It has been a fun week for me up in Ticonderoga with kayaking four days in a row. Dave has had some things he has had to do back at home and has been back and forth. He is now north for the rest of the week, so before the wind really picked up this morning, we decided to go paddling at Putnam Pond on the top of Chilson Hill (using our usual plastic kayaks). We have done this many times, but it is amazing that we can still make new discoveries, which we did today. There have always been lots of beaver lodges on this large pond, but today we kept hearing rushing water at the south end. That's where we found this huge dam that these tenacious animals had built. It was way up in the marshland, but I found a water trail to access it. With all the latest rain, the water level was quite high and part of the dam had breached, causing a waterfall. I am sure the beavers will soon be hard at work repairing it.
We also found a couple other smaller waterfalls that were created with the excess rainwater coming off the mountains. Like I said to Dave, this body of water with the mountains surrounding it, felt like we were in the crater of a volcano. Of course a trip to Putnam Pond wouldn't be complete without seeing and hearing loons.
With the south wind increasing (we were glad we weren't in the Oru yaks), we stayed in the lee as much as possible, which included finding shortcuts through the shallow marshes. This cut was through the pickerel, which is an invasive plant, but quite pretty with all the purple flowers.
What another great adventure and it is so close to 'home'! Even closer to our house is the Ticonderoga town beach on Lake George, which I kayaked from yesterday. I thought I was the only one there at 9 AM until I saw these 8 sunbathers. They are pretty birds, but oh so messy. I felt sorry for the lifeguards who had to pick up after them before the real sunbathers and swimmers arrived. Oh well, such is life at the lake.
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