3 days on a busy Raquette Lake -canoe trip

 

After the NPT trip, I loaded up thr car with canoe and fishing gear and headed up to Raquette Lake. There are two lean-tos close to each other in Lonesome Bay. The parking area was quite full, I did find a spot and hopefully the car will be there without a ticket when i return in 3 days. 

I paddled up the western side of the lake past the bustling summer camps and the quiet lakeside cottages. At the former, kids were running, playing and swimming. At the latter adults were sitting quietly lakeside reading, playing cards and other relaxing activities. Not many boats active on the lake. Those that were seemed to be for transport. A few tour style pontoon boats were slowly cruising around the different bays. 

In Lonesome Bay a few small craft with people fishing near the weeds. I spotted the first lean-to and found it vacant so I set up camp. The lauch area was steep and eroded, but near the lean-to was wide and flat. Some wood was nearby so I collected it for the small fire later. I wandered around a bit noting artifacts from older camps in days gone by. The 2nd lean-to was accessible if one opted to cross over a wet swampty section. It would be more desrireable to paddle which I would do the next day.

So for the next 2 days I relaxed at camp and stayed a night in each lean-to. The first night I listened to taps being played over the loudspeaker at one of the cam,ps across thr lake followed by "lights out". I complied and went to bed. While at the second, a family pulled up in a pontoon boat on a quest for a geo-cache in the area. They found the location, but the cache must have been removed.  Later in the evening a fisherman landed a decent bass in the weeds just off the bank near the lean-to landing.

Morning of the third day, I set out early on the calm glassy lake to head back. A loon was my guide for the first 50 yards. The lake was eerily quiet as I seemed to be the only one awake; quite the contrast. The draw of the paddle and the small wake from the canoe were all that disturbed the surface of the water. As the sun rose inbt he distance I made my way back to the launch to my awaiting ticket-less car.