Lows Lake
For July 4th weekend this year, 2 friends and I decided to do an easy weekend of canoeing on Lows Lake in the Adirondacks. Lows Lake is located just southwest of Tupper Lake and far west of the high peaks of the Adirondacks. There is one service road near the lake and a few trails, but otherwise it is almost completely isolated. Even the campsites are spread far apart, so it is the perfect place to go for a quiet, relaxed weekend away.
You can see in the map above where we launched. There is only one parking lot and boat launch on Lows Lake, and that is at the lower dam. Take route 421 west of the southern part of Tupper Lake and then turn south on a dirt road -- a sign clearly marks the road and boat launch. There is enough space for 10-15 cars and on our way out we saw even more cars parked on the side of the road. There should be plenty of capacity.
From the lower Dam its an easy paddle for about an hour, at which time you reach the upper dam. There is a clear NYSDEC sign where you can land your boat. At that point you have to get out of your boat and carry it for about 750 feet.
About 0.8 miles after the upper dam you have to sneak through a tight marsh, but other than that it is clear paddling. Up until our campsite (marked on the map above) it was easy paddling with not a lot of wind or current. There are plenty of campsites to choose from, all marked on the NYS DEC map.
On Day 2 we paddled into the widest part of Lows Lake. There was a stiff wind blowing over the length of the lake and it was kicking up 1 foot waves and a strong current. In a big canoe with 3 people, it was tough. We originally intended to follow the shore of the lake, but getting past Parker Island proved to be a challenge. We decided to turn and follow the shore of Parker Island and then cut behind it. That area is well protected. There is a small strip of land so you can't paddle all the way through to Grass Pond -- but the portage is only 10 feet (see pic below).
We met a DEC ranger there. She was super nice and told us that you could hike up to the top of the mountain right next to Parker Island and get a view of the whole lake. Since we had been paddling for a few hours we decided it was a good idea, however we ended up messing up the route. The correct mountain to summit is right next to Parker Island. Follow the dirt road for a few hundred feet and then the road will become thin with marsh on both sides. To your left, there is an orange or pink ribbon hanging in the tree marking the trail to the summit (I can't remember the color). We missed this on the way up, but we saw it on the way down and realized our mistake.
Not seeing any indication of a trail, we followed the dirt road for a while and then decided to bushwack up the next mountain down, thinking it must have been the mountain the ranger referred to. Although the bushwack was fun, the summit had absolutely no view at all -- so our efforts were wasted. It was not until we got down and hiked back to our canoe that we saw the ribbon and the trail and realized the silly mistake we made. So whatever you do, do not follow our gps tracks for hiking.
After the hike we paddled into Grass Pond which has nice views of the adjacent cliffs. Then we paddled back to our campsite across the widest part of the lake, which proved to be easy since we were going in the same direction as the wind.
On Day 3 we paddled out to our car in around 3.5 hours.
GPS tracks (gpx, kml files) are below.