Week Four: Canoe Trip!
The gappers have spent a lot of time outside this week, whether we were in our canoes in the pouring rain or back at the Hill House enjoying the sun.
Tuesday of Week 4 started off with the gappers, Nora, Maggie, and Tori getting into our bus to head 4 hours over to New York State, and to the Adirondack Mountains. After a quick lunch, all of us except Tori - who was heading back to camp - got into our canoes and started to paddle down Long Lake, the first part of our expedition. The weather was beautiful, with a temperature in the high 60s and pretty clear skies. Unfortunately, this weather did not last, and we were not expecting how quickly the change would come. On Tuesday after landing at Kelly’s Point, we had a quick dinner before getting into our tents, only for most of us to be woken up in the middle of the night by the sound of rain. Many of us woke up the next morning to find that odd bits of clothing and shoes had been soaked overnight by the unexpected showers, and this gray mood was not lifted by the sight of overcast skies.
We got our canoe group assignments for the day and started the rest of our trek across Long Lake towards the Raquette River for the second part of our trip. Although the first hour was pretty smooth all things considered, the wind continued to pick up as the day went on, making waves in what was still water the day before. We ended up having to stop early on the shoreline to break for lunch as we were getting continuously battered by the waves. Heading back out into the storm was a challenge as the wind whipped and waves kept trying to push our boats back into shore. Our group ended up getting separated multiple times, but we always found our way back to each other to raft up and set our sights on the next portion of our journey across the lake. Nearing 3pm that day, we got to the mouth of the Raquette River and most of us had an easier time paddling as not only were we protected from the wind due to the forests around us, but also due to the river’s current which helped to move us downstream at a faster rate.* We set up camp for the night at one of the shelters along the river and quickly went to bed as most of us had had fun but were exhausted.
*see Magnus’ story below
Waking up the next morning we were not surprised to see that it had once again rained throughout the night and continued into the morning. The rain turned into a mist when we got back into our canoes and paddled downstream to the beginning of our portage. Portaging meant that we had to carry all five of our canoes plus all of our gear about a mile and a half down a trail to get around the dangerous Raquette River falls. At this point, the rain also decided to pick up and for those of us who hadn’t been so wet before, we all definitely were now. After a couple hours of portaging and moving gear, we sat down for lunch and got lucky when the rain started to clear and the sun came out. Walking down at the beach where the portage ended and seeing the river for the first time under blue skies really highlighted just how pretty the changing leaves as well as the landscape around us was. To warm up, we paddled farther than planned to not just warm up from the movement but also the sun which we hadn’t seen in a few days. We finally got to our campsite and congratulated ourselves on getting through the portage and having fun while doing it.
We woke up early at 5:15 the next morning in hopes of seeing sunrise on the river, but after hearing the sound of rain, we went back to sleep for another hour and woke up to only a mist. We luckily still got to see the sun break through the trees as the fog and mist cleared and the blue sky came back again. We stopped at another campsite to make pancakes before getting out onto the water for the last bit of our trip. We finished our expedition at Axton Landing and met Tori to begin our trip back. Due to the storms from the previous days, many of the roads were closed and our trip back took about 1.5 times as long as it should have. However, many of us were able to sleep and we got to listen to some good music. Getting back to the Hill House we were all tired, but most of us felt that with a shower and a clean, dry pair of clothes, we would have been happy heading back out to the woods for more.
The weekend was a lot of fun for everyone at the Hill House. Besides doing the necessary post-trip cleaning, along with the usual full house clean, us gappers had plenty of time to hang out together. Saturday night was movie night filled with popcorn, lemonade, and face masks for all. Sunday was cinnamon rolls and multiple episodes of the show Black Mirror. We also had a guest on Sunday, Jake, who was the old gap director before Tori took over the job. Jake is a storyteller and he told us the story of “The Bear and the Snake” from Siberia, and the story “No Song” from the Pacific Northwest. We were also given our apprenticeships, as gappers could choose between working on the farm, being in the kitchen, or learning outdoor leadership skills.
Here is Magnus’ story from the trip:
“After making it through various land forms and the rough waves of a storm, we started the river. At first it was difficult to steer through the river because the wind pulled us in the opposite way that we wanted to go. That led us to a series of unfortunate events. First problem was that we crashed ashore. To get out, we stuck our paddles into the bank and pushed back, which would’ve been fine and dandy, until I dropped my paddle. Steeling my resolve, I mentally prepared to get into the murky water. I stepped out of the boat and immediately felt my foot sinking in. Oh no! Quickly, I took the sandal off but sadly couldn’t save the other one. RIP left sandal you will be missed without your other pair. Oh and the canoe and paddle were drifting away, that’s just great. I blew my whistle and called for help. In the end I got my paddle and regrettably left my shoe in the muck.”
If you want to see more of the trip, in the next week or so more pictures will be added to our Instagram account, so be sure to check that out!