Day 2 - Enthropy is Real!

Today was another easy 10 miles or so.  I bought the Padde Boy All Terrain end cart portage wheels this morning, and got to try them out on a few portages.  I made a strap that I can loop over my shoulders to keep the kayak weight off my arms.  This works well.  Because this system has wheels with a bracket that fits over your kayak, the wheels do not become skewed when a wheel hits a rock.  I really like this.  What I don't like with an end cart is the weight that you have to support.  I'm bringing a Duluth Pack to pack at least the gear stored in the front hatch on each portage. 

Another thing I like about this portage system is the ease of putting the wheels on and off.  I actually do this while the kayak is still in the water.  The wheels then strap to the deck of my kayak behind the cockpit.  I can feel that the center of gravity is a little higher, but not so much that it is a concern.  I also don't think that I will notice this when I have gear in my kayak.

Anne dropped me off at the town of Inlet this morning.  There were some very pretty lake the trail goes through.  My favorite section of the trail was in Brown something stream.  You put in at the end of a wooden boardwalk.  There was a beaver lodge near the entry point, and a beaver dam just down stream.  I had to exit my kayak to get it over the beaver dam, and I stepped out too far from the dam.  I sank up to my waist. 

I made it to Raquette Lake in early afternoon.  Anne was waiting for me.  She paddled around in the kayak a little.  I bought her a spray skirt as a late b-day present this morning.  The spray skirt fit well, and Anne did fine kayaking.

I talked to a guy doing invasive species work at Lake Raquette.  He just graduated college with a degree in Natural Resource Management.  His job this summer is to try to prevent a species of lake weed from spreading into other lakes.  It is not yet in Lake Raquette.  He told me the name of the invasive lake weed in Raquette, but I do not remember the name.  I showed me what it looks like so I will recognize it when I see it.  He was also telling me about a study project he is working on with Loons.  He has to canoe a lake to record the number and location of loon nests, and then record the number of loon eggs, loon youngsters, and unhatched eggs.  He also has to send egg shell samples back to someplace in Maine.

I'm back in the motel looking at all of my stuff spread out all over the room...order to disorder.  According to the second law of thermo dynamics, I will have to put a lot of energy into organization this evening and tomorrow morning.

I feel very good doing the short sections I've done so far. I feel no soreness or pain. I was feeling a small amount of pain in my left arm yesterday. I was concerned because this is the arm with the torn tendons. However, I was only concerned because of the distance remaining. It was only a small amount of pain. I had no pain at all today until I kayaked several miles, and then the pain was less than it was yesterday. So far so good or am I being lulled into a false sense of security?

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