I've only done one trip to the Adirondacks, and it wasn't the RICKA trip. I did the section of the Northern Forest Canoe Trail from Long Lake to Saranac Village back in 2012. The Adirondacks are great, but with family obligations and limited vacation time, the RICKA trip never made it to the top of my list of things to do when I was working. Now that I'm now retired, I am excited to be able to join the RICKA trip this year.
My trip will have two parts – 4-days (Friday to Monday) tripping on the Oswegatchie River with Aaron and Dan, and then 5-days (Monday to Saturday) base camping at Lake Eaton Campground and doing day trips with Bill and the RICKA crew.
Oswegatchie River
The Oswegatchie trip will be up-and-back from Inlet to High Falls – about 22 miles round trip. The river meanders through the Five Ponds Wilderness Area - a massive state forest that contains one of the largest stands of old-growth forest in the Northeast.
There are 34 primitive campsites and several lean-tos along this 11-mile stretch, so there should be plenty of campsites to choose from. Depending how things go, we will probably spend our first night at High Rock, and our second and third nights at High Falls.
On our lay-over day we can either paddle up the river above High Falls, or hike over to Cat Mountain, which has great views of Cranberry Lake and the surrounding wilderness. The hiking route is 8.6-miles round trip on the Plains Trail to the Cowhorn Junction Trail to the Cat Mountain Trail.
Oswegatchie River
The Oswegatchie trip will be up-and-back from Inlet to High Falls – about 22 miles round trip. The river meanders through the Five Ponds Wilderness Area - a massive state forest that contains one of the largest stands of old-growth forest in the Northeast.
There are 34 primitive campsites and several lean-tos along this 11-mile stretch, so there should be plenty of campsites to choose from. Depending how things go, we will probably spend our first night at High Rock, and our second and third nights at High Falls.
On our lay-over day we can either paddle up the river above High Falls, or hike over to Cat Mountain, which has great views of Cranberry Lake and the surrounding wilderness. The hiking route is 8.6-miles round trip on the Plains Trail to the Cowhorn Junction Trail to the Cat Mountain Trail.
On Monday, we will paddle back from High Falls to Inlet. Aaron will head home, and Dan and I will head to Lake Eaton Campground to meet the RICKA crew.
Day Trips from Lake Eaton
At Lake Eaton, I’ll be sharing a campsite and paddling with Bill. We'll be paddling my Spirit II. I haven’t done a lot of base-camping, so I needed to upgrade some of my gear. I got a new base-camping tent, a cot, a large and small folding camping table, and a 16’ x 12’ tarp. It is amazing how much this stuff can cost, so I tried to go with reasonably priced options.
In terms of trips, there are lots to choose from. Here are some of the trips that RICKA has done in the past:
- Raquette Lake
- Forked Lake
- Little Tupper Pond
- Bog River-Lowes Lake
- Rich Lake
- Upper Saranac Lake
- Middle Saranac Lake (Upper Locks and Hungry Bay-Weller Pond)
- Second Pond (Lower Locks-Oseetah-Kiwassa)
- Lower Saranac Lake
- Raquette River (Axton Landing to The Crusher, Axton Landing to Raquette Falls, Axton Landing to Stony Creek Pond, Crusher to Tupper Lake)
- Long Lake
- Round Lake
- Rollins Pond Loop
- Lewey Lake–Miami River
There are also three beautiful lakes the RICKA hasn't done yet:
All three have great views of the mountains, but involve portages and drives down dirt access roads. I'm up for a little adventure.
Looks like we may get some rain in the middle of the week – hopefully the forecast will improve.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.