Jim gets his boat wet.
After taking advantage of the free Econo Lodge continental breakfast, such as it was, we headed to the Green Street boat access located where the Saranac River flows into Cumberland Bay and arrived a little before 7:00 am. No one was there to greet us except some mallards, who promptly inquired as to the chances of being fed. Jim announced something to the effect that he hated big lakes.
Everything looks calm from the mouth of the Saranac River
Now, I should say that during our planning for this venture, we had agreed to follow a number of Rules, the first of which was that we would always stick close to shore at all times when possible, except for crossings, even if it meant increased mileage. However, from the put-in, things looked pretty calm,with a light breeze out of the north, so we promptly broke Rule No. 1 and decided to head straight out to Cumberland Head Light, a distance of a hair less than three miles (this actually saved us over 2 miles of paddling). Since the boats were trimmed for heading into the wind (which was coming from the north as we headed west-southwest), some of us had some control issues, but we made it without incident, and rounded Cumberland Head to head north.
Tommy and the Grand Isle Ferry off Cumberland Head
Straight head of us was the Grand Isle Ferry, which was leaving (with another headed over from Gordon Landing on South Hero Island), so we took a short break on the beach at the dock. Once the next ferry arrived, we made our move, and ended up threading the needle between the two ferries as one arrived, curving in front of us, and the other departed behind us. Boy, those big boats can move! In the meantime, we were now headed into a moderate breeze with 1 to 2 foot waves. This was no big issue, since our boats were trimmed to deal with this, and we ferried ourselves across to South Hero Island, crossing into the State of Vermont as we did so.
From there, we battled our way north towards Nichols Point. By the time we got there, the wind had picked up again, coming from the northwest at around 10 to
Big rollers coming from the north
15 mph. Jim asked us a couple times if he had mentioned that he disliked big lakes. We picked our way into the lee side of Long Point Island (a private island with a home) and, once no one appeared to kick us off, took another break, looking across at the entrance to The Gut (the bay that separates North Hero Island from South Hero Island) a little over half a mile away. It was still early, about 11:30. One camping option was Campmeeting Point on the north side of The Gut, but we decided to go straight across to the other side of North Hero and see if conditions there were any better.
The paddle across The Gut went smoothly, since we were sheltered from the winds to a great degree. Conditions on the east side of North Hero were indeed
My bow pointed right for a distant Knight Island
better than the west side, so we decided to head to Knight Island. The shortest distance between two points is a straight line. The safest route between two points, at least on big lakes, is a short line. These two lines are often different lines. We initially hugged the shore headed north, but Mike started drifting eastward, clearly taking a more direct approach and simultaneoulsy breaking two Rules. I made the proclamation, “Go Big or Go Home”, and also started heading directly to the island with Tommy, as did Jim, who opined that big lakes suck.
Fortunately, winds that were forecast to potentially gust to 25 mph (we had checked the forecast at the hotel) never made an appearance, and we made it to
No tents required at Birch Bay Camp
Knight Island almost two hours later. After a little perusal of the shoreline, which bought us an extra mile of paddling, we settled on Birch Bay campsite at the southwest corner, equipped with a privy, fire pit, two lean-tos, and even a convenient stairway up the steep bank.
After a snack and some celebratory beers and gulps of our faithful companion,
Even the canoes had a decent spot to camp.
Sailor Jerry Rum, we set up camp. I took a hike out to the ranger station and found no one home. I returned carrying a load of unguarded firewood, and found that others had been busy gathering wood as well. After supper, we had a fine time talking around the campfire and watching the lights turn on in North Hero a mile and a half away.
Mike and I were the last ones to retire, and none too soon! The wind had been robbing me of heat and I found that I was mildly hypothermic and suffering from bad motor control. I also figured I might also be a bit dehydrated, so I sipped about a half bottle of water as I hunched by the remains of the campfire, and then promptly beelined to my mummy bag to settle in and warm up. That night, it got down in to the low or mid 30′s, but we all had a warm night’s sleep.
The lights come on in North Hero.
Total Mileage for the day: 14.1 miles (not counting the extra paddle up the side of the island and back).
