Rotary Guide to Adirondack Canoe Routes. Thirty one-day canoe trips within thirty miles of Tupper Lake

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1. Sucker Lake, with a launching ramp, is two miles west of Oswegatchie. Go north from Route 3 on County Route 122. Take the next two left turns. Use the Oswegatchie and Newton Falls Quads.

2. Lower Racquette River reservoir areas dammed by Niagara Mohawk Corp. These are Stark, Blake, Rainbow Falls and South Colton reservoirs and the Carry Falls fluctuating reservoir. Refer to Niagara Mohawk Corp. brochures.Take Route 3, 14 miles west of Tupper Lake, then go north on Route 56. Use the Carry Falls , Rainbow Falls and Sylvan Falls Quads.

3. Racquette River’s Piercefield Flow at Piercefield, 8 miles west of Tupper Lake. Put in at Niagara Mohawk’s "launch" area on Route 3. Canoe upstream to Setting Pole Dam at the foot of Racquette Pond. Use the Tupper Lake Quad.

4. Little Wolf Pond is accessible at the Town of Altamont campsite in the "downtown" section of Tupper Lake Village. Turn north on Washington Street, one block west of the Lumberjack restaurant, off Route 3 West. Use the Tupper Lake Quad.

5. Massawepie Lake is a complex of four lakes 13 miles west of Tupper Lake. It is Rochester, NY’s Boy Scout Camp and not accessible July and August. Use the Childwold Quad.

6. Grasse River, South Branch, flows out of Massawepie Lake. Travel 4½ miles south of Route 3 through the Boy Scout Camp at Massawepie and park outside the Grass River Club gate. Walk ½ mile along the former Grass River Railroad right-of-way, to which the Nature Conservancy now has an easement for public access, to the bridge over the river, and put in.This is a beautiful trip thru wetlands and swamp. There may be many beaver dams to cross or portage around. A good view can be had by climbing a large rock along the way. At the end of The Flow, portage around the dam, and on the right, look for a landing with an uphill slope. Portage a few hundred feet to state-owned Balsam Pond. A second vehicle may be parked here within 150 feet of Route 3. This parking area is marked by a sign "Canoe Carry" 3.3 miles west of Sevey Corners (Intersection of Routes 3 and 56) . Use the Childwold Quad.

7. Higley Flow State Park on the Lower Racquette River, off Route 56, southwest of South Colton offers a placid river and campsites. Use the Colton Quad.

8. The Oswegatchie River between the hamlets of Oswegatchie and Fine is a dammed-up stretch. Niagara Mohawk Corp. maintains a public launch on the north side of Route 3 at their Flat Rock Site, 4.3 miles west of Star Lake. Use the Oswegatchie Quad.

9. Cranberry Lake is a century-old man-made star-shaped lake 27 miles west of Tupper Lake. The Oswegatchie River flows through it, entering at Wanakena, which is the State’s Ranger school. At the lake’s outlet are the village and a State launching ramp off Route 3. A State campsite is also sited on the shore. The best canoe route is from Wanakena, also on Route 3, into the lake and around Joe Indian Island which has some twenty free campsites. Due to its configuration, this lake can be quite rough at its center. Use the Cranberry Lake Quad