L&M Small Craft Coastal Explorations: Scouting the Adirondack Cannonball route

The Adirondack Cannonball is a challenge to paddle the first 90 miles of the Northern Forest Canoe Trail in one 24 hour day. We are planning to take the challenge in July, and we had an opportunity to do some scouting on the way to a conference in Burlington, VT.

This blog post might be a little dry unless you are planning to do the route, then you might be interested in a detailed analysis of the texture of the portage trails.

Old Forge

The route starts at the dock in Old Forge, NY, mile zero of the Northern Forest Canoe Trail.

The visitor center next door is open until 5pm, and there is a tavern and restaurant next door.

Seventh Lake to Eighth Lake Carry

Our home base was Eighth Lake campground, which is the site of the portage from seventh lake to eighth lake.

From the dock on Seventh Lake, it is an easy-wheeling portage through the campground to Eighth Lake. There are plenty of water taps and restrooms along the way.

There is a nice dock and beach on Eighth Lake.

Eighth Lake to Brown's Tract Portage

There was a nice beach landing on Eighth Lake.

The trail was mostly smooth with a few obstacles.

Brown's Tract

We pulled over three beaver dams.

Raquette Lake had deep inlets, which allowed the wind and waves to build.

On the way back up Brown's Tract, we passed a loon nest. The mate was keeping an eye on us from the water; alternately diving and watching us. It followed us two bends up the river to make sure we were not up to any funny business.

Forked Lake to Long Lake Carry

This section of the Raquette River is mostly carrying with a few sections that could be paddled. We decided that it might be best to carry the whole thing along the road, about 3 miles. The portages around Buttermilk Falls and Deerland Carry are rough and not easily wheeled, and there is little paddling to be gained by descending from the road onto these rough trails.

Approaching from Forked Lake, some buoys mark a passage among the rocks.

There is a fine composting outhouse and water available in Forked Lake Campground.

The trail descending from the road to Raquette River is wheelable.

The river at the put-in is shallow and rocky. We bumped and scraped our way through. If the water was any lower, we would be wading.

A short paddle of 1.5 miles leads to a rough portage trail around Buttermilk Falls.

A very short paddle leads to the takeout at Deerland Carry.

A re-united group of fraternity brothers was tired of carrying and decided to run the rapids. It was more of a bump and scrape through a boulder field than a paddle. Carrying was faster, although the trail was rough.

There were some nice cliffs at Long Lake.

After paddling a few miles on Long Lake, we pulled out at Deerland and wheeled back to the car by the road. It was about 3.5 miles, but easy wheeling.

Indian Carry

Indian Carry is on smooth trails connecting Stoney Creek Ponds to Upper Saranac Lake.

Bartlett Carry

Bartlett Carry connects Upper Saranac to Middle Saranac on smooth trail and road.

The finish at Lake Flower

There are two locks indicated on the map between Middle Saranac and the finish. We decided to launch at the finish at the town of Saranac Lake and paddle to the first lock.

There are lots of rules at the boat launch.

Reportedly, a leaning cedar tree marks the finish of the Cannonball. We could not find a leaning cedar tree near the boat launch. This one was fairly straight, but it was just past the boat launch, and according to local intelligence, is the finish location for the Adirondack Classic 90 miler.

We paddled four miles through Lake Oseetah to the lock.

The lock keeper saw us and lowered the water.

"You might want to hold on!"

The lock keeper works until 5. To pass through after hours, just operate the lock manually following the instructions. He showed me how to turn the wheels on the way down. "This one sticks a little bit, it's hard to get it going ...."