LOCALadk Magazine

LOCALadk 57 the General Store, Tap Room, and Hotel. We hung wet clothing on parking posts, stored our overturned boats on the village green, and prepared for an overnight. e hotel offers affordable rooms with dinner and beer al fresco from the hotel's taproom. COVID rules? No worries. A hot shower, good food, beer, and a bed were all we cared about. We were not disappointed. A postcard-perfect Adirondack morning greeted us as the mist rose off the lake, causing a slight delay but revealing calm water. Day 2 always seems to start with morning fog. Years ago, the Adirondack Canoe Classic organizers modified the 90-Miler route to skip Forked Lake, and instead take the Marion River to Blue Mountain Lake, in part because the paddling on Raquette is notoriously challenging due to windy conditions that threaten to capsize solo boats and inexperienced paddlers. On this day we paddled north from the village surrounded by double visions of historic camps—one real, the other reflections on the lake's glassy surface. Bluff Point guided us to our first portage of the day to Forked Lake, an easily wheeled portage on a dirt road—smooth enough to allow us to enjoy snacks as we went. Forked Lake was a treat for those of us who were returning, and exciting for the first-timers. Our relaxed pace allowed us to check out the numerous available state campsites on the lake and make mental notes to return and camp. At the landing of Forked Lake Campground, we were entering foreign territory, as none of us had paddled the upcoming section of the Raquette River. e Raquette drops 116 feet in the 5 miles from Forked Lake to Long Lake. We portaged the boats along the dirt road for 1.6 miles to a landing below the rapids. At this point, the river is navigable for 1.5 miles to Buttermilk Falls. At this point we were jolted out of our serenity by the completely incongruent arrival of a military training flight practicing aerial battle tactics complete with smoke trails, sonic booms, and shooting flares. At Buttermilk Falls we picked our way down the steepest carry any of us had yet experienced. We half-walked, half-paddled the boats for a short distance, shuffling our way through a stony section at low water—the biggest test for the strength of the relationships in the C-2 boats thus far, or so we thought, until we were lured by a sign proclaiming "Trail" on the final carry before Long Lake. e long C-4 struggled through the tight turns as we hoisted her with tired arms over rocks and shimmied under downed logs. Although attached, the wheels provided little benefit as we mostly had to li the entire boat for the longest 0.5 miles of the trip. (A word of advice: At Buttermilk Falls, take the county road till you see the sign for the Deerland Lean-to's downstream.) What followed was clear passage to day's end at the Long Lake Bridge.

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