Carry Falls Reservoir, Northwest Adirondacks NY
July 9 - 15, 2006
OC1 - Mike, Diane, Tyler, Cooper

Topographic Coverage: The Carry Falls Reservoir NY topo covers 95% of
the reservoir. The Stark topo covers the remainder to the west,
including the downstream Stark Falls Reservoir and Black Falls
Reservoir. The Childwold topo takes in the southern tip of Carry Falls
and the Raquette River upstream east to Smith Island.

With four canoes gunwales down and rock solid secure on the new
quadruple crossbar Quick and Easy van racks (the design concept works
well, although it necessitates some macramé weaving of belly lines,
and I can comfortably put off buying a BMO trailer for another year or
two. Or until I learn how to back up a trailer with muttering
invective, whichever comes last) we motored 8 hours north from the
Mason Dixon Line aimed for the Adirondacks

Headed north with a familiar routine; we had our initial destination
thoroughly plotted and planned, full topo coverage, gear drybagged and
food for 4 or 5 days. In the van we had a surplus of drygoods, clean
clothes and spare reading material to last us another week. And a thick
map and info file of possibilities for the second half of the week
elsewhere in the Adirondacks; Bog River, Lows Lake, Lila and a half
dozen others.

We chose Carry Falls as our first destination because, other than
having not yet been there, it is a large (3100+ acre), shallow (average
18' depth, max 50') dam controlled lake reputed to be fringed with
sandy beached at summer pool levels. It is also oriented north/south
and less likely to blow up a whitecapped chop than the north east-west
Lows, Lila or Tuppers.

We were, after a fashion, wrong on both counts. The winds over the
course of the week were predominately from the south, or the north, and
putting on we recognized that the reservoir level was only a foot or
two below maximum pool level.

After loading a veritable mountain of gear (it is absolutely amazing
the quantity of gear that 4 solo canoes will swallow - how in the
world did we ever do this in a 16' tandem and a 15' tandem?) we
headed north past a sparse scattering of cabins along the east bank.

Passing the mouth of the Jordan and a few more cabins we curved east
along the shoreline, past a jeep/ATV trail that parallels the Jordan
and on to our intended destination at Maple Island.

Occupied. Two motor boats, the only other folks we had seen on the lake
thus far, were ensconced on the Maple Island beach. Apparently
picnicking, but it was hard to tell.

Not wishing to intrude on their idyll we scouted out the two small
islands east and north of Maple. Nothing doing on the north island, a
bit more favorable camping on the east island and scouted the embayed
shoreline at the mouths of Cold Brook and Little Cold Brook. Nada much
at high water levels.

Intrusive or not I paddled over to the party on Maple Island and,
chatting them up, discovered that they were in fact picnicking on the
beach and was graciously invited ashore to make camp. I prophetically
remarked to them that I would likely remember only their dog's name.
Doofey, a large, black, mixed breed of friendly and seemingly
intelligent disposition.

Possible more intelligent that his human companions; while Doofy
appeared to be a leave-no-trace ethic canine his two-legged companions
deposited a variety of toilet paper "flowers", beer cans and
two-pack-a-day-habit cigarette butts crushed in the sand.

We traditionally leave any site cleaner than we first found it, but
Maple Island may have set the benchmark for policing the area. Over the
course of our stay we collected a caseworth of empty beer cans (and two
full ones - alas they were Bud Light), picked up a carton of
cigarette butts, cleaned up a couple of debris-laden firepits and
properly disposed of the unsightly deposits of numerous folks who
desperately need to read "How to **** in the woods".

I could sarcastically ascribe this scattered litter to the remnants of
a past NPMB rendezvous, but that absurd accusation has already been
covered...and there were no empty Bud cans denoting the presence of
DougD. (Just kidding, inside joke for old NPMB'ers).

The heavy-use aspect of the Maple Island campsite is understandable -
it is probably the premier site on the lake, and rates a solid 90% on
the McCrea Family site grading scale, with the highest scores possible
for sun/shade mix, landing ease, tent space, swimmability and water
views - losing points only for wanderability (it is, after all, a
small island) and bugginess. If there were points awarded for hanging
nails in trees it would be an A+.

And the bugginess may have been as bad or worse anywhere else. The high
mid-summer pool level evidenced the aftermath of a recent moist
stationary front, no doubt contributing to a dusk mosquito population
and an abundance of flies (many of whom fell victim to my forked stick
and duct tape fly swatter).

I was impressed with Diane and the boys' ability to tolerate the
insect population. Unfortunately all too well experienced at camping
with bugs, they were quickly inured of annoyance and we never resorted
to headnets and rarely to socks, pants or long sleeves.

It helped immeasurably that the Maple Island site features excellent
sand-bottomed swimming, and a wrap around beach that offers not only
sunrise and sunset views but also multiple choices for bug-lessening
windward sides.

That wraparound white sand beach continued to wrap around increasingly
further over the course of our stay, as the dam release water dropped
the pool level further each day. We marked and re-marked the pool level
several times a day with stones placed at the water's edge,
estimating that it dropped at least 2 feet over the course of a week.

What does a family of four do for a week on a small island?

Swim; as usual on lake trips we brought two inflatable rafts, cheap
Coleman's that have surprisingly lasted nearly a decade of hard use
(thank you Mike Yates). Just hope the wind blows you into an eddy when
you nod off while afloating.

Read; we brought multiple books, and traded off when finished. Side
note to Doc, CWDH, Brian and others who enjoy a good tale of
exploration and adventu "Off The Map", subtitled "Tales of
Endurance and Exploration" by Fergus Fleming comes highly
recommended. Forty five chapter ranging from the familiar Magellan,
Hudson, Franklin and Admunsen/Scott to the more obscure Ibn Battuta,
Clapperton/Lander, John & James Ross and Umberto Nobile. A fine read.

Swim some more.

Day paddle. We had a couple of high wind days but none the less
explored the Jordan River, Cold Brook and Little Cold Brook and most of
the eastern shore. With a steady wind from the south the isthmus due
north of Maple Island collected bits of breeze blown flotsam from the
reservoir, including a pack of hand-tied hooks and a couple of lures.

The south shore of that isthmus has another fine beach even at high
water, and a small, grassy camp clearing just at the treeline big
enough for a tent or two. Buggy though.

I was not the only one who appreciated the flotsam gathering along the
south shore of this isthmus, and the beach was covered with bear tracks
and occasional bit of fish fin and scale, a wind-delivered ursine
smorgasbord. Buggy and beary. On the whole I would rather police the
empty beer cans on Maple Island.

Swim some more.

Play games. The usual all-terrain bocce, using old croquet balls and
golf balls. Skee ball; Diane made a skee-ball ramp up one steep dune.
And miniature golf.

That last provided hours of course-making reminiscent of a past trip
that featured several days of windbound leprechaun house construction.
Cooper proved the master of creating miniatures golf holes, including
dogleg bank shots, water hazards, ramps and other tricky obstacles.
Although Diane holds the 9-hole course record, but only thanks to
Cooper's damnable bonus shot design on the 9th hole. I will note that
in the midst of an earlier game "Tiger" Hollingsworth had hurled
her putter into the lake. And later burned it.

Swim some more.

Go bowling. Yet another bocce ball beach game. A sand alley and a pin
rack of beer cans, including the two full Bud Lights at the seven and
ten spots (finally a use for Budweiser products, although they made it
tough to pick up the spare). Word of warning: Diane's thrown object
release problems extend to beach bowling. Stand clear or wear a helmet.

Eat. Yeah, we do eat well on trips. Aside from separate food and drink
coolers and a bread bucket we were toting a 60-litre barrel and harness
stuffed to the brim. Filet Mignon with a shallot, tarragon, onion and
garlic Béarnaise sauce. Roasted rack of lamb with white wine and
garlic sauce. Smoked salmon and mozzarella ravioli with balsamic
vinaigrette dressing. Sea Scallops in chili hollandaise. Lemon grass
grilled shrimp.

OK, ok truth to tell - we had hooked up with a rep from Grog and
Gruel

http://www.grogandgruel.com/

to try out some of their flash frozen boil-in-bag meals designed for
sailboat racers. On the downside these meals require refrigeration and
create a lot of plastic packaging trash, but preparation was boiling
water simple, the food was astoundingly good (and the sauces terrific)
and they can ship anything from their extensive menu anywhere in the
world. No ramen noodles this trip!

Swim some more. And marvel at the near total absence of power or paddle
boats on the reservoir. With the exception of the Doofy family and a
few puttering fishermen the lake was routinely devoid of other people
and we would continually walk out to the expansive water views on the
beach and marvel "There's no one here".

Run around the island. Cooper laid out a cross country course
circumnavigating the island, sometime in the shallows, sometimes
overland, over and under fallen trees and other hazards. The course
record is 2:14. Unless you are an agile 119 lb wrestler gymnast you
won't come close.

As the reservoir levels continued to drop more and more sandy beaches
were exposed, both on Maple Island, which at very shallow water
apparently connects to a nearby peninsula on the east bank; the
underwater sandbar between the two is nearly wadable even at high
water, and elsewhere around the perimeter of the lake. The lowering
pool level opened up abundance of sandy beach camping areas and by
Friday we had company on the lake in the form of a boat of carousing
twenty somethings ferrying friends over from the dam launch.

There are a lot worse things they could have been up to than camping
and carousing in the woods, although I was tempted to ask them to
change the station on their boombox after an evening of Styx, Journey
and glam rock oldies. Or paddle over to see if they had anything better
than Genny Red - why isn't there good pale ale in cans?

Time for another swim.

Sit around the campfire. There is an abundance of dead and downed wood
on the island and more as driftwood piled around the outskirts beaches,
perhaps demonstrating that it is more of a day use picnic destination
than a heavily used campsite. We had largish Whiteman fires every
night, either up in camp or down on the beach (in due course cleaning
up and consolidating multiple firepits in both locations) and twiggy
breakfast fires each morning. How did we ever survive the evening
munchies without pie irons in the coals?

Swim a little more. Did I mention that we spend a LOT of time swimming?
Tyler especially, who accused the rest of his family of not liking the
water just because we didn't spend 10 hours a day submerged.

So much did we enjoy the empty environs of Carry Falls and our site on
Maple Island that we nixed the plan to move along and explore
elsewhere, paddled back to the Parameter launch to resuppy with ice at
the Sevey Corners store*, grab some planned-ahead Guinness and Genesee
Red stashed under the back seat and stayed for the rest of the week.

* The well water at the Sevey Corners store is potable, but not very
tasty. And the water supply at the Parameter site is signed "Not for
drinking". Bring a filter or pack it in.

After a couple more warm sunny days and cool nights (I love wearing
July fleece in the Adirondacks, and hate coming home to a bank clock
flashing "8:30pm ...29c ...85f ...humid as God's left
armpit""), swimming, games and day paddles we broke camp on
Saturday morning.

Two Alpine Meadows tents, one Hennessy hammock, one Travel hammock, one
roll-a-table, one NRS River Wing, one 60-litre barrel and an Everest of
drybags. Packed and into the boats in under an hour. With coffee
breaks.

Paddle back to the Parameter launch, another leisurely hour. Van
packed, boats racked and on the road, under an hour. All at a
relatively leisurely pace. Since the boys have done this all their
lives we are quietly efficient, having a cumulative 80 years experience
between us.

Since we were packing out a considerable amount of trash collected from
the Maple Island understory we felt it was permissible to leave a few
things behind. There are two golf balls and four hand-hewn putters on
the beach beside the miniature golf course.

And a very effective flyswatter hanging in camp.

Have fun.

Getting there directions: Easypeasy. Northeast of Cranberry Lake find
the intersection of Rte 3 and Rte 56 (Sevey Corners). Heading north
from this point on Rte 56 there are multiple launch sites. Heading
north from on 56 from Sevey Corners:

2.4 miles north on Rte 56 is an unmarked short but rough dirt road
leading to Raquette River access just below Jamestown Falls. Not
recommended for in-season overnight parking due to limited parking
space (and questionable security?) this access does offer a couple of
scenic fla****er miles of the lower Raquette and a nice view of the
falls as inducement. Probably a better day-paddling put in.

4 miles north of the 3/56 intersection a paved right turn leads to the
signposted Parameter campground. If you are arriving late this offers
the option of pitching an overnight camp prior to an early put in.
Ample secure overnight+ parking at the launch. A shallow beach beside
the boat ramp offers an out of the way staging area.

12 miles up Rte 56 a right turn towards (signposted) Joe Indian Pond.
Turn right after 1.5 miles to Carry Falls Reservoir and right again to
a large boat launch/parking area at the north end of the reservoir.

There is an additional dirt road access about a mile north of the
Parameter launch, although from a paddling past lake view this appears
to have limited parking, lots of stored motor boats and may be private.

Carry Falls trip photos:

http://community.webshots.com/myphot... curity=aNBmeA

wrote:
Carry Falls trip photos:


http://community.webshots.com/myphot... curity=aNBmeA

Hey Mike,what is that second bumper sticker from the left from?

I also like your throne! :-)

--
Wilko van den Bergh wilkoa t)dse(d o tnl
Eindhoven The Netherlands Europe
---Look at the possibilities, don't worry about the limitations.---
http://kayaker.nl/

Wilko wrote:

Hey Mike,what is that second bumper sticker from the left from?

Wilko, it's me in all my glory:

http://www.northernsun.com/n/s/5059.html