Camping on the Oswegatchie - September 11-14, 2026

The put-in at Inlet

I decided to start off my week-long trip to the Adirondacks with a 4-day/3 night camping trip on the Oswecatchie River with Aaron and Dan.

The Oswegatchie flows general north for 137-miles from the Adirondack Mountains to the Saint Lawrence River. We would be doing an up-and-back from Inlet to High Falls – about 22 miles round trip. This section is widely considered one of the premier wilderness trips in the Northeast, taking us deep into the Five Ponds Wilderness Area.

View from High Rock

We arrived at the put-in at Inlet at around 2:00, packed up our boats and headed upstream. The river meanders through a vast marsh lined with alder thickets. There is also a lot of beaver activity - we got very good at lifting and dragging our boats over beaver dams.

About 3-miles upstream is High Rock – a massive outcropping that rises sharply from the river bank. We took a break to check out the view, but because the site here was already taken, we continued upstream.

Home for the night - Buck Brook

We ended up stopping at the Buck Brook Campsite (#34) for the night. We gathered firewood, set up our tents, had dinner and then settled in around the campfire for the night. The stars overhead were amazing with a clear view of the Milky Way arching across the sky. I was in bed by 10:00 and slept like a log.

I woke up around 7:00 and crawled out of the tent at around 7:30. We knew it would be short trip up to High Falls, so there was no rush to get going. We eat breakfast, packed up our gear and got on our way.

One of many beaver dams

The river continued to be challenging with lots of beaver dams, blow-downs and shallow rapids. We arrived at High Falls at around 1:00 and set up camp on the east side of the falls at Lean-to #2. We gathered firewood, and then had the rest of the afternoon to rest and explore the area.

High Falls drops 20-feet over well-worn bedrock. Aaron and Dan went for a swim below the falls, but I decided to check out the portage trail and campsites on the west side of the falls. The west side is much more active than the east side with hikers passing through pretty regularly on the Cranberry Lake 50.

Checking out High Falls

After a relaxing afternoon, we had dinner and sat around the fire. Dan made Pineapple Flambe for dessert. It was cloudy, so it was not a good night for viewing the stars, but we still saw the space station race across the sky. I went to bed around 10:00.

I woke up at around midnight to a heavy rainstorm. I was glad that I set up an additional tarp over my tent. Once I confirmed that my tent was staying dry, I fell back asleep.

Above High Falls

I woke up at around 8:00, but stayed in the tent until around 8:30. This was our lay-over day, so there was no rush to get up. The forecast was for a chance of showers through-out the day. We decided to continue upstream above the falls. With empty boats, we thought it would be easier getting over the beaver dams.

We paddled over to the west side and took the portage trail to the put-in above the falls. The river continued to meander through alder thickets with lots of beaver dams. We checked out Camp Johnny (#11) that gets its name from Johnny Robinson, a legendary 19th-century Adirondack guide, woodsman, and trapper. We also checked some of the huge old growth pines near the site.

The "Boover Dam"

We continued up stream climbing over beaver dams until we hit a huge dam just below site #8. We joked it was the Hoover Dam of beaver dams – the "Boover Dam". We decided we had lifted over enough beaver dams for one day and began our run back downstream.

It was a lot easier running back down over the beaver dams than it was to lift over them. We took a break for lunch on some large boulder before continuing down to the falls. That evening we had another great night for viewing the stars - amazing compared to what I normally see in light-polluted Rhode Island.

Lunch on the rocks

We were up early the next morning to get ready for the trip back down to Inlet. It took us about 8-hours over two days to paddle up from Inlet to High Falls. It took about 4-hours to paddle back down. Many of the dams that we needed to lift over on the way up we were able to run on the way down. By mid-morning the clouds broke and the sun came out. Unfortunately, the battery in my camera died so I don’t have any pictures.

When we got back to Inlet I found that my car had a dead battery. Somehow, I had left my lights on. Fortunately, Aaron had a set of jumper cables. We stopped for a celebratory beer at Raquette River Brewing before heading on our ways – Aaron for home and Dan and I to Eaton Lake Campground for the RICKA Adirondacks trip.

Links:

My Pictures

Five Ponds Wilderness
Five Ponds Wilderness map
Five Ponds West Map (GeoPDF)
Five Ponds East Map (Geo PDF)