Day 1 - The Ordeal Begins (Kind of...)

Anne and I drove to Old Forge, NY this morning. We arrived in Old Forge around 4:00 PM, and I put in at the entry point around 4:20 PM. It was a beautiful day to start. The sky was blue and the wind was light and even mostly at my back.   Over all, it was a pretty easy day to start the ordeal.

The water was filled with boats and jet skiers. There were truly scary sections trying to navigate around these people. At one point, a young girl nearly ran into me with her jet ski. It looked like she was only about 12 years old. A young teenage boy was sitting behind her. I had to back paddle hard to avoid a collision. This was mostly my experience through the narrower sections of this portion of the trail.

At least the universe remains safe because my hatred of the jet skier remains unbroken.  For, it is my hatred of the jet skier that is the most powerful force in the universe.  It generates all of the forces that binds the atoms of the universe together.  However, this is mostly a thankless job. I can't remember the last time anyone has come up to me to even acknowledge the hard work that I do daily keeping the universe intact and safe.

There were many large houses this portion of the route.

The water does not feel very cold. There were many water skiers out today. I even saw a few people swimming near the shore. One of my concerns when planning for this trip was water temperature. I wanted to make sure I had warm enough clothes to be able to swim to shore. This doesn't seem to be a problem at least in this portion of the trail.

I felt really good paddling the 10.5 miles today. It felt really easy going. I paddled this distance in almost exactly 3 hours, which makes my cruising speed around 3.5 mph. This is consistent with my speed on Lake Erie.

I see no problems completing the entire trail at this time, but it is still early in the trail.  Many unforeseen things will happen. 

http://fms.ws/8105O/43.71266N/74.96936W

http://fms.ws/8195u/43.75514N/74.79428W