You would have to be CRAZY to do that!

We are way behind in getting travel posts published this summer because we're having too much fun traveling! So we won't be confused about when each "wandering" happened, we'll start each blog with its actual date.

September 18, 2022

Rain is in the forecast all day, so instead of hiking and kayaking, we're going for a drive in the Adirondack mountains. This area is called Adirondack Park, and it covers roughly one-third of the state of New York. We found some great little forest service roads that feel like you are on a beautiful hike while you have the luxury of driving in a nice dry vehicle.

The Boondocker Welcome site where we are camped is on the outskirts of the tiny town of Tupper Lake, New York. So we made the drive to see Tupper Lake. While it looks very interesting, you would have to be CRAZY to go out on this very big lake on this rainy, foggy, and windy day.

We also decided to drive to Horseshoe Lake, and discovered a nice little stop at Bog Falls.

This was just a little dot on google maps, but it was a lovely unplanned stop. The trees are showing signs of fall color, and the rock arch bridge makes a frame for the lake behind it.

Horseshoe Lake was nice, but you would certainly be CRAZY to put a kayak out on that big lake on a rainy forecast day like today.

We were content driving down muddy roads all by ourselves. Then we noticed a road that veered off to the left. Three cars were coming out of that little road, so there must be something interesting at the end of it. So we took that unexpected left turn on that muddy road and then saw a sign that pointed toward "Lows Lower Dam Canoe Access." When we arrived, we found the dam and spillway and an unusually large number of cars parked along the road.

Unknown to us, we had stumbled onto a premier canoe trail deep in the Adirondacks of New York. People come from all over to make the multi-day canoe trip that starts right where we are standing. We watched as a couple boats came in, with big packs of overnight gear. Many of them were towing another canoe to hold everything they would need to stay out in the wilderness for a week. 

That explains all the cars parked here, while the place looked pretty deserted. Those cars had been here for days, while their drivers were enjoying a pristine wilderness that you can't drive into.

We talked to a couple that were just getting out of the water from their four-day trip up the Bog River. They had paddled 50 canoe miles, plus hiked along the way. They paddled 12 miles this morning--most of it in the rain, and they were ready to get their wet gear unloaded since it wasn't raining now. Anyone must be CRAZY to kayak today. But guess what? No one has ever said we weren't crazy. We inflated our kayak and decided to take a short little paddle around the mouth of the river.

With the fog and the calm water, it was a beautifully surreal place to be this morning. We could see a narrow opening in the trees, and we just wanted to paddle over to see what it looked like past that opening.

It was so lovely, but we'd be CRAZY to paddle for very long in this weather. So we didn't pack any snacks or supplies for a long trip, because we're not going to be gone very long.

But the further we paddled, the prettier it got. We couldn't wait to see what was around the next curve or past the next tree line. One of the people we had talked to at the access point told us, "New York has a lot of pretty places, and this is one of the prettiest!" Now it seemed like we would be CRAZY not to continue.

In our haste to get on the water while it wasn't raining, we didn't grab snacks. But we did slip into our rain pants and jackets. Mark made fun of Denisa for putting in that umbrella that you see at the nose of the kayak. But when it started to sprinkle, that umbrella didn't seem like such a bad thing to have on board.

Mark is still smiling with his curious combination of sun hat over his rain hood. Surprisingly, that wide brim was pretty good at keeping those raindrops off his face.

As the rain got harder, Denisa got out her umbrella. It's impossible to row while holding an umbrella, so this is the first time she's ever used one in the kayak. But she was glad to have it as the rain picked up in intensity. This was Mark's view from the back of the boat.

This was the hardest rain we had ever experienced while kayaking. We were too far from the access point to return easily, so we just sat there enjoying the views. We must be CRAZY!

After what seemed like a very long time, the rain started to subside. We could still see the clouds in the mountains, but we could see more of the pretty fall foliage too.

We met a few more campers that were rowing back from their multi-day adventures. They encouraged us to continue because it "only gets better." 

They also alerted us to a bald eagle near the shore ahead of us. Can you see his bright white head at the bottom center of the picture below?

We zoomed in to get another picture of him sitting on the log by the water.

When he flew, we could actually see him better from his perch in the tree.

Besides birds, we were also entertained by the water lilies clustered around the edge of the river.

This thirty-minute paddle had turned into a much longer adventure. We had paddled almost three miles when we found ourselves right beside some bigger and steeper mountains.

That's when we realized that we had rowed all the way to the first dam. We hadn't done any research on our route because we didn't even know this place existed a couple hours ago. But this is where those multi-day canoers would get out of the water and carry their boats and supplies to the next part of the trail.

We would have to portage our kayak a couple hundred yards around the dam and then get back in the water here to continue up Bog River. It certainly looked tempting, but are we that CRAZY?!?

If we chose to continue, we would carry our kayak right beside the remains of the old buildings that once were part of a prosperous business out here in the wilderness. At the turn of the century, Augustus Low bottled up this spring water and sold it to the folks back in the city. What a unique idea to bottle up water and convince people to pay for it. He also made wine, jelly, and syrup here, and built his own railroad out to this remote location.

We know all that because Carl told us about it. Carl was hanging out at this portage spot, giving advice to canoers. The advice he gave us was to stop and take a hike to the top of the mountain that we just saw from the water. He told us that it was a "great bang for the buck" kind of hike, even though he confessed that he had never taken it himself.

We're suckers for short hikes with great views, but were we CRAZY enough to take this stranger's advice? The trail was muddy and slippery and steep. This was tougher because we only had our water shoes, not our normal hiking boots for this kind of terrain.

We thought Carl had told us that the hike was just one mile round trip. As we hiked further and further, we began to question Carl's advice. We remember that he didn't have on a ranger's uniform, so why was he there at this place that can only be reached via a boat? Why did he send us on this longer and tougher hike in our water shoes? Was he going to steal our boat and be gone when we returned? Was there really a nice viewpoint on this trail and would we be able to see anything with all the fog today? We had already hiked more than a mile, and we had so many questions!

Finally, after 1.1 miles, the forest opened up onto a rocky cliff and we knew that Carl was right.

We had finally made it to Hitchens Pond Overlook! We knew that the views would have been better on a blue-sky day, but they were still beautiful today.

We had wandered into another of God's wonders!

It was a slippery trip back down off the mountain, but we were glad we took the hike. When we got back to the water, we were relieved to see that our boat was still where we had left it.

Carl was still there too, and we had to apologize for ever doubting his advice. When he advised us to continue kayaking further up the river to the bog section, we finally had to stop being crazy. Denisa gets a strange anxious feeling when her blood sugar gets too low. Without any snacks with us we knew it was going to be tough just paddling the three miles back to the pickup. We weren't CRAZY enough to go further. Once again, Carl came to the rescue. He knows that low blood sugar feeling, and he insisted that Denisa take one of his Hornby Energy bars. It was delicious, and gave us the energy we needed to paddle back to the access point. Thanks Carl for your part in this CRAZY day!

It was still foggy for the trip back. The mountains and the trees have a misty beautiful look to them.

We spotted several more bald eagles on the return trip, including this one that posed for a picture.

 But the highlight wildlife sighting had to be this moose, just stepping out of the trees down a little cove. After searching for moose across Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, we were pretty excited to finally spot one in the wild in New York!

We didn't have the binoculars with us, but we took several zoomed in moose pictures before we floated to get a little different angle. That's when we realized that we had been taking pictures of a moose-shaped log sticking out of the bushes. We still haven't seen a moose!

The skies were actually clearing, and we didn't get rained on again. But we were both a little relieved when we caught our first glimpse of our take-out spot. We're guessing that the multi-day rowers had that same feeling when they came in this morning. We grabbed another quick snack from the pickup, then had dry weather to put the boat away. For an update on our ongoing blind taste test, the Zestar apple won over the Cortland today as we gobbled them up.

We made the drive back to the motor home for showers and dinner and reflected on our day. Instead of staying inside on this rainy day, we went exploring. We managed to kayak 6.4 miles and hike 2.2 miles on a day when we thought you would have to be CRAZY to do either one of those activities!