Kayak Fun!

Bald Eagle sighting!

Made a quick stop at Adirondack Lakes and Trails Outfitters in Saranac Lake to get the local scoop on some lakes and ponds to check out. Nice folks, low key, and very helpful - check them out if you're in the area. After a meet and greet with the shop dog, Lucy, we were back on the road and headed for adventure. We decided to take it easy on ourselves and save the real navigation (and portages) for our second Adirondacks paddle, so we started at Second Pond just southwest of Saranac Lake. 

Paddling happy. Fuzzy face regrowth in progress. 

Day was nearly instantly made when we came across an otter frolicking in the water. I think s/he was doing an otter challenge, as s/he swam from shore to an exposed rock out in the water.  S/he splashed her tail about two feet from Dean's boat, before swimming under it to get back to land.   Dean otter've been quicker to to get a photo. Then as we paddled into First Pond, a bald eagle swooped across our path to land on a tree. Got close enough for some iphone pics, but since we didn't trust ourselves with the real camera in the kayak quite yet...squint when you're peeking at the pic. 

Came out of the ponds into Lower Saranac Lake. The lake is lined with public land and NY's DEC has established a bunch of campsites along the water's edge. We did see one couple bungie-ing a big cooler, a tent, and the kitchen sink to their kayak, but we contented ourselves with packing a pb&j and some pretzels for a water's edge lunch stop.