Too Grande & Ralphi Too

This year’s edition of the Adirondack Paddlefest put on by MountainMan Outdoor Supply in Old Forge looked like it was going to be a repeat of last year’s, where the wind blew, the rain flew, and everybody was wondering if the sun was ever going to shine. Friday was overcast and fairly cool, hardly a day to take a long bicycle ride. This did not deter Doug Ahlsen from taking his new touring machine out for a pedal. We wanted to make sure Doug was not going to be left alone out there, so we asked everyone coming up to keep an eye out for him. M&I caught up with him at the intersection of Routes 31 and 365. After a cup of coffee with Doug, we left him to his pedal and continued our way up to Eagle Bay on Fourth Lake where everyone was going to ‘camp out’ at my folks’ place.

When we pulled into the driveway, we were pleasantly surprised to find Marian Jerose and Bob Wiley already there unloading their gear. After a short adjustment of vehicles to make room for the Mini-Winnie I brought up along with my truck, we unloaded everything. Marian & Bob then took off for a bicycle ride. Soon thereafter Donna Willis, Bill Goodwin, and Remo Bianco arrived. Over the course of the next few hours, some paddled, some hiked, and some opened up the wine to be enjoyed on the dock. The weather seemed to hold, even warming up a bit. This was good because Doug was still on the road. After ten and a half hours of sitting on the small saddle, our long distance rider spun the crank for the last time in the driveway. A tired man, but smiling after putting 107.6 miles beneath his tires.

We ended the first day with pizza and wings, cookies and beverages before folks settled in for the evening, chatting, reading, playing dominoes, and one fellow (wonder who) taking a well deserved snooze.

Breakfast the next day was quite a scene – reminded us of being at the OSC Lodge in Vermont. Everyone making their breakfast, sharing, chatting. Most went off to Paddlefest soon thereafter. It turned out a lovely morning – bright sunshine although still a bit cool. Bill wanted to get up to Inlet, so Michael drove him up. While there, Michael found something else at the Mountainman store he couldn’t live without. Bill was in a walking mode, so elected to walk back to Eagle Bay (two miles). M&M then drove to Old Forge where we caught up with some of our ski club members at Paddlefest about mid-day. Marian & Bob had ridden their bicycles the eight miles south to Old Forge along the newly paved Route 28. There they met up with Nancy and David Constantino who had come up to Paddlefest for the day. Nancy and David parked at the train station in Thendara, a mile or so south of Old Forge, then peddled through the greater part of the village to get to the Paddlefest site, right at the south end of First Lake in the Fulton Chain of lakes. After some chitty-chat with us, all four decided to ride their bicycles back up to Eagle Bay, but on the south side of the lake to avoid the heavy traffic and enjoy the more scenic route. Then we met up with Sunny Murray and John Tuttle, also just up for the day to check out the kayaks. Sunny was dealing with a bum knee from a skiing incident in Utah, so was taking it easy. She still was eyeing those lightweight kayaks.

In our walkaround, we also came upon Marcia Winokur, Pat Yackel, Debbie Kimberly and Ken Robbins, and a smiling Remo. Make that a big SMILING Remo. Remo had been coming to paddlefest for a while, always looking for that magic canoe. Well, he found the boat of his dreams, a brand new Bell Kevlar Rob Roy kayak. That’s right, a kayak. It was the right length, the right width, the right feel in the water (bells rang, music played, and there were fireworks is how we think he described it). It was also the right price…well, close. Then he needed the necessary rack to mount it to his homemade (and very novel) roof rack on his convertible jeep. I’d never seen a rack for any convertible, so this was an engineering marvel. Thule took on the challenge and came up with the necessary components to make it all work. Remo wasn’t done yet – he had the boat and a way to carry it around, but no way to propel it when it was in the water. “Heyyyy, what’s another hundred or so, right Remo?” When the bill was totaled up, Remo had the name for his kayak (think about this stories’ title).

After a bit everyone headed back to Eagle Bay where we were joined by Joan Salem and Mr. Adirondacks, Terry Avery. David and Nancy had to head back, so Marian and Bob drove them back to their car. Remo was more than eager to christen his new boat.

While it was still on the roof rack, I believe some whiskey was splashed on the bow. Soon it was on the water with Remo aboard, ready to paddle. I jumped into my gear and soon had my Impex Currituck (still un-named after two years!) alongside Remo, and off we went for a break-in paddle. The water was mild, no real wind to deal with, just two guys out for a paddle. We went about a mile along the shore when it became apparent to us both that Remo was having some difficulty keeping the kayak tracking, and he was getting tired. It was then that I noticed that his footpegs weren’t adjusted right, and he was expending an awful lot of energy without getting much glide per stroke. After he adjusted them and we worked on getting his thighs against the hull, he had a new power stroke that propelled the Rob Roy much better.

Once everyone was back on shore, it was wine and dine time. Dinner (dish-to-pass, of course) was at 5:30 so the folks that had to head back were able to have some good vittles before their journey. Man, what a feast it was. Seconds and thirds too if the legs were still hollow. Barb Stevenson arrived from the southern tier, and we all spent some time chitty-chatting about this and that for the balance of the evening. We did have a dance contest too, which Bob lost – but we’ll cover that later.

Sunday morning was just beautiful. The mist was ‘burning ‘off the lake as the sun rose higher, and the water was mirror flat. Much coffee was consumed on the dock. Then a bunch decided to take advantage of the conditions and get in a paddle before packing up to head home (boo hoo). Doug and Patty took the McCabe’s canoe, Marian and Bob in theirs with Marcia riding in the middle, Remo smiling in his new kayak, and Marilyn taking the year’s first paddle in her Impex Mystic. I decided to pass this one up as I wanted to make sure the remaining guests had whatever they wanted/needed. The group paddled straight across to Inlet, about a mile away over big water. Up into the channel to Fifth Lake where some apples and grapes were consumed as everyone kept saying how beautiful it was. Then it was back into the channel where everyone suddenly realized the wind had come up and turned the flat surface of Fourth Lake into a lather. It was good sized whitecaps, a steady wave of them, coming from a direction that was darn near broadside. Uh Oh! The safe way was to go along the shore in case something happened, but it also was the long way. After much paddling and little headway, everyone aborted and headed to shore. Unbeknownst to the paddlers, I had been watching them through my binoculars as they struggled. I was really concerned as there was little I could do to assist them. I was quite relieved when I saw Marian, Marcia and Bob beach, then Marilyn followed by Remo and Doug and Patty. Now I just had to find which camp they had pulled into. I jumped into my truck and took off towards Inlet hoping I could get to them before they ended up walking all the way back. After a couple of false turns, I started down one of the driveways just as M,M&B walked up. They had decided to walk back and get their car to retrieve their canoe. I continued down this beautiful driveway when it opened up to showcase an incredible camp, and some of the group in discussion with the owner. We loaded the boats onto my truck, thanked Mr. Phil Evans, the owner of Cliffview on Route 28 for allowing everyone to pull the boats ashore at his place and the use of his cell phone, and made our way back to Eagle Bay. Quite a morning indeed.

Then it was lunchtime and leftovers from the previous evening’s meal, pack up and say so-long. It was a fun weekend for all, and it’s very likely we’ll do it again next year. Once everyone had left, Marilyn and I had our traditional toast on the dock, and yakked about the fun we had. As we left the village heading home, it was Hip Hip Hooray for Eagle Bay.

Oh, one more thing – that ‘dance contest’ was the results of a guest we call Ralphi. Actually Ralphi lives there and only come out once in a while. Ask Bill about his encounter (“We have a problem”) or Bob and his airborne dance step. Ralphi is very small, but it’s usually a bit of a shock to suddenly see a little creature scurrying across the slippery kitchen floor, especially when one is wearing socks. When Bob was standing again, we all gave him a “10” anyway.

Marilyn and Michael McCabe