Long Lake (Adirondack Park) in New York - Weekend Trip Report

Trip Overview

After getting some friendly advice with some of the other paddlers on this site, my wife and I set off on Long Lake on the morning of the 10th. We both have experience paddling, mostly canoe for me and some canoe, some kayak for her. But we have never camped out of kayaks, so it was a bit of an experiment, and one that worked out very, very well.

We put in at the DEC boat launch in Long Lake and paddled north with a decent tailwind, and a great view of the floatplanes landing every 30 minutes or so. It was a bit chilly on Saturday, with temps barely getting into the 50s, but we just paddled harder and worked up ourselves almost into a sweat. The scenery was incredible and we really enjoyed all the colors of the brilliantly changing trees.

We paddled north past Kelly's point and noted what a great looking camping spot it seemed to be. There were a number of canoes and kayaks parked there for what looked like a decent amount of time judging by everything they were unloading. One gentleman was sitting out on one of the sunbathed rocks blowing out a tune on his harmonica. Very nice background music as we paddled past and waved.

At Rodney Point, we stopped for a bathroom break and a snack and met a couple guys spending the weekend there out of their canoe. Good guys and good conversation� We had a little over 2 miles to get to Plumbley Point, our hopeful destination for the day, and we paddled past a few neat little rustic cabins on the way. The first lean-to was taken right on the point, but the other one was free so we beached our boats there and set up camp. Had a great little fire and dinner and tucked in for a cold night. I think it dropped into the low 30s that night, but our sleeping bags did what they are supposed to do.

The next morning, we packed up lazily and got on the water heading north around 1030. We didn't really have a destination in mind, just wanted to paddle down the Raquette a ways. We paddled to the "deep hole" lean-to and stopped for some lunch, then decided to paddle up the Cold River as far as we could. We made it a little over a mile upstream until all of my paddling efforts were met with zero progress and too-shallow water. So, defeated, we turned around and paddled back down the Cold, and turned left back up the Raquette into Long.

In the meantime, the wind kicked up on the lake and by the time we had paddled back to where the lake empties into the river, there was a decent amount of chop. I set a course for the eastern shore of the lake and paddled through some heavy wind and chop. The lake is fairly open where it empties into the river and the paddle towards the shore was actually a lot of fun as we fought wind and waves! It gave me great practice with my edging and sweep strokes, as neither of us have rudders or skegs. Once we got closer to shore, it protected us quite a bit from all the chop and we stuck close as we paddled south.

We came across the Island House lean-to and decided to set up camp there for the night. It was only about 3:00 so we took our time gathering wood and relaxing at this fantastic camp spot. It really is a beautiful spot, for those that would like to know..

The next morning was a paddler's dream. Perfect temperature, perfect sun, no wind, just right.. The 9 or so miles back to the DEC boat launch just glided by effortlessly. I stopped to watch the planes land a few times then slowly, reluctantly paddled back to the launch. We loaded everything back on the truck and went into town for lunch�

Great weekend!!
Enjoy the photos!
https://picasaweb.google.com/

Accommodations:

Boat launch, parking, restroom..

Outfitting:

Prijon SeaYak (him)

Perception Sole (her)

Fees:

None

Directions:

From the south, Take 28N into Long Lake, turn onto Rt.30. When the road makes a sharp left, turn right onto Dock Rd., follow it about a mile to the DEC boat launch.

Resources:

Nat Geo Adirondack Park map.. USGS topo