A few friends and I had been anxiously awaiting Memorial Day weekend so we could to head into the woods for a few days. We've wanted to see the leanto on Cedar River ever since last summer when we were on our way but a thunderstorm cut our trip short.
We decided to chance the dicey weather on Friday night and camp up at Wakely Dam. Even though the road to the dam had just been opened there were a good amount of people there, but we drove over the bridge and went to a secluded campsite in the back. Bruce the ranger came by (it's funny that regardless of how old we are, we always assume we're in trouble when someone pulls up like that) and hung out for a few minutes. He was full of good information and a pretty cool guy.
The logbook at the dam said there we're already 2 groups heading to the Cedar River, so we got up early and started paddling around 6 so we could get to the leanto as early as possible. Of course we would have shared it if anyone showed up after us, but it's nice to have it to yourself for a while too. It was overcast and a little rainy at times, but we made it to the leanto in about 2 hours. Finding the right channel to take out of the flow is a little tricky, but we found it.
The leanto was awesome, it's nice and open and has a good view of the river. It rained on and off all day Saturday, but at night it cleared up and we had a great view of the stars. According to Dark Sky Finder this part of the Adirondacks has the least amount of light pollution in New York State, and you could tell by the view.
Sunday morning was beautiful and sunny, so I went for a paddle upriver. I read in some posts that you can't go far past the leanto because the water gets too low, but with all the rain I thought maybe I could go farther than normal. It was mostly a calm paddle, but there was one part where the river was flowing so fast that I had to get out and pull the canoe from shore. I got to the intersection of the Little Squaw Brook, and about 300 years past that was the end of the road for me. The rapids started to pick up, and there was about an 8 inch incline across the whole river. Never to be deterred, I got out and lifted the canoe over it, and was promptly pushed over the ledge as soon as I got back into the canoe. I took it as a sign, and went back to the leanto.
We had another nice night in the leanto, then set out this morning around 8. It was overcast and rainy again, but the paddling is easier when the current is going in your direction. For some reason there was no logbook at the leanto, so we left a makeshift one behind until an official one shows up. I do a pretty decent amount of camping all over the Adirondacks, but this was definitely one of my favorite places I've been to.
Here are some pics for anyone interested.
We decided to chance the dicey weather on Friday night and camp up at Wakely Dam. Even though the road to the dam had just been opened there were a good amount of people there, but we drove over the bridge and went to a secluded campsite in the back. Bruce the ranger came by (it's funny that regardless of how old we are, we always assume we're in trouble when someone pulls up like that) and hung out for a few minutes. He was full of good information and a pretty cool guy.
The logbook at the dam said there we're already 2 groups heading to the Cedar River, so we got up early and started paddling around 6 so we could get to the leanto as early as possible. Of course we would have shared it if anyone showed up after us, but it's nice to have it to yourself for a while too. It was overcast and a little rainy at times, but we made it to the leanto in about 2 hours. Finding the right channel to take out of the flow is a little tricky, but we found it.
The leanto was awesome, it's nice and open and has a good view of the river. It rained on and off all day Saturday, but at night it cleared up and we had a great view of the stars. According to Dark Sky Finder this part of the Adirondacks has the least amount of light pollution in New York State, and you could tell by the view.
Sunday morning was beautiful and sunny, so I went for a paddle upriver. I read in some posts that you can't go far past the leanto because the water gets too low, but with all the rain I thought maybe I could go farther than normal. It was mostly a calm paddle, but there was one part where the river was flowing so fast that I had to get out and pull the canoe from shore. I got to the intersection of the Little Squaw Brook, and about 300 years past that was the end of the road for me. The rapids started to pick up, and there was about an 8 inch incline across the whole river. Never to be deterred, I got out and lifted the canoe over it, and was promptly pushed over the ledge as soon as I got back into the canoe. I took it as a sign, and went back to the leanto.
We had another nice night in the leanto, then set out this morning around 8. It was overcast and rainy again, but the paddling is easier when the current is going in your direction. For some reason there was no logbook at the leanto, so we left a makeshift one behind until an official one shows up. I do a pretty decent amount of camping all over the Adirondacks, but this was definitely one of my favorite places I've been to.
Here are some pics for anyone interested.
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