Looking to go for a short paddle on a small stream in the central Adirondacks? Minerva Stream in Olmstedville can provide a nice experience. One caveat - you must bring your water shoes and schlep your boat over a few beaver dams if you want to go more than a couple miles. I've done this before in the Fall, but my wife, Leesa, and I had a few hours free on Sunday afternoon, so I took her here.
There is public parking and a launch site just above Olmstedville Dam. On first glance, the body of water just looks like a small pond, but it hooks around to the right at the far end becomes a nice meandering stream.
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| The launch site at Olmstedville Dam |
Lots of birds were seen along the entire route as well as some ducks with their young.
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| Heading upstream... |
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| The only bridge we passed under |
With the amount of meanders that you negotiate, you quickly lose your sense of orientation.
After perhaps 30 minutes of paddling, we came to the first of the beaver dams. It was easily portaged.
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| The first beaver dam |
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| Leesa continues upstream while I capture the moment |
It seemed that the beaver dams were evenly spaced. Once we passed the 1st one, we seemed to come to another one every 5 minutes or so. I found them to be fun.
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| 2nd beaver dam |
We went past 4 dams before it was time to turn around. We saw one other couple paddling in shortly before we returned to the launch.
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| Heading back |
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| Moxham Mountain in the distance |
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| Moxham in the foreground, Gore Mountain in the distance. |
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| Return to the launch |
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| Is this Thyme at the launch? It was very fragrant when you stepped on it. |
I once again enjoyed this paddle, and Leesa found it to be quite nice. We liked the meanders and the wildlife. You do pass some camps and vacation homes along the way, but there is still a nice remote feel to the paddle.
Paddle Stats:
Paddle Distance: 4.7 miles
Paddle Time: 2 hours
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| The route (click image to enlarge) |
my wife and i noticed this stream several times while on previous kayak trips. it looked interesting. we paddled cheney pond and henderson lake but next time we'll do minerva stream. we like to stay at the b&b in olmstedville. thanks for the info.
ReplyDeleteis there a public launch on lake balfour along 28N?
I'm not sure about a public launch on Balfour Lake. I haven't stopped there yet to check it out.
DeleteThere is a boat launch/put in at the Minerva Transfer station as well. It's quite a different paddle coming from upstream. I think it's best started at the transfer station and finishing at the dam.
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