A big day on Adirondacks’ Little River 

Trip includes unexpected strong current, black bear sighting

Story and photos by Phil Brown

I had canoed the Little River in the western Adirondacks a few times and remembered it as a mellow paddle with not much current. Evidently, I hadn’t canoed it in April.

Leaving Saranac Lake midmorning, I arrived at Streeter Road, a former railroad bed that provides access to the Aldrich Pond Wild Forest, and found it still gated for mud season. This wasn’t a huge hassle, as I had to carry my lightweight Hornbeck only three-tenths of a mile to the river.

The seasonal road begins in Aldrich, a community of hunting camps on the river. A sign at one camp describes Aldrich as “God’s country,” and I won’t argue.

RELATED READING: In search of a hidden marker in St. Lawrence County

The Little is a beautiful waterway, largely free of development, but it has been left out of the state’s Wild, Scenic, and Recreational Rivers System. In 1975, the Adirondack Park Agency recommended designating it a “study river,” a preliminary step for inclusion in the system. When the state legislature failed to act, the proposal died.

I intended to do an 8-mile round trip, going upriver as far as impassable rapids. It’s also possible to do a through trip on the Little, putting in on State Route 3 or Youngs Road near Star Lake. Either through trip requires a car shuttle and a carry around rapids. Most people probably will prefer the convenience of the round trip.

Shouldering my canoe, I walked up the dirt road to a pullout on the left. From there, a short path goes downhill to a plank walkway that leads to the water. The put-in is next to a boulder with a large eye bolt, once used to anchor log booms.

Beaver activity

As soon as I started paddling upriver, I sensed the current was stronger than in my past visits, owing to the spring thaw and rains. 

Another difference: the last time I did this trip, I had to carry around a large beaver dam just a short distance from the put-in. Not this time. Either the dam washed away or the water was so high that I floated over it without noticing. 

Beavers are very active on the Little. From the outset, I saw lots of chewed alders along the banks. Eventually, I would see Castor canadensis in the flesh. One glided silently through the water in front of my canoe. Three others, spotted at different times, slapped their tails loudly to protest my incursion into their realm.

But the best wildlife sighting was yet to come.

Yesterday it snowed in Saranac Lake. Today was T-shirt weather — sunny and warm, a few thin clouds. For the first part of the journey, I meandered through alders and tussock swamps, passing marshy backwaters. In the nearby hills, the hardwoods were beginning to bud, suffusing the slopes with pastel reds and greens. Farther upriver, the banks became forested, with evergreen spires stretching to the sky. 

Strong current

I had to paddle hard right from the start. Fortunately, I also encountered calm stretches where I could give my muscles a rest. As I progressed upstream, the current seemed to gain strength, creating whitewater wavelets wherever it poured over a boulder. In two or three spots, the current fought me to a standstill. I’d give up, float backward downstream, regroup, and then charge ahead, paddling furiously until the current slackened.

Finally, I reached the rapids. It took nearly three hours to travel four miles. The hard work over, I looked forward to the cruise downstream. The return would take only an hour — a third of the time needed for the upriver trip. I floated effortlessly through riffles and wavelets that had earlier given me so much trouble. Like a whitewater paddler, I kept my eye on the water, looking for clues in the current that warned of submerged rocks.

Maybe that’s why I didn’t see it at first. When I did look up, it was staring at me: a huge, healthy black bear, maybe 20 yards away, standing still as a statue on the grassy bank. The current drew me closer. When I reached for my phone, suddenly the bear turned and crashed into the forest. In my 25 years in the Adirondacks, that was the closest I’ve come to a bear in the wild (that I know of, anyway). It was reward enough for the day’s labors.

The Little deserves to be in to the Wild, Scenic, and Recreational Rivers System. The snub by politicians, though, does nothing to detract from its charms. If you go, however, I’d suggest waiting a few weeks.

DIRECTIONS: From the junction of NY 3 and Youngs Road in Star Lake, drive west on NY 3 for 2.8 miles to Mill Road (just before a bridge over the river). Turn left and go 0.2 miles to a T-intersection. Turn left and go 0.6 miles to Coffin Mills Road. Turn right and go 4.0 miles to Streeter Road, reached just after crossing the river in Aldrich. Turn left and go 0.4 miles to a pullout on the left. The unmarked carry trail begins here.

GPS coordinates: 44.142967, -75.110917