8-19-10

Today would be our last day paddling as we wanted to spend an entire day in Lake Placid on Friday. I had talked to the outfitter in Saranac Lake and made arrangement to demo two Placid Boat Works pack canoes at their Floodwood Pond outpost. After driving four miles on a dusty dirt road we arrive at the outfitters and finalize the arrangement to test paddle a Spitfire 12’ (20lb) pack canoe. The ultra light canoe handles like a dream with excellent speed, maneuverability, a super comfortable seat plus easy entry/exit. Carrying the boat back to the outfitters I see the longer 15’ Rapidfire being loaded onto a car so it I will not be able to test that boat today. Getting back into our kayaks we begin exploring Floodwood Pond heading in a direction that will lead us to the small brook that flows between Floodwood and Rollins Pond. At this point we exit the kayaks enabling us to walk the boats through the narrow, shallow channel before reaching Rollins Pond where there is a state campground directly on the water offering easy water access. The shorelines of both Floodwood and Rollins Ponds are very kayak friendly offering many places to stop for a lunch break. Paddling away from the campground we can hear the call of loons spotting four of them as we get closer. Exploring several arms of the pond I only see one camp on the forested shoreline before we head back to Floodwood Pond. FloodWood has primitive campsites sprinkled around the pond and only a couple of camps are visible from the water. Both Ponds are located within the Saranac Wild Forest Preserve which has some of the best paddling in the Adirondack Region as you can pond hop very easily making for a fun adventure.