Off on Adventure: Kayaking 0n the Schroon River

Sunday, June 14, 2015

Kayaking 0n the Schroon River - 6/13/15

Adventure #3 on Saturday was a relaxing kayak paddle on the Schroon River from the Route 74 kayak launch to the boat launch in Schroon lake adjacent to the Boathouse Theater. This was a paddle of about 7 miles.

I launched at 4:45 PM. Leesa agreed to pick me up in town at 6:45 PM. I had checked the USGS Water gauge at Riverbank prior to heading out, and knew that the gauge height was 5.1 '. This was plenty of water. As long as the gauge is 3' or higher I can paddle without bottoming out at all in shallow water.

When I checked the USGS website, I saw the unfortunate notice that the site will no longer be producing new data after July 1st, 2015 due to a lack of funding. So sad.

Many of the sandbars I usually see were underwater due to the high water height.

There was a nice breeze on the river and it was a joy to be out on the water. The river felt bigger and bigger due to the high water level.

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The Schroon River in this section is an easy Class 1 with moving water but no rapids or whitewater.

I paddled the entire time so I made good progress and I reached the mouth of Schroon Lake in just over an hour. The sandbars that are usually exposed at the mouth were underwater. Since I was ahead of schedule, I paddled around Clark Island (a private island owned by The Word of Life), before paddling back to the Schroon Lake boat launch.

I was still easy but I pulled the boat up into the grass and sat on one of the park benches overlooking the water and just enjoyed some quiet time for a little while before Leesa swung in to pick me up.

This trip is always an enjoyable paddle and I do it several times each year.