This was one of those times of the year where you can paddle with your shirt off but still find ice floating in the water. On this Saturday evening Colleen and myself spent about 2 hours on upper Abanakee in Indian Lake, NY. We put in at the boat launch which is just past the Indian Lake Town Beach, late in the afternoon but the air was very warm for the first week of April. Since this was our first trip of the year we didn't work to hard, from start to finish we traveled about 2.6 miles. The evening was wonderful, I paddled without a shirt, just my vest. Even Colleen had short pants on. We found some ice to play in over by the bridge on Route 28. The ice was soft and as you paddled over it; it would break off in large sections. So I created a few icebergs with just a few passes. Not much in the line of wildlife, just the usual Turkey Vultures flying from the Indian Lake Transfer station. No turtles or fish to be seen. We did notice a couple of Cranes feeding near a small but powerful waterfall almost directly across from the Indian Lake Beach. Once we got back to the boat launch we had noticed a couple of inexperienced young men trying to take their motor boat out of the lake but destroyed the unpaved and very primitive dirt launch instead. They never did get the boat out with their sedan. A very nice guy in a fancy new pick up truck stopped and pulled the boat out for these two boys. This was a quick but fun first trip of the 20-10 season. A very warm, sunny April day to feel the energy of the water as your paddle pulls through it.Sunday, April 4
Lake Abanakee Spring Paddle
This was one of those times of the year where you can paddle with your shirt off but still find ice floating in the water. On this Saturday evening Colleen and myself spent about 2 hours on upper Abanakee in Indian Lake, NY. We put in at the boat launch which is just past the Indian Lake Town Beach, late in the afternoon but the air was very warm for the first week of April. Since this was our first trip of the year we didn't work to hard, from start to finish we traveled about 2.6 miles. The evening was wonderful, I paddled without a shirt, just my vest. Even Colleen had short pants on. We found some ice to play in over by the bridge on Route 28. The ice was soft and as you paddled over it; it would break off in large sections. So I created a few icebergs with just a few passes. Not much in the line of wildlife, just the usual Turkey Vultures flying from the Indian Lake Transfer station. No turtles or fish to be seen. We did notice a couple of Cranes feeding near a small but powerful waterfall almost directly across from the Indian Lake Beach. Once we got back to the boat launch we had noticed a couple of inexperienced young men trying to take their motor boat out of the lake but destroyed the unpaved and very primitive dirt launch instead. They never did get the boat out with their sedan. A very nice guy in a fancy new pick up truck stopped and pulled the boat out for these two boys. This was a quick but fun first trip of the 20-10 season. A very warm, sunny April day to feel the energy of the water as your paddle pulls through it.