Graffiti greats

Eve and I went for a hike in Washington woods at Cobbs Hill Park and she took me to the old water tanks that are now abandoned and left as a canvas for the graffiti artists. Wow the talent is amazing and there is one artist that is prolific and very good. Here are just a few of the best, go check them out when in the area.

Sailing Mountain Lakes, 4th Lake in the ADK's

Canoe sailing 4th Lake near Eagle Bay

Here is a video Ron took as we sailed down 4th Lake on a cool mountain day.

More OSMofHope

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXwCF5BdA7M&feature=youtu.be

One Square Mile of Hope

  Cody, Ron and myself attended the One Square Mile of Hope, it is a to raise money for Breast Cancer Research. They assembled over three thousand canoes and Kayaks and rafted up in the middle of 4th Lake at Inlet. The day was rainy and cold and I am sure effected the numbers attending but there were thousands who braved the cold and rain for a very deserving cause. Even mother nature stepped up to paint the sky pink that morning in preparation for the event.
 More pictures and maybe a video to follow of our "mountain adventure".

Stealth camping

   Ron and I have been trying to get to Hemlock Lake for an overnight camp out for a while and the opportunity finally presented itself. John offered to drop us off at the north end and we paddled south to Stoney Beach. It threatened thunder storms off and on all evening but although it rained most of the night it never got severe.
   It was the shake down trip for my new Exped Ergo Combi hammock tent and even though I didn't get it set up completely correctly I was warm and dry and very comfortable all night in the rain.

  The first pic is the camp site and my sling seat  The second pic is of Ron lazing about in his hammock on Sunday morning.

The final pic is of my Exped all buttoned down for heavy weather which fortunately we never got. I will get more shots and review the hammock camping methods later after I have spent a few nights in it and can get a good comparison to sleeping on the ground in a tent.

Hemlock circumnavigation

   Ron has been trying to make it end to end and back on Hemlock Lake for three years. I have been with him in the attempt for 1 1/2 of those years. The furthest we have ever been able to sail in one day was 4.9 miles down and then had to return for either lack of daylight or wind.
   Sunday we made another attempt. Leaving the north boat launch at 11:30 we made great time till we hit the dreaded dead spot below the monastery. The wind died to a trickle but we still were making 2mph so we slogged ahead. Most people sail either the N or the S ends and stay out of the middle because of this spot. Well it took a while but we finally drifted through the dead zone and made it to a freshening breeze further south. We almost turned around at one point as we calculated the time left to finish the seven and a half mile lake and then return, but stubbornly we pressed on. As we neared the boat launch on the S end the wind had picked up drastically and it was a struggle to to beat into the wind and make ground.
  Make ground we did and we stretched our backs, allowed circulation to return to our buttocks and then jumped back in the boats for the return trip, after all we were still only half way and it was after 5pm. Sailing down wind is a no brainer, it takes no skill, so we surged ahead till we hit the dreaded dead spot again. Again we were only making 2mph or less but still making headway till we got back to the wind and made the last couple miles hitting 7+mph as we charged onto the beach under full sail.
  We had made it, dodged the thunderstorms that were around us and had a marvelous day on the water on a 90 degree day.
  All together we sailed 18 miles, it took a little over seven hours and three years of attempts were realized. We have already done Canadice and Conesus, next is Honeoye and the rest of the Finger Lakes? Time will tell.

Hemlock High Water

After the flooding rains during the week the sun finally decided to reappear and Cody called to see if I wanted to paddle Hemlock on Sunday. The answer was an enthusiastic yes and we met Ron at noon. The water was still real high, more than I have ever seen at the lake, we put in at the north end and headed south. The first stop was at Stony Beach and our favorite lunch site by the creek for a quick lunch then up the hill to look for the first of four geocaches. It was a no find on the first. We then headed south by Eagle Cliffs and viewed the many waterfalls along the way. We finally turned around about 4 miles down and headed back north. On the way back we hit three more caches and found them all, hint: at Hemlock Falls 1 DO NOT GO UP THE CREEK BED, we climbed to a point it got dangerous and gained no ground so we scaled the bank and hiked along the top of the ravine and made the find. After 8 miles of paddling and another mile of hiking up and down the steep hill side we headed home and finished the evening with grilled salmon, portabella pizzas and conversation. Most excellent day!!!