The warning sign at the Raquette Falls Portage trailhead, photo by Carrie Scheick.
“DANGER FALLS AHEAD: UNSAFE TO NAVIGATE BEYOND THIS POINT” read a large white sign with bold red typeface. Next to the sign hung a very poignant visual display, in case the written warning wasn’t enough, the mangled remains of a canoe’s bow torn from its hull with seemingly the same ease as holiday wrapping paper. We sat on the banks of the Raquette River stretching after that morning’s 6-mile paddle and pensively eating our peperoni & cheese sandwiches, subconsciously trying to delay the inevitable that had denoted our trip as “extremely challenging.” If we can’t go down the falls, then we’d have to go up and over them on a 1.25-mile portage with 30-40 lb. backpacks and 60 lb. canoes in hand.
Our 2016 Teen Naturalists, from left to right, Michaela, Jared, Sofia, John, Daphne, and Emi, photo by Carrie Scheick
Delaware Nature Society’s Teen Naturalist program began in 2000 in its current form, but the Society has run a similar program, called the Junior Naturalists since the late 1960’s. The Teen Naturalists meet once per month for outdoor adventure, nature study, and volunteering for the environment. Each summer, the Teens take a week-long trip somewhere to be immersed in nature. In the past, the Teens have ventured to Ontario, Adirondacks 4 times, Laurel Highlands of PA, the PA Grand Canyon, and the Appalachian Trail in Maine and Maryland. The leaders for this year’s trip were Trudyann Buckley, DNS’s Education Intern, Carrie Scheick, DNS’s Teen Naturalist Program Leader, and Matt Babbitt, Site Manager at DNS’s Abbott’s Mill Nature Center.
This summer’s culminating trip for the Teen Naturalists was a 4-night/5-day wilderness paddling adventure on Long Lake and the Raquette River, located near the geographic center of New York’s 6-million acre Adirondack State Park (which is bigger than Yellowstone, Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Glacier, and Great Smoky Moutnains National Parks combined). Our first day was spent driving from DNS’s Ashland Nature Center to Long Lake, New York, a quaint town bustling with paddling, fishing, and seaplanes founded in the 1830’s. Gordon and Fran Fisher, longtime supporters of DNS who spend their summers in the area at their log cabin, were gracious enough to host our group that first evening for a relaxing swim and paddle in the lake, as well as warm company and a hearty homemade “last” meal.
John & Daphne enjoying a paddle in one of Gordon Fisher’s handmade Adirondack Guideboat, photo by Carrie Scheick.
Tuesday morning we woke up in high spirits to meet the local Raquette River Outfitters to receive our gear and hand off our van, and with it any last semblance of the millennial world of Snapchats, #hashtags, and fast food. After a quick briefing from the outfitters, we set out for a 9-mile paddle to our first campsite on the northern end of Long Lake. Boasting over 100 miles of shoreline of Adirondack wilderness, dotted with a few private homes and summer camps, Long Lake feeds into Tupper Lake and Saranac Lake via the Raquette River, and spans over 3,900 acres with a depth range of 15 – 40+ feet. The lake supports a healthy population of Large/Smallmouth Bass, Northern Pike, Brown Bullhead Catfish, Yellow Perch, and NY state record Brook Trout, and notably provides habitat for Common Loons, Common Mergansers, Black Bears, Adirondack Moose, Broad Winged Hawks, and Bald Eagles. Our first day paddle was spent adjusting our eyes to the very “we’re not in Delaware anymore” mountainous views, exploring coves for blooming American White Water-lilly and Cardinal Flower, quietly observing newly hatched families of Loons and Mergansers, and testing our paddling skills. We made it to camp by midafternoon, which gave us just enough time to pitch tents (and hammocks), take a refreshing dip in the cold lake waters, and enjoy our first backcountry couscous dinner. Being in bear country meant dinner was early and quick so we had enough daylight to collect everyone’s “smellables” along with our remaining food to set up a bear hang on a high branch 100+ feet from our campsite. Evening was spent around the campfire telling stories and filled with dreams of the dreaded challenge that laid ahead in the morning.
“Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Delaware anymore.” Photo by Matt Babbitt.
Our fearless leader Carrie Scheick taking full advantage of down time after a long first day paddle, photo by Matt Babbitt.
 American White Water-lily (Nymphaea odorata). Photo by Carrie Scheick. |
 A Common Loon (Gavia immer), photo by Joe Sebastiani. |
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Wednesday morning was greeted with sunshine and oatmeal as we prepared for a 6-mile paddle to leave the still waters of Long Lake and begin our journey down the meandering Raquette River. Our shoulders were glad to meet the current and the shallower river waters meant we could say goodbye to the motorboats and enjoy true wilderness with wonderful viewings of fish, turtles, birds and underwater grasses. Nature observations aside, our attention was focused on finding the “the large rock with a sign on it, you can’t miss it,” as the outfitter had told us the day before. The rock was our queue that the infamous Raquette Falls were fast approaching and it was high time to pull of the river to find the portage trail. We were greeted by a scout group who was returning back to get the rest of their gear, who by disposition alone let us know the portage would be steep and demanding. After our aforementioned pepperoni sandwich lunch, we took several deep calming breaths, heaped on our backpacks and hoisted our canoes overhead, leaving behind the gear we couldn’t fit for a return trip. I took the sweep position on the trail, as the odd one in our 9 person crew, and was worried this portage would break our group like the mangled canoe hanging on the trailhead sign as I passed packs, pieces of gear, and even one of our canoes strewn along the sides of the trail. On the contrary, I was overwhelmed with optimism as I turned the corner to see all six of our teens forsaking the pairs we started in and self-selecting to team up and carry their boats together. Our fate was not that of the broken canoe, we had been forged even stronger by the portage through tears, tenacity, and teamwork.
The crew in full adventure mode along the headwaters of the Raquette River, photo by Trudyann Buckley.
Teen Naturalists starting their climb up and over Raquette Falls, photo by Trudyann Buckley.
We returned the trailhead to recoup our remaining gear, rounding our hike out at a solid 3.75-mile portage, recharged our internal batteries by the river’s calming rapids at the, and decided together to forego the campsite at the base of the falls and push downstream for more adventure. Pulling off the river at lucky campsite #7, we quickly unloaded our gear set-up camp, and soothed our aches and pains in the cold flowing river. Not only was that night’s Asian-sesame noodle dinner an unforgettable meal, not just because we would have been happy eating the bark off of trees out of simple exhaustion, but we were also joined by an adult Bald Eagle who secretively watched us eat and then burst out of the trees not 20-30 feet from our group as we were licking our bowls clean. Mesmerized by nature’s magic and full of noodle, we returned to camp to set up our bear hang and relish in the day’s accomplishments by a roaring campfire.
Sofia realigning by calming rapids at the bottom of Raquette Falls after our portage, photo by Carrie Scheick.
Forging the bond around a post-portage campfire at lucky lean-to #7, photo by Trudyann Buckley.
We returned the trailhead to recoup our remaining gear, rounding our hike out at a solid 3.75-mile portage, recharged our internal batteries by the river’s calming rapids at the, and decided together to forego the campsite at the base of the falls and push downstream for more adventure. Pulling off the river at lucky campsite #7, we quickly unloaded our gear set-up camp, and soothed our aches and pains in the cold flowing river. Not only was that night’s Asian-sesame noodle dinner an unforgettable meal, not just because we would have been happy eating the bark off of trees out of simple exhaustion, but we were also joined by an adult Bald Eagle who secretively watched us eat and then burst out of the trees not 20-30 feet from our group as we were licking our bowls clean. Mesmerized by nature’s magic and full of noodle, we returned to camp to set up our bear hang and relish in the day’s accomplishments by a roaring campfire.
Friday morning came quick, with a mindset of having to make it back to Delaware by day’s end. Our 2-mile paddle to our take out, a public boat ramp nicknamed “The Crusher,” felt like two strokes after everything we had accomplished. We quickly emptied our canoes to be left behind for the outfitter, changed out of river clothes, reconnected with our phones (one teen had over 200 texts waiting to be read!), and loaded the van for the ride home, but not without one last adventure. Second breakfast was had by all at the first fast-food joint we could find in nearby Tupper Lake, which also meant our first real bathroom since Tuesday, and then we headed to The Wild Center, and its new Wild Walk – an elevated trail across the treetops – features 81-acres of outdoors, a 54,000 ft2 museum with live animal exhibits, a natural playground, a native wildflower garden and living pond, and hands-on everything. We spent several hours exploring all the exhibits, picking berries along the trail, and recharging before the long drive home full of Friday night New Jersey traffic (a much slower pace than the river’s current).
Scenes from the Wild Center’s Wild Walk, photos by Carrie Scheick.
Sofia said it works just like a seashell, photo by Carrie Scheick.
The crew searching for berries, for like a solid 20 minutes, photo by Trudyann Buckley.
We made it back to Ashland late that evening, with our bellies full of “real” food and thoughts of dinners with Bald Eagles, lean-to campfires, and care-free paddling seeming quite distant. Nature’s magic hadn’t left us though, for as we were making the last few turns off the highway, a radio DJ in some far-off sound booth decided to press play on the quintessential road trip song, Queen’s “Bohemian Rapsody,” timing it just right to carry us in to the parking lot as the last head-banging verse came alive. A van that was asleep most of the ride awoke at the first sound of the song (I did crank the radio up to 11), and the whole crew began in unison “Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? Caught in a landslide, no escape from reality. Open your eyes, look up to the skies and see. I’m just a poor boy, I need no sympathy, because I’m easy come, easy go, a little high, little low. Anyway the wind blows, doesn’t really matter to me, to me.” The Ashland parking lot didn’t have a “DANGER tests and grades / college applications / back to DNS jobs AHEAD” sign as we puddled in, but after a week of being forged in the Adirondack wilderness the song was a fitting reminder that anyway the autumn winds head blew us into calm waters or another portage, it didn’t really matter to us.
Anyway the wind blows doesn’t really matter to us, photo by Carrie Scheick
To see more photos from this trip, check out the photo album on our Facebook page.
If your teen is interested in joining the yearlong Teen Naturalist program, contact us at (302) 239-2334 for more information and the full schedule.
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