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Little Tupper to Inlet on the Oswegatchie River

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  • #16
    Originally posted by DSettahr View Post

    Any comments on the Bog River section from Lows Lower Dam to Little Tupper? I have the time so I'm thinking about adding this section. The guidebook describes numerous portages but none of them sound "official." Is this stretch worth doing with a lightweight boat that you'd generally prefer to avoid even light rapids with?
    I think the part from the dam to Winding Falls (& then to Bog River Falls) is worth doing. But from Winding Falls to Round Lake you will be carrying most of the way.
    https://www.facebook.com/adkpaddleski/

    https://northeastwild.blogspot.com/

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    • #17
      Originally posted by DSettahr View Post
      Thanks Aunt Pat. I think I'm all set on gear and a shuttle but I appreciate it. :-)

      Any comments on the Bog River section from Lows Lower Dam to Little Tupper? I have the time so I'm thinking about adding this section. The guidebook describes numerous portages but none of them sound "official." Is this stretch worth doing with a lightweight boat that you'd generally prefer to avoid even light rapids with?

      Sent from my moto x4 using Tapatalk
      I did that section in June, but the other way. The portages trails were pretty obvious, some had markers others didnt. Most fo the raps, even with higher water, were to rocky to run. I suggest taking the old service road from Pa Falls to Round Lake Outlet and bypassing some of the lowest Bog River. That's what I did and it was a pretty easy old road to follow.

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      • #18
        After reading the description in the guidebook more closely as well as reading some of the responses, and given the low water levels this year, I may just skip the Lower Lows Dam to Round Lake section and hold off on that for a future trip (perhaps try the Little Tupper/Lila/Lows loop at some point). This gives me an extra day to poke around and/or devote to splitting up the LTL to Lila portion over 2 days, if needed.

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        • #20
          I got back from doing this trip earlier today. It was amazing. I didn't speak to a single person for nearly 7 full days (saw other groups from a distance at times on Lila and Low's, even waved to 1 or 2 other paddlers across the water, but no other contact). Lucked out on the Oswegatchie portion... epic rainfall amounts meant that I was able to float over every single beaver dam except one (which as I understand it, is incredibly unusual for any time period outside of the spring freshet). Will try to get a proper trip report up at some point, but it will take some time (gotta edit the hundreds of photos I took along the way first).

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          • #21
            Thanks for this link- I'm curious as to the total mileage of my trip. This post indicates (but does not outright state) that my itinerary clocks it at over 50 miles total. I'm thinking about spending an afternoon with ArcGIS mapping out the full route (click by click by click) to come up with an at least fairly approximate mileage for my itinerary...

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            • #22
              Originally posted by DSettahr View Post
              Lucked out on the Oswegatchie portion... epic rainfall amounts meant that I was able to float over every single beaver dam except one (which as I understand it, is incredibly unusual for any time period outside of the spring freshet).
              I will also add that I am glad in retrospect that I did have some ability (gained from previous paddling experience) to read the river... while the Oswegatchie was certainly anything but technical for the most part during my trip, there were some sections (particularly between the headwaters and High Falls) with the high water that I was glad to be able to have some skill at picking the "best route" through submerged obstacles, unseen except for their influence upon the surface flow patterns of the moving water.

              The monument plaque inside the Griffin Rapids lean-to to a paddler who drowned on the river in 2003 at a strainer was sobering, to say the least.

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              • #23
                You were indeed lucky with the water level and the beaver dams. I have done that trip and lost count when crossing upwards of 70 dams and heard that others have done the same. Some dams could be blown through, others not so much. I have not seen that monument plaque, but I do remember the one particularly dangerous strainer that I passed over a short time before the fatal incident. There were two smooth parallel logs stuck over a narrow deep water relatively fast current section where exiting to shore was not an easy option. One would have to get out with feet stepping from one log to the next and pull the boat across over both. I remember thinking at the time it looked bad because there was just enough room between the logs for a a person to slip through into the slot and be carried underneath. I later heard from a ranger that is what happened to the paddler.
                Last edited by Wldrns; 07-16-2020, 09:46 AM.
                "Now I see the secret of making the best person, it is to grow in the open air and to eat and sleep with the earth." -Walt Whitman

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                • #24
                  Originally posted by DSettahr View Post
                  I got back from doing this trip earlier today. It was amazing. I didn't speak to a single person for nearly 7 full days (saw other groups from a distance at times on Lila and Low's, even waved to 1 or 2 other paddlers across the water, but no other contact). Lucked out on the Oswegatchie portion... epic rainfall amounts meant that I was able to float over every single beaver dam except one (which as I understand it, is incredibly unusual for any time period outside of the spring freshet). Will try to get a proper trip report up at some point, but it will take some time (gotta edit the hundreds of photos I took along the way first).
                  Great to hear. What boat did you take?

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                  • #25
                    Welcome back. Curious to hear about the portage from Low's Lake to Big Deer and onto the Oswegtachie. (My wife and I are doing that the week after next.) Also, where'd you end up camping on Low's (Grass Pond)?

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                    • #26
                      Originally posted by dacipkowski View Post
                      Great to hear. What boat did you take?
                      Placid Boatworks Spitfire 13.

                      Originally posted by PA Kayaker View Post
                      Welcome back. Curious to hear about the portage from Low's Lake to Big Deer and onto the Oswegtachie. (My wife and I are doing that the week after next.) Also, where'd you end up camping on Low's (Grass Pond)?
                      Those two particular portages were in great shape (especially compared to some of the other portages on the trip). Both were cleared to a wide corridor (making maneuvering with a canoe over your head fairly easy). There was some very mild blowdown but nothing that presented a substantial challenge.

                      The put in/take out on Big Deer Pond were a bit of a challenge- mostly due to recent beaver activity that has raised the level of water on this pond. Apparently the former Campsite #2 at Big Deer Pond is now underwater... a new site has been marked but it's not the greatest (a bit lacking in flat ground).

                      I camped at Grass Pond- one of my favorite spots to camp in the ADKs. Surprisingly, after seeing Lila packed on Thursday night, and many of the sites on Low's proper also occupied, I was the only person camped on Grass Pond on Friday night. I briefly contemplated snagging site 29, which is fairly open and has tons of flat ground, but I remembered site 31 also being nice from a prior visit so I camped there. My memory was mostly correct- site 31 is in a nice stand of pines atop a small hill adjacent to the pond. It works well for a small group (1-2 tents) but a larger group would probably have trouble situating 3 or more tents.

                      On previous visits (both by foot and canoe) I've camped at sites 32 and 33, and both of those are nice as well.

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                      • #27
                        Nice work, DSetthar! I'm a bit jealous but very happy you got to do this trip. Looking forward to seeing pictures.

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                        • #28
                          Originally posted by DSettahr View Post
                          On previous visits (both by foot and canoe) I've camped at sites 32 and 33, and both of those are nice as well.
                          I'll claim 32 as the nicest on the lake with its pine needle floor, view, and nice landing bay. 30 is cozy and small. 29 is the closest for climbing the ridge to the top of GPM (did you make that bushwhack climb?). 33 is not bad on an elevated area a few feet higher over the lake. 34 is just bad. I have a story of a very unfortunate experience encounter with a float plane and a couple of redneck yahoos at 33, but that story is in the far distant past now.

                          The Deer Pond campsite and trail beyond along the shoreline has often been and is frequently flooded many times. It is best to launch and paddle across the pond to pick up the trail on the other side.

                          Did you see the mailbox on the trail along the way? People used to leave it with interesting written messages. Was there still a beaver flooded portion of the trail beyond?

                          When I took that trail shortly after it was cleared after the 1995 derecho blowdown, I had a wheeled cart. The wheels were held on by big knurled knobs. Unfortunately the trail crew did not cut the logs wide enough for ease of wheel passage. Every time the knob on the left side partially climbed the end of a log it turned it a little until the wheel finally fell off and I had permanently lost the knob some distance back. On trips after that it was best to carry my canoe overhead on that trail.
                          "Now I see the secret of making the best person, it is to grow in the open air and to eat and sleep with the earth." -Walt Whitman

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                          • #29
                            I remember the mail box, and at the far end of the carry the remains of a cart, spoked wheels , don't think the tyres had any air left in them though!
                            Look up, and swear by the green of the spring that you’ll never forget.

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                            • #30
                              Originally posted by Blackflie View Post
                              I remember the mail box, and at the far end of the carry the remains of a cart, spoked wheels , don't think the tyres had any air left in them though!
                              Not my cart. I jerry rigged something to hold my wheel on and continued all the way with my cart which I still have and use to this day with a better locking nut.
                              "Now I see the secret of making the best person, it is to grow in the open air and to eat and sleep with the earth." -Walt Whitman

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