A canoe trip to a camping destination within Champlain
Story and Photos by Mike Lynch
In late June, intern Jak Krouse I paddled to Valcour Island on the western side of Lake Champlain.
A 970-acre island, Valcour Island is in the northeastern part of the Adirondack Park and is a popular destination for people on motor boats and sailboats in July and August.
Paddling to the island is less common because Lake Champlain is such a large and challenging waterbody for small crafts. But paddling is definitely doable, especially in August when the waters are warm.
The trip to the island from the Peru boat launch is easy enough. You paddle about a mile, with the distance varying according to the landing spot.
For people looking to do an overnight, the island offers 29 first come, first served primitive sites, which are popular on the weekends but less so during the week.
But the trip can be challenging if the wind picks up and creates blustery conditions and big waves. If you’re paddling in those conditions, you’ll want to be in a sea kayak or canoe with a spray skirt.
Jak and I had no trouble though. We crossed during the evening just before sunset and the water was like glass. We had looked at the forecast and picked a couple of calm days for our adventure. It took about 20 minutes or so to cross the open water between the launch and the island.
From there, we paddled a short distance along the shoreline to campsites three and four, where the Northern Forest Canoe Trail crew had set up camp. We had planned to meet with them to learn more about the improvements they’d do at campsite seven on the southern shore .
The crew works for the nonprofit NFCT, which promotes and maintains the 740-mile paddling route from the Adirondacks to Maine. It consisted of three interns and leader Will Lockwood.
After a late dinner, we hung around the cook tent with them and listened to music from Jonah Yaffe, told stories and looked on as Lockwood gave his crew a lesson in mushrooms, a passion of his.
After breakfast the next morning, we paddled to the southern shore of Valcour. The lake was calm until we came around the corner and hit the full expanse of the lake. From then on, the waves and wind picked up, but we paddled without incident to the cobblestone shoreline near campsite seven.
Paddling to this beach was my favorite part of the trip, as it was extremely scenic because of the island cliffs we passed. However, it’s important to note most of the shoreline was inaccessible by boat and dangerous if you were paddling in big waves near the island because of the backsplash. We stayed 75 yards or so away from the island.
On the southern shore, we watched and documented the trail crew as they built a set of stairs to a campsite on a small hill overlooking the lake. On Friday, the crew was getting set up for a work weekend, during which they would be assisted by volunteers. The crew works throughout the summer on similar projects along the historic NFCT.
During that afternoon, we explored some the trails before heading to our boats. Luckily, the water was smooth as we paddled back from our campsite to the boat launch. This time though, there were more boats on the water, as people were taking advantage of the good Friday evening weather. Motorboats and sailboats were in abundance. And there were more canoes and kayaks than usual, as the volunteers headed to the island for a weekend of work.
Overall, it was a successful trip and one that is much different than many of the paddling excursions offered in the Adirondack Park. If you’ve got the proper equipment for paddling big lakes, I recommend visiting the island. But don’t take the trip lightly. Lake Champlain can be extremely challenging for paddlers due to its large size.
Left out history of island. And spots for scuba diving.so miss the area especially in fall . Hope you write about ice fishing my father told stories of when the lake would freeze over in Willsboro they would drive across to Vt. In the 30’s.