Day 30, Aug. 2: Pond in the River to Upper Richardson Lake

Camping Issues

Mileage: 7 miles

Weather: Morning rain (showers and t-storms), overcast with threatening storms and wind afternoon

Portages: 1

.7 mile from Pond in the River to Middle Dam. Parts were wheelable, but was easier to carry everything.

Wildlife: A group of 7 or more loons by Middle Dam, three deer, bald eagle, herons, hermit thrush and hummingbirds (Joyce is adding to the bird identification.) I've neglected to include that kingfishers, crows and the ubiquitous seagulls are seen almost daily too.

Woke up to sunshine and started out the morning with the portage. Heard thunder rolling as we carried the first load of gear, and arrived at Middle Dam with the second load just as the rain started falling. We were able to stash our gear and stay under the Middle Dam's manager's tented picnic table area with their permission while Joyce and I waited out the storm--for almost two hours. It even became cold enough at one point that we put on our rain gear just to stay warm, even though we were staying dry under the picnic table canopy. Blue skies appeared and we set out with a tailwind. 

Waiting out the storm at Middle Dam

Passed one of the largest groupings of loons I've ever seen at one time and paddled into the narrows. We found the Richardsons to be beautiful, although crowded. The beaches looked inviting, but storm clouds kept appearing around the horizons and we pushed on toward the area where I had expected to camp.

As part of my trip planning, I was aware that camping within the Map 8 area required reservations. I had called, then emailed (June 8, to be precise), Camp@Southarm.com asking for campsites availability and receiving the following information:

"The only site we have would be Half Moon 2.  All other sites in the area you mentioned are full.  Please let us know if you are interested in this site."

At which time, I responded that I wanted to book this site and asking to whom I was to send payment. Its totally my fault that I neglected to follow up on the lack of a response until the week before I left for the trip, but had hoped that the site might be open since I had verified I wanted to reserve it. I write this as a warning/heads up to future paddlers who are not from the area for two reasons: 

1) The Richardson campsites were indeed all full, and

2) The aforementioned Half Moon 2 site was not to be found

I have found that some of the campsite identifications on Map 8 to be inaccurate in terms of the number of sites available at some of the locations. (This was true for tomorrow's campsite at Stoney Batter Point as well, which only had one site, not the three as listed on the map.) 

The Richardson sites are labeled with signage you can see from the lake as you approach them. I located three labeled camping areas within the Half Moon Cove area--one identified as Half Moon Cove (with only 1 site), Half Moon North (with one site) and a third site Half Moon Canoe (1 site according to the party occupying it) tucked deepest into the cove. I didn't see any reference to Half Moon 2, nor did any of the parties occupying the sites know anything about that designation. The first solo paddler we talked to at Half Moon Canoe wasn't interested in sharing his site and said we were "sure to find an open site." (Ha!) The second guide (?) we talked to at Half Moon North told us that he had reserved both this and the Half Moon Cove site for his (extremely large) party a year ago in advance. We paddled on to Red Pine Point, but could see that it too was filled. The wind had picked up, turned into more of a head wind and the skies were again looking threatening. The lake repeatedly changed from ripples to rollers to whitecaps and back again. Instead of pushing ahead as the afternoon was getting later, we decided to stealth camp in plain site and set up the tent right on the gravel beach.  

Out of the entire trip, this one night was the most exasperating for me as I felt our options were very limited for through-paddlers. In addition, this was one of the most crowded sections of the trail in terms of the popularity of the lake as well what I consider to be use by overly large groups. There were at least a dozen canoes parked at the Half Moon Cove site (presumably with at least 24 people). Probably was a very, very good thing we actually couldn't camp by them even IF a second site existed. We saw several groups of more than six canoes in this area while we were paddling through.

The upside of our camping spot that night was that we had access to a motherlode of blueberries. And, once the wind died down, we paddled deep into the utter silence of Cranberry Cove at dusk looking for the still-elusive moose, but spotting only majestic herons.

Dinner: Spinach-rice casserole, chocolate pudding, blueberries

The blueberry picking made up for the site issues.