Blue Mountain

After a delicious waffle at the Bouchard-Hall’s, we put the kayaks on the car and headed for Lincoln Pond where we would be meeting Tom for a morning paddle. We started north and enjoyed the shoreline, which was full of downed trees, stumps and beaver dams. In the clear water we could see perch, sunfish, pike and even a turtle!

Turning around at the dam (which was designed and built by Lisa’s great-grandfather), we headed back to the beach for some munchies and a jam with guitar, harmonica and fiddle. We didn’t sound half bad by the third time through each song…

We paddled under the bridge and heard the sweet sound of “sailing, sailing..” and I quickly headed for shore. Hopping out of the kayak as quickly as possible, I ran for the ice cream truck and got three orange creamsicles – yum! We followed the shoreline on the south side of the lake and admired the mountain beach in the distance.

We parted ways with Tom and headed for Ray Brook, home of the famous “Tail o’ the Pup,” an iconic barbeque joint that has been in operation since 1921. Pulled chicken, Texas brisket and fried pickles gave us our fill as we listened to “Blues Noir” on the stage.

Our lodging for the night turned out to be at Lake Eaton, a state campground where we found a secluded site on the water. Despite some rain, we slept well.

In the morning we packed up our wet tent and headed for the town of Blue Mountain Lake, where we would hike Blue Mountain. Arriving at the fire tower on the summit we had a panoramic view of the area including Racquette and Long lakes. We could see the high peaks in the distance with the recognizable slides that we saw from Hurricane Mountain just the other day.

After our hike, we headed for the town beach in the village and had a picnic (mmmm…Hormel chili). We put our kayaks in the water and went to find an island with a good swimming rock. After a short trip, we quickly found a swimming hole within view of the fire tower where we were standing just hours earlier! We explored some islands and headed back to the town beach (with a sign that says no loitering….what are you supposed to do at the beach?).

It’s off to North Lake for a few days, I’m sure that we will have some great adventures there!