Lake Lila

Today we paddled on Lake Lila. Lake Lila is in the William C. Whitney Wilderness area near Little Tupper Lake. It is a camping destination with about 2 dozen established campsites on the lake. To access the lake, one must negotiate a 0.3 mile carry from the parking area. This inconvenience did not stop folks from carrying coolers, folding chairs and the kitchen sink. These folks would never make it in the Boundary Waters, where efficient portaging skills are a must. I suspect that the real canoe campers find more remote areas to visit.

We paddled a mile or two to the far end of the lake against a brisk headwind. There we hiked 1.6 miles to the summit of Mt. Frederica, which had commanding views of the lake. On our return, the wind had shifted (of course!) and we enjoyed an even stronger headwind as we paddled back. On the carry folks were impressed with how I singlehandedly carried the boat, and asked how heavy it was. I told them the secret is a decent yoke and good balance. That and practice. Rookies!

Still in the Adirondacks: Blue Mountain Lake

We are still camped at Lake Eaton. This is a wonderful area. We will likely stay put until Tuesday and then move to Wilmington Notch CG, near Lake Placid in the High Peaks area. The colors are continuing to ripen, but they have not peaked yet. We may see peak colors before leaving the High Peaks.

Today we went back to Blue Mountain Lake. We hiked to the summit of Blue Mountain, a climb of about 1750' over two miles. The summit is at 3759' and there is an abandoned fire tower with excellent views of the area, including Blue Mountain Lake. Our only mistake was to do the hike on a gorgeous Saturday morning. There must have been 300 hikers on the mountain. We're retired! We can do this any day! Why do it on a Saturday? Actually we did it today because we wanted to get back over to Blue Mountain Outfitters, where they were having a demo day for Swift Canoes and Kayaks. Bill Swift, the founder of Swift Canoes was there. I own a Swift Yukon and wanted to meet Bill Swift. They had a lot of kayaks on hand, but very few canoes. Dorcas and I paddled a kevlar Prospector and a few kayaks (but don't tell anyone that!). It was a bit windy on the lake so it was difficult to get a good feel for the boats. The Prospector needs to be paddled on a river anyway to be appreciated. We didn't buy a boat, but Bill said he could bring me a new Yukon when he is in Wilmington in November. I said I'd let him know.

Tupper Lake vs Tupperware?

Yesterday we went back to The Adirondack Museum at Blue Mountain Lake. We spent another 7 hours at the museum. We didn't see it all, but at least we walked through almost every exhibit. If you are ever in this area, I highly recommend this museum.

Today we puttered around Long Lake and drove over to Tupper Lake, "the Crossroads of the Adirondacks". Tupper Lake has the only cell service within a gazillion miles. We called Mom and she asked if that was where they made Tupperware. I don't know, but there is a large factory (kinda rundown now) that says Jarden Plastics Solutions. Hmmmm. We found a really good canoe outfitter at Tupper Lake. We bought some maps and got some good ideas for out-of-the-way ponds to paddle.

Photo of the week

"I washed in hot water and I SHRUNK!"

"And that's the truth!"

Quote of the Week

"Of all sports ever sported, commend me to angling. It is the wisest, virtuousest, discreetest, best; the safest, cheapest, and, in all liklihood, the oldest of pastimes."
William T. Porter, 1840s

Blackfies, Mosquitoes, and Punkies: a cosmopolitan police, detailed by Divine Providence to guard the great hunting park of the Republic from the incursions of cockney poachers and murderers of deer in the summer. Long may they wave!"
North Woods Walton Club Toast, 1858

Blue Mountain Lake and Long Lake, NY

We are camped at Lake Eaton, a public NYDEC campground near Long Lake, in the heart of the Adirondacks. Today we visited the Adirondack Museum at Blue Mountain Lake. We were there 7 hours and did not see half of the exhibits. Our admission is good for a second day, so we are going back there again tomorrow. One reason we moved so slowly was I got bogged down looking at all the old canoes and Adirondack guide boats. Recreational canoeing here goes back to at least the 1870s. Canoe heaven.

The weather has been exceptionally pleasant, with daytime highs in the 70s and evening lows in the 40s. The campground here is nearly deserted; we will stay on this site until Sunday, so we won't have to fight the weekend crowds (if any) for a new campsite. We have scavenged enough abandoned firewood from the campground to make fires every night for a month.

Old Forge, NY

We are at Nick's Lake, a public NYDEC campground near Old Forge, NY. This morning we paddled the shoreline of Nick's Lake. The weather was mild and sunny and there are no motorboats allowed. A very pleasant and relaxing paddle. This afternoon we explored the towns of Old Forge and Inlet, along the "Fulton Chain", consisting of First Lake - Eighth Lake. There are deer in every other yard around here. They say bears have been raiding the campground, but we haven't seen any yet. Bear season opened this weekend; everyone has warned us to be careful hiking. I don't think I will wear my black hat and vest.

Tonight is forecast for 29 degrees, but it should warm up in the next few days.

North to the Adirondacks

The Country Coach Nor'Easters fall rally is over. One good thing about hanging around until the bitter end of a rally is that you get a ton of leftover food. Today we will leave the Watkins Glen and the Finger Lakes region and head north towards the Adirondacks. I think we will go first towards Old Forge, on the west end of the park, about 4 hours from here. There are some good paddling and hiking opportunities in that area. After a few days we may move north and east towards the mountains and northern lakes areas.

Last night it got down to 40 degrees. It looks like it will warm up a bit over the next few days, with the highs heading into the mid 70's and lows in the 50s. I don't know what our internet access will be like, but I will post again when I can.

Museums in New York

Yesterday we visited the Corning Museum of Glass. They have glass artifacts dating back 4000 years as well as priceless pieces of glass art. My favorites were the live glass blowing and forming exhibits and the technological glass exhibits, including containers (beer bottles), flat glass and optical glass. They had some hands-on classes, and Dorcas made a $1.00 glass bead for $15.00.

Today we visited Hammondsport at the south end of Keuka Lake. We spent most of the day touring the Glenn H. Curtiss Museum. Glenn Curtiss was a motorcycling and aviation pioneer and a contemporary and rival of the Wright Brothers. He set a number of speed and aviation records and is considered to be the "Father of Naval Aviation". This weekend they hosted the annual Seaplane Homecoming, and there were a dozen or more seaplanes at the lake, including the Curtiss seaplane reproduction "America", intending to make it's maiden flight. The original "America" was built with the intention of being the first aircraft to cross the Atlantic, but that effort was stymied by the outbreak of WWI. The reproduced "America" did not fly today, because it's engines could not produce enough power for take-off. It did taxi on the lake for the spectators.

This evening we learned to play "31", a card game I had never played before. Suffice it to say that these old folks (the average age of motorhomers exceeds ours by about 15 years) took advantage of the youngsters.

Trail of the Grape

"Bottle of wine, fruit of the vine
When you gonna let me get sober
Leave me alone. Let me go home
I wanna go back and start over"
Tom Paxton

We have found some wonderful cool weather here. Last night it was 46 degrees; today probably didn't get over about 70. It's been a great time to be here. Watkins Glen is at the south end of Seneca Lake, in the heart of New York's Finger Lakes region. It is a perfect wine growing region and there are 36 wineries on Seneca Lake alone. Today we visited five wineries for tastings. And, if that weren't enough, we returned to camp for a wine and cheese party. Wino heaven.

Watkins Glen, NY

We arrived at the KOA in Watkins Glen before noon. I have always had an aversion to camping at a "Kampground", for no particular reason that I could understand. Now I have a tangible reason for my prejudice. Ruth at the office assigned us site B-54, and we went on down to set up camp. When we got to B-54 there was yellow crime scene tape across the site, and the site was full of loose rubble and gravel. It looked like grave robbers had just left. I went back to the office to see what's up, but Ruth was clueless. She called Ray, an outside guy, and he said they had cut a tree and pulled a stump out of the rear of the site and hadn't finished repairing the surface. That's fine, but where do we park the coach? There were no other sites available for the duration of our stay. She had a site we could have for two nights, but we would have to move to another site for the next two nights. Finally Ray said he could fix the site. He would bring in some fresh gravel, spread it and compact it, but it would take about an hour. We really had no choice, so we checked in at the rally HQ while Ray did his thing. Amazingly he had gravel and a roller compacter on the site pretty quickly and was finished in just under an hour. It wasn't perfect, but it'll do. The Country Coach folks running the rally here have had other problems with the KOA and said they won't be coming back here again.

There are 34 coaches at the Country Coach Nor'easters Fall Rally. One must live in New England, MD, DE, PA, NJ or NY to join the Nor'easters chapter. We are one of only three guest coaches, so we are surrounded by Yankees, however, everyone here has been as nice as they can be to us. For a while we were afraid they had assigned us the war zone aka B-54 because we were interlopers from down south, but they assured us that was not the case. Right.

This afternoon we visited the village of Watkins Glen and Watkins Glen State Park. Watkins Glen SP consists of a 1.5 mile run of Glen Creek as it cuts about 600' down through a narrow gorge of ancient sandstone and shale before reaching Seneca Lake. In the early 1900s steps and tunnels were built through the gorge for the tourists. There are a number of spectacular waterfalls and pools. The Village of Watkins Glen was very quaint and unspoiled. It is a very nice area, and we are looking forward to seeing more of it.

Landing in New York

We got away this morning about 10:00 AM. That's about a 40 hour turnaround after returning from Minnesota. A rolling stone gathers no moss. Whatever that means. We stopped for the night about 10:00 PM at the I-81 visitor's center just across the New York state line. It's only about two hours to Watkins Glen, so we should arrive at the Country Coach rally by mid-morning tomorrow. The temperatures have been a bit cooler today; at 10:45 PM it was 59 degrees. We have been in and out of rain all afternoon. I hope we got some back home.

Off Again to the Great North East

Today we will depart again in the coach for a month-long trip to New York and New England. We will be attending a Country Coach rally in Watkins Glen NY Wed-Sun. After that we will head into the Adirondacks for some hiking and paddling. From there we will go to New England for more of the same. Hopefully we will find some cooler weather and some colorful fall foliage. We plan to meet some friends on the Greenbrier River Trail in mid October and then head home.

Out of Minnesota

We are off the water from our annual Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) excursion. We put in on Sunday August 26 and took out on Friday September 7, a total of 13 days. This trip was different from our other trips in several ways. First, we took a very short and leisurely route, with a very long layover on one lake. Second, there was a total fire ban in effect due to the extremely dry conditions. This affected our cooking strategy and our trash management. When we picked up our permit we asked the ranger what it would take for the Forest Service to lift the fire ban. He said the ban would be over when Noah's Ark floated by.

We put in on Lake One, near Ely. This is one of the most popular entry points into the BWCAW. There were a ton of boats on the water and some real traffic jams at the portages. We portaged into Lake Two and then paddled into Lake Three, where we spent our first night. From Lake Three we paddled into Lake Four (see a pattern here?) Then we made two short portages into Fire Lake where we spent our second night. From Fire Lake we made another short portage into Hudson Lake where we spent our third night. Then we portaged into Lake Insula, where we base-camped for six nights. Lake Insula is a very interesting and pretty lake with a number of islands and coves. While at Insula, we spent our days paddling around to different coves, fishing, reading, and just plain goofed off. When we left Lake Insula, we basically reversed our route (but by-passed Fire Lake) and camped in the same lakes on the way out that we camped in when we entered.

We saw many, many bald eagles and loons, but saw very few big mammals. Camp chipmunks and camp mice were abundant (Izaak wouldn't have stood for that!), but we saw no bears, no moose, no otters, not even a beaver (actually Wayne, Lynda and Don allegedly saw a bear and an otter on Fire Lake). The lack of these sightings was pretty unusual. People have said that the warm temperatures have driven the moose further north. The fishing was good. We ate fish for two meals, but could have had more fish dinners if we had wanted to. The weather was pretty good. The temperatures were mild, ranging from highs near 80 and lows in the 50s. We had a few light rains, but nothing significant enough to end the fire ban ..... until day 12. On day 12, the Thursday before we would take out, it started raining about noon. When it finished raining about 24 hours later, it had dumped between 10 and 13 inches, depending who you wished to believe. We didn't see Noah's Ark, but the critter's were lining up two by two. Luckily we were in camp during the whole rain event and stayed fairly dry under our tarp and in our tents. We asked the first paddlers we saw that had put in on Friday the status of the fire ban; they said the Forest Service would make an evaluation on the following Tuesday. Typical government bureaucracy inefficiency. A few hours later after we had taken out, we talked to a ranger, and he said the fire ban had been lifted at noon on Friday, that the supervisor had caved to political pressure. Typical government bureaucracy flip-flopping. So, in the end, the fire ban was rescinded just about the time we hit the landing at the take-out. Figures.

We spent Friday night in Ely, where Don treated us all to pizza and beer. We perused the shops of Ely and visited the vendors in the park for the Blue Moon Festival. On Saturday we shopped in Duluth and ate lunch at Fitger's Brewhouse, where Wayne picked up a couple of "Growlers". We now start the long drive home to North Carolina. We expect to arrive late on Sunday afternoon.

Boundary Waters, Here We Come

It seems like we just got unpacked from our last trip, and now we are off again. Life is good.

This morning we will depart for our annual pilgrimage to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) in the Superior National Forest in northern Minnesota.

"Great glaciers carved the physical features of what is today known as the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) by scraping and gouging rock. The glaciers left behind rugged cliffs and crags, canyons, gentle hills, towering rock formations, rocky shores, sandy beaches and several thousand lakes and streams, interspersed with islands and surrounded by forest.

The BWCAW is a unique area located in the northern third of the Superior National Forest in northeastern Minnesota. Approximately 1.3 million acres in size, it extends nearly 150 miles along the International Boundary adjacent to Canada's Quetico Provincial Park and bordered on the west by Voyageurs National Park. The BWCAW contains over 1200 miles of canoe routes, 15 hiking trails and approximately 2000 designated campsites. Wilderness offers freedom to those who wish to pursue an experience of expansive solitude, challenge and personal integration with nature. Because this area was set aside in 1926 to preserve its primitive character and made a part of the National Wilderness Preservation System in 1964, it allows visitors to canoe, portage and camp in the spirit of the French Voyageurs of 200 years ago."

We will put in on Lake One about 15 miles east of Ely, MN on Sunday August 26 and take out at the same place on Friday September 7. Normally we would move almost every day and execute about 4-6 portages each day, in which we must carry our boats and gear from lake to lake. Portages range in length from about 100' to over half a mile. This year we are taking some Boundary Waters virgins with us and have planned an easier, more leisurely trip. We will lay over in the same campsite about every other day, and the route has relatively few portages. This will allow a little more time for fishing and just plain taking it easy, and hopefully, not kill the rookies. Unfortunately, there is currently a total prohibition on open fires, due to extremely dry conditions. This is inconvenient because we usually do about half of our cooking on an open fire. We have packed extra fuel for our camp stoves, but hopefully we will get some rain and the ban will be lifted. As my friend Wayne frequently says when anyone remarks about the great weather we've had on any particular trip: "I've never been on a [fill in the number] day long trip yet, when it didn't rain". This time I hope he's right.

After we put in on Sunday, we will have no internet access until we take out thirteen days later, so it may be a while before there is another post to this site.

Bon voyage.

The Heart Rock Sweepstakes Winner IS .....

The heart rock weighed in at 13 lbs 13 ounces. The winner of the Heart Rock Sweepstakes is Ann M. with an entry of 15 lbs. Congrats Ann on your winning guess. I wish there was a prize.

The heart rock has been placed on Izaak's grave, along with the other mementos gathered on the trip.

Izaak Memorial Westward Ho Summer Adventure 2007 - wrap up

All in all it was a very enjoyable and satisfying trip. We had been worried that we would want to come home before we had planned to do so, but that never happened. When the time came to head for home we weren't ready; we wanted to stay even longer and go to even more places.

The best part of the trip, besides the obvious thing of seeing so many interesting places and things, is that we did it at our own pace. Except for the bookends, the Katy Trail bike trip and Bob Marshall backpack, we had no set schedule and could stay as long as we wanted at any particular place. Consequently, on several occasions we stayed a week or more in one place. We stayed 11 days in Glacier National Park alone. RETIREMENT IS GOOD! The worst parts of the trip were the record-breaking heat and the summer crowds in the national parks. Normally we wouldn't have planned such a trip for the middle of the summer, but with the bike trip in late May and the backpack in August, it made sense.

Trip Statistics:

• Duration: 86 days or a little more than 12 weeks.
• Distance: 6512 miles (not counting miles driven in the Honda, which would probably add another ~1200 miles.
• States Visited: TN, AL, MS, AR, TX, NM, AZ, UT, ID, MT, SD, WY, IA, MO, IL, and KY. Additionally we came within a few miles of, but did not enter, CO, NE, OK and Canada.
• Diesel Fuel Consumed: 786 gallon gallons ($2191) includes fuel for generator and hot water.
• Camping Costs: $461 Average cost = $5.42/night.

Future Major Trips:

• Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness - Aug 24-Sep 9 (without the motorcoach)
• Adirondacks and New England - Sep 11 - ~Oct 15
• NC Outer Banks ~one week sometime in Nov
• Florida - ~Dec 15 - ~Feb 15

The Franklin Reunion, Linville Falls, NC

August 10-13

This weekend we attended the reunion of the descendants of Samuel and Dorcas Franklin in Linville Falls. Samuel Franklin is my great, great, great, great grandfather. This year is the 150th anniversary of his death and the 75th anniversary of the Franklin reunion. Samuel Franklin's father was James Franklin, Ben Franklin's older brother. Therefor the guy on the $100 bill is my great, great, great, great, great uncle. Dorcas (Whitley, not Franklin) has always been very popular at this reunion. She is the only Dorcas I have found in the family, since great grandma Dorcas Franklin. I find this odd, since many family names have been recycled heavily. Ironically, my maternal great grandmother was May Delilah Greene Franklin, descended from Nathanial Greene of Revolutionary War fame, thus joining the Franklin and Greene lines.

On Monday afternoon, August 13, we arrived at home thus ending the Izaak Memorial Westward Ho Summer Adventure 2007. The homeplace was in great shape, excepting some tall weeds in the natural beds. We spent the next several days unpacking and getting accustomed the the southern humidity.

Heading Home: North Carolina!!!!!

We were on the road again this morning by 7:00 after a 2.5 hour nap. We parked the coach at the Holiday Inn in Morganton and took the Honda to the Charlotte airport (which is where we are for this writing) to meet my mother's noon arrival. We will take her back to Morganton then take the coach to the Linville Falls Campground on the Blue Ridge Parkway this afternoon. We will attend a family reunion at Linville Falls this weekend, take my mother back to Charlotte on Monday morning and be home by Monday afternoon.

Whew!!!!!

Heading Home: Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee

Thursday August 9

We woke early and I was in the Lowe's when they opened at 7:00. It only took two trips into the store to get everything I needed, but it only cost $1.01. I replaced the broken water line pretty quickly, but I didn't attempt to replace the broken shut-off valve since it had that funky heat-shrink connector and it wasn't currently leaking. If I had tried to replace the valve, we would probably still be there, and there would be water all over the Lowe's parking lot. I will work on it when we get home. We were on the road by 7:45. We bought diesel in central Missouri and set another personal record: 125.5 gallons. The gauge still wasn't dead on "E", but since the tank only holds 135 gallons, that's probably as far as we will ever push it. Dorcas drove a few stretches today, but every time she got behind the wheel, we hit a construction zone. She said she wanted to drive through St. Louis, but chickened out at the last minute when she hit heavy traffic and construction. We hit our only really big pile-up about 9:00 near Lebanon, TN. Of course Dorcas was driving. It took us about 2 1/2 hours to go one mile. During our "stop" we took advantage of the time by taking showers, napping and catching up on the journal. I think Dorcas flashed a family in a Subaru when she came out of the shower. I'm thankful nobody knocked on the door wanting to use the bathroom. We pulled over for a short nap near Sevierville, TN about 4:00 AM.