Mileage: 10 - 12 miles
Weather: Sun, scattered T-storms
Wildlife: Loon and loon babies, assorted water birds
Portages: 2
At the Eighth Lake campground take-out/portage, we ran into the people who had camped at the awesome bluff lean-to spot the night before. Turns out, we just ran into another through-paddler, Alex, who did the trail in 2010 and are also beginning to section paddle the NFCT.
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| Loon babies |
First portage through the campground is still easily wheelable.
Second portage from Eighth Lake to Brown's Tract was also okay to wheel (with occasional roots and rocks to negotiate over and around), but unlike last year, when there were many blowdowns across the trail, this year the trail was unobstructed.
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| Beginning of the Brown's Tract Carry |
Sun was shining through the puffy cotton-ball clouds as we loaded and began paddling through Brown's Tract. Heard some distant thunder. Continued to meander through the tract. Sunny sky went away. Thunder got closer. Last year, we hit the tract at the end of the day, tired. Thought we'd be able to enjoy the bog more this year. Wrong. Our meander turned into a race. Without firm ground to easily get to, we were trapped and had to continue to the outlet on Raquette Lake. Skies opened up and it poured. A warm rain to be sure, but still. Didn't want to waste time taking out the rain gear. Surely the bridge was just ahead. Another 10 or minutes later it was, just as the sun came out. The talc-written message Team Moxie had left for me last year had almost faded away, but just barely visible. It will be gone by next year.
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| Bridge near Raquette Lake, NY |
Headed off to the Raquette Taproom to dry off over a malted beverage, Manhattan chowder and some steamed clams. Was getting ready to head out on Raquette Lake when we heard thunder again in the distance. Thought we'd be smarter this time and wait. Got some ice-cream at the general store then headed to the library to look up the weather radar. Only 10% chance of T-Storms yet that afternoon, but 85 - 100% between 7 and 8 pm tonight. Headed off around 3:30 or 4 pm with the idea of getting to Outlet Bay to be closer to the Forked Lake portage. By the time we approached Tioga Point, the wind was starting to pick up so we decided to spend money on an open State Campground lean-to and spend the night there instead. Lean-to #2 on the point is beautiful and was well-protected. We watched the clouds move, waves roll and in general enjoyed a lovely stormy night.
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| #2 Lean-to at Tioga Point |
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| View of the incoming storm from Tioga Point |
Dinner: Spinach/mushroom/cheese rice casserole, oranges, chocolate pudding and the last of the slimy carrot sticks.
