Thursday Eric finished his 1st year of pre-school at Little Acorn. Attendance was 9:30 – 12:30 on Tuesdays & Thursdays. They held a picnic at the Trenton Town Park with lots of play time toys.

We have some pure white wild iris out in the pasture. They are not fully in bloom yet, but coming on strong. That is the positive aspect to walking down in the pasture. The negative is the goose poop left by the 3 families of geese that moved to the little pond.

June 1-2 Skip, Bob, Steve and I paddled the Tioughnioga River from East Homer to Chenango Forks – roughly 40 miles. The Tioughnioga River is a narrow river with several twist, turns and easy “swifts” to keep paddlers engaged.

The water level gauge at Cortland (http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv?01509000 ) was showing 3.1 feet with ~150 cubic feet per second discharge, well below the median 300 CFS for this time of year. The lower water level meant that we were able to easily run a couple of obstacles – a 2’ dam below the East Homer Bridge and a few strainers lower on the East Branch, but conversely we had to drag our loaded Royalex canoes through some shallow areas – probably 15 times over the two days.

Where East and West Branches meet the Tioughnioga River is born. Cortland appears below the confluence, above the right (western) bank of the Tioughnioga. From this point the river bends southward to form the eastern boundary of industrial Cortland and then assumes a southeasterly direction.

Just below Cortland we met up with two teenagers paddling from Cortland to Marathon with no knowledge of the distance/time it would take, no ten essentials, no water, only a cell phone and a Dad expecting to pick them up in Marathon. As the temperatures were in the 80s I gave them a bottle of water. We leapfrogged each other a couple of times and later saw a car driving slow

Through out the trip we passed several hundreds of Canada geese; about half of which flew off upon our approach and the rest just watched us from close range. I also heard and saw an unusual number of Northern Orioles – a very pretty sounding bird.

Below Gridley Creek Junction and above Marathon the valley floor widens to 3/10 mile with steep slopes and islands, and side channels offering sites for overnight camping. We took advantage of an island for camping overnight. A wonderful site except for the truck noise on I-81 and an early morning south bound freight train less than 30 yards away across the river. The early wake up call got Steve making coffee and we had a leisurely breakfast while serenaded by turkeys coming off their hillside roosts.  We packed up and were paddling by 7:40am.

Given the forecast for a hot humid day I commented to Steve that I was glad for the early start and hoped that it would mean that we wouldn’t be paddling at 2 in the afternoon. We were close. We arrived at Chenango Forks at 2:10 with threatening rumbles of thunder. While we didn’t get hit with any serious rain I understand there were some violent thunderstorms in the southern tier during the afternoon. We were just lucky.

Overall the Tioughnioga River offers a nice paddle and certainly offers lots of options for day trips for those so inclined.

Located in Hamilton County only a couple miles east of Speculator the Kunjamuk River is a small meandering Class I river offering reliable year-round water flow. Paddling upstream on the Kunjamuk River from Big Bay to Elm Lake is a popular ~7 mile round-trip through the former International Paper Company timber land and well documented in:

• guide books; Adirondack Canoe Waters: South and West Flow; and Fun on Flatwater: An Introduction to Adirondack Canoeing
• magazines; http://www.paddlermagazine.com/issues/1998_6/destinations.html
• on-line forums; http://www.adkforum.com/showthread.php?t=4747 and
• individual websites; http://www.skidmore.edu/~jbeachy/canoe/2003-06-28/kunjamuk.html

We left one vehicle at the parking lot on Route 30 and proceeded up Elm Lake Road traveling across the lease agreement International Paper Company roads. A 4wd high clearance vehicle is recommended. The land in this section was excessively logged about 100 years ago. In the 1930s, the Civilian Conservation Corps came in and created a plantation of pines, mostly scotch and white pines.

We stopped on State Land at the trailhead to Rock and Long Ponds at Cisco Brook (Latitude 43.6047, Longitude -74.3053). This trailhead is on the old Kunjamuk Road which was the major roadway between Speculator and Indian Lake in the 19th century.

From our launch point on Cisco Brook we encountered the 1^st beaver dam/obstacle at roughly 70 yards downstream and began a count of obstacles.For our purposes an obstacle was a beaver dam or, more commonly, a deadfall/strainer that required one or more of the passengers to leave the canoe, pull through using brush or use means other than paddling to gain passage.Using this definition we encountered 31 separate obstacles from Cisco Brook to ElmLake.

In addition there were 10-12 beaver dams that we were able to slide over or through with vigorous paddling. Just below the fish barrier dam we encountered one of the tallest beaver dams I have seen – close to 4’ in height.

We chose mid-May hoping to have adequately high water to ease our passage over obstacles and to avoid biting black flies. With the temperatures in the high 50s the black flies were swarming when we stopped for breaks, but rarely bit and were not a concern while we were paddling.

The Kunjamuk is very scenic, offering several views of the rocky outcroppings on Upper Pine Mountains. In fact, more than once the meandering stream caused us to make 180 degree turns and we viewed Upper Pine Mountain from the northern, western, and southern perspectives.

From our last break at the sand pit just south of Elm Lake we paddled out in 40 minutes completing our trip 7 hours 40 minutes after our departure. About 45 minutes were used for lunch and breaks. We estimate that each obstacle took between 3-4 minutes for a total of an 1½ to 2 hours on obstacles leaving roughly 5 hours of straight paddling time.

It was one of those “Gee that was memorable. Thanks for inviting me. Let me know the next time you have one of these trips planned and I will try to be busy…..”

As documented in the Jessup River Wild Forest Unit Management Plan, DEC has the power to regulate use of waters and to regulate uses of rivers such as the Kunjamuk. As the International Paper holdings transfer to DEC stewardship it will be interesting to see if there are efforts to clear out some of the obstacles and make the Kunjamuk more accessible for through paddlers.

Annotated pictures from the trip are at http://www.jimmuller.com/canoe-trips/kunjamuk-river/

A URL link to test your upload and download connection speeds.

http://www.internetfrog.com/mypc/speedtest/

I thought I would pass this along.

The Adirondack Park of New York state is a bird watching haven. Birds that migrate to the Adirondack region for the summer arrive by June. Over 100 bird species can be found nesting in the region, including the spruce grouse and Bicknell’s thrush. Birding enthusiasts have also been flocking to the area in increased numbers each spring, growing their life lists. This year the area boasts support from Audubon New York, more festivals and the grand opening of a new birding exhibit at the Wild Center/Natural History Museum of the Adirondacks. Many organizations have been putting together weekends with guided outings, workshops and lectures to help facilitate viewing and education. Birding festivals scheduled include:

· Great Camp Sagamore will be hosting an Elderhostel event, Boreal Birds of the Adirondacks, May 29 – June 1. The program includes lodging, meals, lectures and field trips. For more information visit www.elderhostel.org or call 800-454-5768.

· The Great Adirondack Birding Celebration will be held June 1-3 at the Adirondack Park Agency Visitor Interpretive Center (VIC) in Paul Smiths. The weekend features birding trips, lectures, workshops and the popular Teddy Roosevelt Birding Challenge. Click the link or call 518-327-3000 for more information.

· The Adirondack Birding Festival in Hamilton County, co-sponsored by Audubon New York, is taking place June 8-10 and June 15-17. The first weekend will focus on the southern portion of the county and the second will feature the northern portion. The festival includes seminars and outings. For more information visit www.adirondackexperience.com.

The Adirondack Regional Tourism Council offers birding enthusiasts tools to guide them to the ultimate birding spots. The interactive Web site www.adkbirds.com serves as an extensive guide and sightings source pre and post trip. The Adirondack Regional Tourism Council can provide more information on the birding events in the region. Their Web site www.visitadirondacks.com provides information on lodging, directions, additional activities, and more.