The Stark Easement Canoe Carry - Part 1

I'd left the house windows open and the fans running all night, but it was still hot and muggy inside the house. The weather promised to be even more uncomfortable as the day wore on, so I decided to take the dogs to some Adirondack water while it was still morning. I drove 32 miles south to the Stark Easement without any idea what I'd find as we'd never been there before. When I saw a sign down a trail saying "Canoe Carry," that's where we went:

It was an easy, flat trail and we had no company whatsoever, so I let the dogs off their leashes:

We passed a strip where the power lines ran. I'd love to explore that on some other, cooler day:

The deer flies were hungry but only seemed to bother me, not the dogs:

Nonetheless, it was a pleasant hike and presumably a short one. I really had no idea, but canoe carries are not generally very long because people don't want to carry their canoes too far:

The shade protected us from the heat of the summer sun:

Then we arrived at a grassy path down the center of what must have been a long peninsula. I could see water on both sides of us:

We arrived at the Raquette River and a magnificent view. The Raquette River is dammed in many places for hydro power and there are numerous reservoirs and just plain wide spots:

The dogs broke into a run, all excited about the water ahead:

And all the dogs went in, beginning with Seamus, Fergus and Daphne:

This was glorious scenery, with cooling waters, expansive views, Meadowsweet blossoms and ripe blueberries:

It was magnificent. I kind of wished I could go in also, but I didn't. We had more yet to see, and I'll post Part 2 tomorrow: