By Kathryn Behuniak
My husband is always anxious to get out onto the water and paddle. For the last several years, I was focused on completing my quest to hike all 46 of the Adirondacks’ High Peaks. Now that I’ve met that goal, I’m ready to row! I’m not a complete newbie to paddling. We’ve owned recreational kayaks for over a decade. We’ve paddled many different ponds and areas in the Central Adirondacks, and generally prefer “the pond less traveled." In other words, the more remote, the better. Our latest adventure met that criteria nicely.
Open For Business
Within the last two years, sections of the Park that were previously inaccessible to the general public have opened up through the cooperative effort of the State of New York and the Nature Conservancy. Among those are the Essex Chain of Lakes and a section of the Hudson River from Newcomb to Indian Lake. On Father’s Day weekend the weather was absolutely perfect for paddling. It was absolutely perfect for just about anything in the Adirondacks, but since it was Father’s Day weekend, The Hubby got to pick the adventure! He wanted to explore a section of the Hudson River called Blackwell Stillwater.
In order to get back to the remote put-in, we had to drive about five miles or so from Route 28N on the Goodnow Flow Road. Near the end of this road, we turned left. If you turn right onto Woody’s Road, you follow the Flow around to the parking area for the Essex Chain. We’ll explore that on another perfect day. Today we went left and just past the dam, there’s a dirt road on the left. The road’s in pretty decent condition and we drove it until we saw a small parking area on the left – and an outhouse on the right. We parked here, unloaded our double kayak and began the trek to the put-in. It’s about a third of a mile from the sign-in kiosk, which is just beyond the parking area, down a dirt road to the river. It’s mostly downhill, but we were still wishing we had the little carrier with wheels for the boat!
It took us about 15 minutes, with a few rest breaks, to get to the sign for the Hudson. The “downriver” put-in is to the right. Before we committed to that, I walked down an overgrown, grassy trail to the left to see about putting in “upriver” of the bridge. We were thinking of heading toward the Goodnow River first, and then paddling downstream. There didn’t appear to be enough clearing to launch our boat, so we opted for the downriver spot. But first we walked onto the bridge. The sturdy iron bridge is for members of the Polaris Club to access their camps which are on the far side. Unfortunately for the owners of the hunting camps, their leases expire in 2018 due to the State’s acquisition of the land. Until then, they have exclusive use of the land over the bridge and we respected their rights.
We spent few minutes soaking in the tranquility of the scene before getting our life jackets on and putting our oars in the water. The put-in was a short hop through the woods from the dirt road and in no time we were off. My concern when we decided to check out this section of the river was that we would have to work hard paddling upstream on the way back. That wasn’t really an issue. This section of the Hudson isn’t named “Stillwater” for nothing. The River is so wide at this stretch that the current is very dispersed. As a result, we didn’t have great difficulty on the return trip, but we also didn’t enjoy a “free ride” when going with the current! It was a nice, leisurely paddle.
A Peaceful Paddle
Initially we passed several hunting camps on the left as we headed downriver, but before long they were out of sight and we were truly alone. We marveled at the fact that there were no clearings along the banks and imagined what it was like for the first settlers who traveled by water with nowhere to pull off for the night. The only paths we saw were those that appeared to be made by some beavers, otters or other critters making their way through the woods to the water.
After about an hour, we heard the sound of rapids. I was anxious that we didn't inadvertently end up heading for Indian Lake and was ready to turn around. The Hubby wanted to explore the area “just a little closer” to the rapids, and I reluctantly agreed. We were in a double kayak – I didn’t have much choice! Fortunately, there are decent-sized boulders to the left of the rapids which helped insure we were not hurtling towards certain death through the terrifying rapids. Yes, I may be prone to a little exaggeration, but the barrier rocks did go a long way to calming my fear that we would somehow end up in this small section of rapids.
Once The Hubby’s curiosity was sated, we turned to paddle back upriver. We crossed toward the opposite bank where there was a small area out of the flow of the river and just sat listening to the birds and for any signs of other wildlife. We grabbed a snack and began paddling. Staring us right in the face was a spectacular view of several High Peaks. Our view appeared to be the McIntyre Range (Marshall, Iroquois and Algonquin - if my identification was correct. The current was not overwhelming and we enjoyed the mountainous vista as we slowly made our way back toward the bridge. For the first time since we put our boat in the water, about two hours earlier, we actually saw other people. Two guys passed us heading downstream. They had the types of kayaks that are made for shooting the rapids and judging from the GoPro camera affixed to the front of the trailing kayak, that was their plan.
Our trip was not as adventurous, but I’m certain we enjoyed our paddle just as much. As we approached the iron bridge we could see several people fishing and one or two soaking up the sun on the large rocks on the camp side. We talked about trying our luck and paddling through the rapids under the bridge to head upstream toward the Goodnow River, but that conversation ended when we realized if we were unsuccessful, at least half a dozen people would witness us capsizing. The Goodnow could wait until another day… and maybe we would start the trip by putting in on the north side of the bridge. That way we could explore the Goodnow first and then, if we were feeling daring, paddle through the rapids under the bridge and ultimately take out on the downriver side of the bridge.
We were tired but not exhausted after about 2.5 hours of paddling and floating. There were still no other cars in the lot, so the two adventure kayakers must have begun their trip at the Lake Harris boat launch in Newcomb. That would have guaranteed them a few sets of rapids before we passed them further along in their trip.
Take advantage of this paddling opportunity now. Once the word gets out about this pristine area of the Hudson, it’s possible you won’t enjoy the same solitude we did. A stop for lunch at the High Peaks Kitchen and Campground on Route 28N in Newcomb rounded out a wonderful afternoon in the Adirondacks.
