Weather: Sunny and humid
Portages: 3
#1: Union Falls Dam Rd
This is where the shuttle picked us up, but we had portage from the dam to the bridge. Would have been wheelable after the take-out, but we carried everything. We took out on the point, where there is an obvious trail, but the official take it is very close to the booms by the dam (which was unnerving to me, even if we had found the right take-out.) There were also several DEC sites and an outhouse in this area (also trash-strewn), but another camping option.
#2: .3 miles around Separator Rapids
Found the marked portage easily. Two downed trees along the trail to scramble over or under, but once you get to the road, its wheelable. Put back in just over the guardrail after crossing the bridge, but didn't see any NFCT sign. (The portage had been marked up to that point.) More trash at the take-out and put-in.
#3: 1.4 miles around High Falls Dam, all wheelable, but lots of ups and downs. The take-out was VERY muddy here, I think because the water level was down. Lots of deer flies. Finally took out the DEET here. A gigantic green pipeline follows the road, but it was too muggy and buggy to bother getting out the camera.
Wildlife: Deer, blue herons, eagle, and one, heavily tattooed, long-bearded river rat swimming with two friends in his "bathtub" at the base of Separator Rapids.
Dinner: Jingles (?) Diner in Picketts Corners
Started off paddling from our site to the Union Falls Dam where I signed the registry and we waited for the shuttle at 9 a.m. Noticed two new names of people who stated they were thru-paddling and were only one day ahead of us. Put in at Claysburg where the water was low and scratchy, but not impossible to paddle. If there had been 2-4" more water, it would have been completely fine. Did ground out a few times and had to get out and walk the canoe. Rest of the time was fine picking through. After Separator Rapids, the water level seemed higher, but we still grounded out a few times. From the High Falls Dam to Baker's Acres, the water levels were just fine.
Pulled up to Bakers Acres (we loved Baker's Acres!), and learned that the two through paddlers, Pat and Jess from Vermont, were also there, but had got a ride and gone back up to paddle a section they had missed. Turned out they went back to the Teft Pond Falls section, where they HAD made it so far, but had problems around the falls. They didn't want to miss any part of the trail, so they had gone back there with the intention of finishing up that section. I'm not remembering the entire story, but it did involve flipping and leaving their canoe behind. They had to go back there yesterday for a third time to get it. We hope they catch up to us so we can find out what happened after we left.
Bakers Acres has showers and a swimming pool. We had planned to shower up and then walk to the town, but it was still so humid that day, after showing, we spent another hour or so in the pool. Finally walked to the village and had dinner at the diner there. Bought some big cans of Genessee beer and came back to our site where we met Jess and Pat and spent the evening talking about where we had been. It started sprinkling around dusk, and kept raining on and off all night. Still no rain during the day while we were on the water.
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| Baker's Acres Campsite --note the herd of domestic school buses in the distance-- |
