Last, Smallest, Shortest, but Certainly One of the Best: Canadice Lake.

I'll admit it. I'm feeling a little sentimental right now. Bear with me please :)

In my first post I laid out my paddling goals for this summer. Some were intentionally ambitious and others were intentionally ambiguous. At some point last spring it occurred to me (possibly caused by some senior year sentimentality) that I live in an incredibly beautiful region called the Finger Lakes that's lush with kayaking opportunities that I had never really taken advantage of. I set out to circumnavigate or paddle at least 15 miles on each of the11 Finger Lakes by the end of the year. It wasn't really a challenging goal, but it certainly took some great company, planning, dedication, and hours in the car. Over the past 6 months I managed to drag myself and my friends to 24 different bodies of water, and I loved every minute of it! I guess now it's time to make some new goals!

Today we (Heather, Jeff Bu., Nick, Ben, Rob, and I) paddled the perimeter of Canadice Lake (Iroquois for "Long Lake," even though it's the shortest one!). After a slight delay on my part due to a desire for Honey Crisp apples from Honeoye, we put in at the only official put-in: on the east side, about a mile down the lake.

We headed south towards the shallow/swampy part of the lake. Similar to Hemlock Lake, virtually none of the Canadice shores are developed, apart from a few random canoes/aluminum boats strewn in the woods. We immediately noticed (and played around in) the stands of dead trees in the water at the south end - a sight we haven't really seen on any of the other Finger Lakes. There were also many flocks of birds hanging out at the south end of the lake.

After dabbling around the south end for a while, we headed back up along the west shore where we scoped out a stopping point for lunch. From the water rings around the tree trunks it looked like the water level was fairly low. It was easy to find a rocky beach where we could get out and stretch our legs.

A big stink bug that found its way onto Jeff's pants...

By the time we headed out after lunch the water was so calm that you could see perfect reflections on the water:

 

Nick's boat perfectly matched the scenery today:

At the north end of the lake lies a dam that holds the water level of the lake higher than it would naturally be. It was fun to get out and explore it. There was a big concrete spillway to allow runoff in the case of a big rain storm.

It was mostly exciting as a great spot to shoot pictures from above:

We soon headed back towards the put-in where Rob and Ben practiced some rolling.  When we were back on land Heather pulled out a surprise bottle of sparkling wine and Rob threw in some delicious chocolate! We managed to get some funny looks from other boaters who were coming and going.

We ended the day at a Mexican restaurant in Canandaigua that Heather suggested. It was delicious and delightful. I'll leave you with this sunset on Canadice Lake:

Date: October 24th, 2010
Distance: 7 miles
Weather: Perfectly fall

Loons, Bugs, and Bears on Lake Winnipesaukee

Winnipesaukee is a BIG lake (approximately the same surface area as Cayuga Lake) located just south of the White Mountains in NH. It's a little over an hour from Manchester when the traffic is cooperating. We (Tina, Brian, and I) stayed over at Chris's condo on Long Island (not the famous one), which stick out into the middle of the lake.

The kayaking portion:


Date: Saturday, July 3rd

Distance: 15 miles

Time: 4.5 hours including breaks

On Saturday morning I got up at the ungodly hour of 5am (ok, it was 5:30 when I was done snoozing) for a 6am launch. Due to a lack of sea kayaks (or more likely morale at 6am), I embarked on this journey alone.

The lake felt very different from the Finger Lakes for a number of reasons:

1. It's not long and skinny, so you never know what's just around the corner!
   
2. Island hopping!!
   
3. More motor boats... more chop (hence the 6am launch)
   
4. Beautiful mountains on every horizon

Around 8am I met up with a loon family (two adults and two chicks). Here's a picture & movie of them!

I made it back feeling pretty tuckered out (slightly sore in the shoulders/abs), but I'm starting to have hope that I can paddle the length of Cayuga -- if we kept up the same rate (and the weather was perfect, etc...) it would take about 12 hours, which is an hour less than the hours of daylight in Ithaca in September...

The non-kayaking portion:
On Sunday morning the four of us got up "early" (9am, ha!) for a hike (Tina's first!) to the top of Red Hill, which sits between Squam and Winnipesaukee. On the dirt road to the trail head, a tiny black bear cub jumped into the road and scrambled across right in front of my car. We watched it run into the woods and join its mother and sibling 100 yards away!

It was a little under 2 miles to the peak (2,030 ft). The views from the fire tower at the top were incredible. We had a 360 degree view of both lakes, the Whites, and a number of other mountain ranges nearby.


We spent the rest of the weekend swimming, hanging out on the boat, basking in the sun (but not getting burned!), enjoying good food, and reading.