Fourth Lake Paddle to Alger Island

The air has started to turn crispy in upstate New York and the dog days of summer are now in the rear view. Farah and I weren’t quite ready to let the summer go yet and have been squeezing the last bit of juice out of the warmer days.

Alger Island access point
Alger Island access point

We’ve spent a lot of time in the Finger Lakes over the last few months, neglecting our beloved Adirondacks. As a result Old Forge was square in our sites last Saturday for the last official paddle of the summer.

Old Forge was bustling when we drove down Main Street around 10am. The leaf peepers and fall aficionados were out in full force combined with the crowd of firefighters and their families who attended the weekend drill school.

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Lake Stahahe Paddle

Visiting a state park or a beach on July 4 is a little bit like going skiing on Martin Luther King Day. You should expect crowds. Harriman State Park gets very busy on a normal summer weekend. People from New York City, New Jersey and surrounding areas come in droves to picnic and swim at the lakes. July 4 weekend is a whole ‘nother level.

Lake Stahahe

Harriman’s summer crowds are not known for being rule followers but when Independence Day rolls around standards go completely out the window. People swim in lakes without beaches, they park on roads, driveways and lawns and all kinds of places where they aren’t supposed to be. It becomes a real problem for the people that are responsible for the Park.

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Annsville Creek Paddle

Long time readers may have noticed that I’m an adventure-in-your-backyard kind of a guy. I wholeheartedly believe that you don’t have to travel far to find exciting, challenging or even just pleasant things to do in nature, even if you live in the big city or, like me, in the suburbs.

The downside of sticking close to home is that I find myself running out of things to write about. Earlier this summer when I paddled Rondout Creek and hiked Plattekill Mountain, I had a great day but we’ve written about these places so many times before, it didn’t make sense to do it again. I could say the same about Harriman Park and the Hudson River.

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