We were sitting around the campfire, sipping whiskey from our new “Hornbeck Boats” whiskey glasses, pondering the next days adventure here in the Adirondacks. While we were poring over our maps we discovered a possible canoe route that did not appear to be marked on the map. A few more sips of whiskey and we decided that we would attempt this adventure.
The next morning we woke to a soft blanket of fog over Rollins Pond. A small crackling fire, a roaring jetboil and the aroma of coffee began to awaken our senses for adventure. Once most of the fog had lifted we set out on the placid waters of Rollins Pond with our sights set on Rock Pond. Where we would encounter low water, mud, beaver dams and a foot bridge.
Will you join us for our journey?
Note: There are no campsites on Rock Pond or the Rock Pond Outlet.
Canoes: Hornbeck New Tricks 14’s
Cameras: DJI Osmo Action, iPhone 13, Canon EOS 90D
This week has been fun as my wife and I have spent it relaxing at our families lake house. My cousin and his wife own a summer home on the same small lake also. A few days ago the four of us decided to take a ride to the Cayuga-Seneca Canal in Waterloo, NY for an afternoon of locks and paddling.
The Cayuga-Seneca Canal is approximately 20 miles long linking Cayuga Lake with Seneca Lake or vice versa. Our plan was to launch from Oak Island in Waterloo, pass through lock CS4 (14.5 feet lift) and head east towards Seneca Falls. The highest single lift on the canal is found at Locks CS2 and CS3 in Seneca Falls. Each having a lift of 24.5 feet for a total lift of 49.0 feet. Our hopes were dashed as lock CS 2/3 is closed and under construction until early-mid August.
Paddling along we only saw one boat heading towards Seneca Lake. This boat was huge and traveling at the canal speed limit of 10MPH still produced a very large wake. But that was it, no other boats or paddlers did we see. Ducks, Herons, turtles, various types of birds were in abundance along the canal. I even spotted a very large tree that beavers had been hard at work on.
We spent several hours enjoying our time on the water, however it was hot and breezy requiring us to stop at Three Brothers Winery & Warhorse Brewing a few miles away in Geneva, NY. We had also wanted to stop at Bottomless Brewing in Geneva as well but they are closed on Mondays.
This was a fun day and look forward to paddling more of the canal in the future, cheers!
It has been a while since I’ve written so I figured I’d give you all a brief update. On May 16th I traveled to the Adirondacks to pick up a new canoe I had made. I purchased a Hornbeck Boats New Tricks, this pack canoe is 14 feet long and weighs 24 pounds.
I cannot express enough how fortunate I feel to own two beautiful canoes handcrafted right here in New York. Some people collect cars, me I have begun to collect canoes. I’m Looking forward to this years adventures, however I’m not sure what they might be as our world is different now and I plan to adapt accordingly.
Paddling Jabe Pond in the Adirondack Park with my brand new Hornbeck Boats “New Tricks” 14′ pack canoe May 16th 2020.
Paddling my Adirondack Canoe Company 14′ 24# “Boreas” on Little Colby Pond in Saranac Lake, NY August 2019.
Earlier this month I was canoe camping with a friend in the Adirondacks on a lake 30 miles northwest of Lake George. Despite a few day paddlers we had the whole lake to ourselves. The northern end of the lake has a few homes and camps along its shoreline. In the early evening hours we could hear across the lake someone playing a trumpet and as dusk turned to night the milky way painted the sky. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that many stars!
The next morning fog rolled across the water while temperatures dipped to around 45 degree, I was cold. Quickly I restarted the campfire for some warmth along with my twig stove in order to boil water for coffee and oatmeal.
On Thursday May 16th I picked up my new to me Subaru Outback from our local Subaru dealer. This one owner car has super low mileage and is loaded.. On Saturday the 18th my wife and I strapped our boats to the roof and headed north to Old Forge, NY for the annual Adirondack Paddlefest. The car performed flawlessly as did my canoe!
Arriving in Old Forge we could have not asked for better weather. We made the rounds, met up with friends and sat on the deck of Matt’s Draft House “Screaming Eagle” for some sunshine, beers and wings. Peanut butter panic wings to be exact! Later on in the afternoon Julie and I would make our way a few miles north to 7th lake to canoe/kayak for a bit.
Not too far out into the lake from the boat launch is a wonderful island with a sandy beach. This is one of my favorite spots and rightfully so is also very popular. Tucked on the other side of the island there is now a lean t0 as well. Since technically it is “Out of Season” we basically had it all to ourselves, minus the guy camping at said lean to…
As our day drew to a close we finished with more beer and food at Fulton Chain Craft Brewing. We woke the next morning packed up and headed for home. Another successful Adirondack Paddlefest!
If you have any questions about my canoe or the Adirondack Canoe Company please feel free to message me. This 12′ Skylight is super comfortable with amazing secondary stability and is so light it is finger lifting good!
My Subaru Outback loaded with an Adirondack Canoe Company Skylight canoe. The Skylight is 12′ long and weighs only 20 pounds. Extremely sweet boat!
The beach life on 7th lake Inlet, NY.
Buried Acorn Brewing “Hot Whip” IPA chilling on the deck of Matt’s Draft House “Screaming Eagle” Inlet, NY.
The sun struggles to set through the clouds in Old Forge, NY.
And last but not least Fulton Chain Craft Brewing’s “Bear Road Coffee Stout”. I’m not a stout fan by any means but this is one of my favorites!
Saturday September 23rd 2017: Zipping up my wetsuit into a new adventure, open water swimming. Several years ago I had purchased a wetsuit with the intent on using it, things never panned out that way. Our swim was to take place on Quaker lake in Silver Lake Township Pennsylvania not too far south of the New York border.
Saturday morning the fog quickly burned off, the air temperature perfect and the lake like glass. I’m guessing the water was somewhere between 66-68 degrees. The three of us (Chris, Bob & Myself) plunged into the lake at 0840, beginning our swim. I’ll admit I had been nervous all week leading up to this. I purchased a 15 liter New Wave Swim Buoy as a safety precaution. I was extremely happy with it and you wouldn’t even know it was there. Chris would swim 2 miles skirting the perimeter of the lake. Myself and Bob would swim 1.5 miles down and back the length of the lake. I stopped a few times briefly to adjust my goggles and take a quick break. On our way back up the lake I began to feel a little more confident with some endurance, my nerves had finally settled. Exiting the lake and sitting on the dock I glanced down the lake taking notice of my accomplishment, turning to my watch I covered the distance in 1:27:00. I really enjoyed the experience of open water swimming and look forward to more of it in the future. Recently I have been using swimming as a cross training tool, a low impact workout to supplement my running.
Later that day Julie and I would head back down to Pennsylvania to our families lake house to visit my cousin, his wife Dawn and friends who were staying the weekend. Some great food, company, kayaking, campfire and a game of Cards Against Humanity and all was right with the world.
Sunday September 24th 2017: Lacing up my running shoes I would run my first race in five months, the Dick’s Sporting Goods Greater Binghamton Marathon. Myself, Chris, Chuck and Ken would run the marathon relay as team “Sunday Bloody Sunday”. It was another beautiful day in the Southern Tier but extremely warm. Chuck would be our first runner, followed by Chris, Ken and lastly I would be runner #4. I do feel the need to pick on Ken for his little snafu during the race, just because it adds to the memories of a really fun day. Prior to Ken’s turn running he was getting in a few extra miles. Chris arrived to the exchange earlier than anticipated and Ken wasn’t around. I panicked and quickly jumped in and began to run. A few minutes later Ken exchanged with Chris and the guys came and pulled me off the course just over a mile in. Even though we lost some time Ken ran strong showing up to exchange with me pretty much as predicted. My leg of the course would be 4.2 miles mostly along the rail trail. It was HOT and I struggled a bit. I almost never hit the water stops on a race course but today I did twice. I ran an average of 7:26 pace for the race and honestly I could not be happier finishing my run in 30:58. This was huge for me because I had no pain in my hip flexors at all. I’ve finally have gotten my bigger muscles to start doing the work and I have really been enjoying the rebuilding process. Approaching the finish I was very excited to see my wife cheering me on as it its always brightens my day to see her smile. Our official finishing time was 3:15:25.
Post race refreshments and entertainment were provided by Ommegang Brewing of Cooperstown, NY and Local band Wreckless Marci. Later in the afternoon the week had finally caught up with me and I found myself unexpectedly napping on the couch.
Cheers to a super fun weekend!
Dick’s Sporting Goods Greater Binghamton Marathon relay team “Sunday Bloody Sunday”. L-R: Joe Geronimo, Chuck Hein, Chris Pilotti and Ken Burt.
Recently I was in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont near Island Pond exploring the Silvio O. Conte Wildlife Refuge with my two sons and friend. As always we were on the hunt for moose. I must have had my moose kryptonite on me this time because we didn’t see any moose. However we saw all sorts of fascinating birds.
If you know me or have read my many posts you won’t be surprised when I say “I have a major affection for the Northern Forest Canoe Trail”. In all honestly I have only paddled small portions of this beautiful flowing highway system spanning 740 miles from Old Forge, NY meandering into Canada and finally terminating in Fort Kent, ME. The Silvio O. Conte Wildlife Refuge sits in the Nulhegan river basin, wait for it, which is part of the Northern Forest Canoe Trail.
As we exited the refuge the Nulhegan river was so calm and peaceful but just 100 yards away it’s rapids roared. Slamming on the brakes and testing the seat belts of the cars other occupants I leaped out to capture its serenity.
My previous post I wrote about running this race for fun and that is exactly what I did. The whole weekend in itself was fun. Saturday my friend Sue and I drove to Long Trail Brewing in West Bridgewater Corners, VT where we met up with her cousin Kaye-Lani from North Carolina. We also met up with our friends Chris and Lori who moved recently from Endicott to New Hampshire and as an added bonus my friend Ian made the hour drive from his house as well to join us all for some beer, food and laughs.
Kaye-Lani had rented a rustic cabin retreat about 8 miles outside of Woodstock, VT. After lunch Sue, Kaye-Lani and I got to the cabin, settled in for a bit. Shortly we were off to the pre-race pasta dinner at the Suicide Six ski resort. The evening weather was absolutely perfect, returning back to our cabin we spent several hours enjoying the rest of the evening chatting before crashing for the night as we had an early start to our Sunday.
Sunrise was beautiful as we got ourselves dressed and ready for the days race. Once parked and ready to board our bus that would take us to the start is when the rain began to fall and it fell. It rained during the entire race, after the race and all the way home back to New York. The rain during the race did however feel great, kept the body temperature in check. I did have one issue as my sock was quite wet and was chaffing at the bottom of my right foot making it a little uncomfortable.
We began the race together and I ran the first two miles at 8:44 pace stopped for a brief bathroom break and then gradually got into a really comfortable groove for the rest of the race. I finished the half marathon in 1:41:25 finishing 188th out of 1,890 runners and I had a blast doing it.
Cold and completely soaked I found the Harpoon Brewery beer tent and celebrated appropriately. Afterwards we made a quick return to our cabin to wash up and some dry clothes before heading into Woodstock for lunch. We met back up with Chris and Lori at the Worthy Kitchen, the “Worthy” is completely worthy of your business.
After lunch is when we all would part ways ending a fun weekend with friends in Vermont.
Cheers!
Our cabin in the woods.
Kaye-Lani checking out the bathtub and outhouse.
Checking the place over.
A little cramped!
Sunrise
Cabin Interior
Cabin Interior
Cabin Interior
Sue & Kaye-Lani at the pasta dinner.
L-R: Myself, Kaye-Lani, Lori, Chris & Sue at the Worthy Kitchen in Woodstock, VT.
Joe Geronimo 