Canoe Trips

Most of these trips have a day hike up a nearby mountain, just so you don’t spend the whole time sitting down.

Blue Mountain Lake (Mild)

This is a 25-mile round trip paddle between Raquette Lake and Blue Mountain Lake via the meandering, wildlife-choked Marion River.

Mid-point of the journey is the six-mile (round trip) hike up Blue Mountain, which is right in front of you throughout the entire first half of the trip. From the top you get to look over an amazing view, including your route back to Raquette Lake!

Saranac Lake (Mild)

Two groups will travel this route in opposite directions, through Upper, Middle and Lower Saranac lakes. The trip involves about 25 miles of canoeing and a half-mile portage.

This trip also allows the option of hiking Ampersand mountain and getting one of the best views in the Adirondacks.

Rainbow Lake (Mild)

Paddle through the beautiful and historic northern Adirondacks. This unique route starts in the Rainbow Narrows and continues down Rainbow Lake, weaving around a glacial esker. You then travel through Jones Pond to Osgood Pond before ending in Lower St. Regis Lake, which is home to some of the best Great Camps in the Adirondacks.

This trip also offers the chance to hike St. Regis Mountain.

Raquette River (Mild/Medium)

This trip covers 28 miles of the Raquette River and Long Lake. Highlights include the peaceful Raquette River scenery and viewing Raquette Falls. Two trips travel this route (one in each direction), and the portage around Raquette Falls allows an opportunity for these trips to swap boats rather than carry them the distance (1.5 miles) around the falls.

Saint Regis (Medium)

Long known as one of the all-time great canoe trips in the Adirondacks, this trip is for people who want their peace and solitude broken only by the call of the loon, not the whine of the outboard motor. This trip sets out from the town of Paul Smith’s, and heads on a route that connects small ponds and portages to get into one of the most remote areas in the park. Portages and paddling take you to places where few have been.

Fulton Chain (Medium)

Become a member of the almost legendary “Chain gang”: a great AA tradition. This 20-mile trip begins on Seventh Lake and heads along the Fulton chain of lakes, including portaging over (and sometimes falling off) numerous beaver dams, to the Marion river and Blue Mountain Lake.

This trip crosses large and small lakes, narrow rivers, and places where careful navigation is needed to follow the stream through expansive wetlands.

Ninety-mile Canoe Challenge (Spicy)

Travel the first 90 of the 740-mile Northern Forest Canoe Trail. Begin in Old Forge and paddle through the Fulton Chain Lakes, Raquette Lake, Forked Lake, Long Lake, Raquette River, and Stony Creek. Finish through the Saranac chain of lakes, ending at the town of Saranac Lake.

This tough challenge will perfect your paddling skills and provide the opportunity to see many of the Adirondacks' most beautiful waterways.