn back. We paddled a nice steady
pace on the river back out to the lake. On the return trip, we took the
short-cut, inner route around Big Island back to the takeout. We landed
safely at about 5 pm and after 13 miles of paddling.
On the way home, we stopped off again in Long
Lake and enjoyed another nice dinner on the enclosed screen porch at the
Adirondack Hotel. It was a great
day of paddling for our first day in the Adirondacks.
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