A framed topographic map of the Indian Lake region hangs on the wall. Judging by map’s sun burnt edges, the proprietors of the Squaw Brook Motel nailed it up in their cure cottage styled porch years ago.
Starting at the southeastern corner of Indian Lake, I move my finger along the shoreline, tracking the progress of the past two days. The other team members are fiddling with the ancient-looking percolator, which is making a strange gurgle. “We’ll need to ferry the two of you and the canoe to this cove on the west side about six miles up. I think it’s where we picked you guys up yesterday evening.” They nod in agreement, and my attention moves to the islands along the eastern shore, northeast of John Mack Bay. I try to remember which island the third team member and I ended on. We have GPS points anyway. A rumble drowns the sound of the percolator, and in the reflection on the glass covering the map, I see a logging truck heading north on Route 30— it’s loaded with spruce logs. The truck’s wheels spray water in a trailing cloud. As one of the team members pours black coffee into our four mismatched mugs, she holds her phone towards the ceiling. Tensions are high; this is day three without cell phone service or Wi-Fi.
Indian Lake is one of those lakes in the Adirondacks that run to the northeast for miles like a narrow fissure. The wind, too, runs in this direction, forcing lakes with these dimensions to white cap, making canoe work difficult. We’ve been lucky this week, no wind it all, and this day is shaping to be a great one. The rain and overcast from the night is moving on and Mario clouds are moving in.
We pile out of the Paul Smith’s College van with our deli sandwiches, damp towels, and water jugs—we stopped at a gas station along the way to the boat launch. We get our snorkel gear, aquatic plant identification keys, GPSs, and data logs out of the back of the van and head down the steep parking lot to our tied off 16’ jon boat and canoe. We bail six inches of water out of the bottom of the boat and pull the canoe in, letting it hang few feet off port and starboard. After a few attempts at starting the 20HP outboard, we’re off.
To be continued…
Sean Regalado is from Downey, California. After High school he attended Cerritos College, a community college near his home town. After two years, he transferred to Paul Smith’s College. He spent his first summer in the Adirondacks working for the Adirondack Watershed Institute as an aquatic plant management SCUBA diver; for the two summers following, he continued this role. Then in 2013, he graduated with a B.S. in Biology with minors in GIS and Chemistry. Soon after he was hired by the Institute to continue his GIS research on road runoff in the Park as well as meet the day to day GIS and data needs of AWI. During the summers he lead’s AWI’s aquatic invasive regional response team.
Very interesting story, I can hardly wait for the rest.