Oswegatchie Traverse -multi night camping

This is the ultimate Adirondack adventure, it has it all, beautiful lakes, rugged mountains, waterfalls, meandering rivers and more beaver damns than you can shake a stick at. All together this is a four night five day trip with several small portages and one very long set of portages with a total trip distance nearing 40 miles over the week. One day is built in to rest or for inclement weather. On day 1 we will meet at the end of Inlet road past Cranberry Lake and shuttle down to Lows Lower Dam. The drive from Albany to Inlet is nearly 4 hours with a 1.5 hour shuttle back to the starting point, to make this easier I plan on camping at Cranberry Lake Sunday Night, all are welcome to join me or to make your own arrangements in the Cranberry/Tupper Lake area or drive up the morning of. I will post my accommodations in the comments I can accommodate up to 5 other people. A rough itinerary is as follows:

Day 1- Once we get on the water we will travel up Bog River towards Lows Lake with one short portage. Total we have a 12+ mile paddle to get to somewhere between the middle and the end of Lows Lake, anything past site 18 is fine but I would like to get somehere near site 28.

Day 2- There are 3.5 miles of portaging on this trip nearly all of it is on day 2, once we get to the end of Lows Lake it is 1 mile to Big Deer Lake, a short paddle leaves us with another 2.5 miles of portaging to the Oswegatchie River. From here we will make headway as feasible, but day 2 is primarily dedicated to portaging, there is a camp site a short way down river from the portage with several other sites between the portage and High Falls.

Day 3 & 4 - These days depend on Day 2, it is about 4 miles from the portage trail to the falls (with a ton of beaver dams). Ideally we get just upstream of the falls and make camp on Day 2, then we spend Day 3 resting and enjoying the falls, and paddle 4-7 miles towards Griffin Rapids or High Rock on Day 4. However if we don’t make headway on Day 2 we can paddle down past the falls on Day 3 and rest somehwere down stream Day 4, or we can paddle only a few miles on both days. Anyway we slice it we can be flexiblee these few days depending on group dynamics and currentt conditions.

Day 5- Anywhere from 3-14 miles depending on where we stopped on Day 3/4. Mostly flat with fewer dams and blow down than upstream. Once we make it back to Inlet we will have to go back to the starting point to recover vehicles.

Difficulty: Hard, this is a five day 40 mile trip with 3.5+ miles of portaging and over a dozen beaver dams. Do not attempt if you are unsure the of your abilities. The portage is also not wheelable, if you bring a kayak instead of a canoe you will have to carry it.

Food: I will have hot food (probably brats with sauerkraut and some kind if side all’sd) if you decide to stay with me in Cranberry Sunday night, otherwise you are responsiblesible for your own food, remember bear safety, bring a bear can or hang your food.

Safety: PFDs will be required to be worn, a whistle and white light will also be required. This is scheduled for May, expect it to still be cold, especially at night. Layer appropriately and stay away from cotton clothing. Please have a properly rated sleeping bag and pad. Expect high wind as we cross Lows Lake, we can mitigate some of the worst winds by hugging the Northern shore but it’s still likely to be windy. We have plenty of time, and we can take an extra day or two if necessary, it is important to know your limits.