Town Day!!!

Cassandra Smith
Jun 9, 2024
4 min read

June 7, 2024

Mile 78.4-83.2 (the town of Saranac Lake) (0.2 mile portage)

I did not sleep good at all last night but woke up ready to get to town. I filtered water and did some other chores waiting for Henry to wake up and then we packed up and loaded the canoe. As soon as we climbed in to paddle away it started to rain again.

I was too much of a baby to put on my cold, soaking wet clothes from yesterday but shortly realized I should’ve sucked it up. I had my rain jacket over my dress but knew it would be soaked in no time.

We pulled up to a lock and thought that they mustn’t allow canoes to use the lock because there were signs for the canoe carry around it. We were tired and hungry and just wanted an easy paddle to town, we weren’t expecting to have to portage. We carried around and I waded in up to my hips to load the canoe because I couldn’t give a single fuck anymore, I just wanted to be in town. As we paddled away we watched kayakers coming the other direction go through the lock and realized we just portaged for no reason whatsoever yay us!!

As we paddled into the lake I heard thunder in the distance. It came up on us fast and we paddled as hard and fast as we could to get to an island in the middle to take shelter. We stayed ahead of it for awhile but then it was right over top of us, dumping rain and thundering. We breathed a small sigh of relief when we pulled in sideways to the island, pulling ourselves under the cover of some bushes to get as close to it as possible. The thunder was earsplitting and lighting struck the other side of the lake.

We sat for a half hour waiting it out and it was only made worse by knowing we were only about 3 miles from town where we could be warm and dry. As the adrenaline wore off the cold seeped into my bones and I began to shiver as we just had to sit there and get absolutely soaked. When the thunder faded away into the distance I clumsily clambered out of the canoe and up the steps to the island. It was private property and there was a house right there but I didn’t see any people so I stripped every piece of clothing off to pull on dry base layers and my Senchi before pulling my soaking wet rain jacket and pants back on. I started warming up almost instantly, climbed back in the canoe and we paddled away.

I was beat from eating no dinner last night, basically snacking for breakfast, and paddling as hard as I could to outrun the storm so I felt like I had nothing left for those last few miles to town.

My phone pinged with cell service and I started looking for a hotel we could stay at. I found the perfect one right on the lake for a very reasonable price and called. The front desk said we could store our canoe on property so we gratefully accepted. The call almost dropped right as I was giving my credit card information and I desperately clung to the side of the boat with numb hands praying to the cell service gods to not abandon me. It went through and I hung up and we laughed with relief- we were about to be dry!! And warm!! And in town!!

We pulled up to a dock in a public park right across from our hotel- the Sara Placid Inn. Wheeled our canoe and gear over and began unloading the sopping mess onto our front porch. The owner came out and offered to store our canoe in her locked basement next door. We thanked her repeatedly and couldn’t believe how perfectly and smoothly everything was going. By now the sun had come out for a short spell so we spread all of our soaking wet gear out in the grass and then I hopped in the shower to wash off the mud and the cold. The water pressure was heavenly. They had body wash and conditioner (and not the little bottles, BIG bottles!!)

I got dressed in the last pair of dry clothes I had and we sat on the bed assessing our chores and what order we should do them in. It was (of course) me who suggested a zero day (jokingly at first) and Henry locked eyes with me and I knew I had him. By this time it was 3 p.m. and we realized we needed a day off to make it all happen if we really want to get organized and get rid of some gear.

I texted the hotel owner and booked us for another night and then we headed out on the town to check out the multiple outfitters and see what our stove selection is like. St. Regis Canoe Outfitter had the best selection and we decided to come back tomorrow and buy our stove and check out the rest of the gear.

We stopped at a restaurant with a sign advertising their Friday fish fry and ate big pieces of beer battered haddock.