Tramp & Trail

Some forty odd years ago when I first canoed the Kunjamuk, Elm Lake was a wilderness paradise with a single campsite on a gravel beach along its eastern shore.  Surrounded by posted paper company forests it was inaccessible to anything but canoes and kayaks.  My six-year-old son even found an aboriginal celt, proving that others had occupied our campsite in ancient times.  Since then dirt roads have introduced motorized vehicles and there are three cabins, one occupying the site where I used to camp.

Nancy Coleman and I checked out the route one week before July 4 and found the water very high, making it almost impossible to pass under the two bridges and to paddle against the strong current in four miles of sinuous curves.  However when our group of 18 Tramps arrived at Kunjamuk Bay we found that the water level had dropped an amazing five feet!  This made for much easier paddling and no problems under the bridges, but it also uncovered a number of beaver dams and fallen logs.  Tramp teamwork enabled us to pull everyone over these obstacles and even to help out a young family of three who were kayaking the river for the first time.

Six of our members tired of the game after the third beaver dam and eyeing the threatening clouds returned to the put-in, but the rest of us soldiered on to a pleasant lunch on the western shore of Elm Lake.  With the current in our favor we had an easy paddle back to the bay, followed by a stop for late lunch at Logan’s in Speculator.  Because of the threat of white nose disease the state has closed all caves, so we canceled a planned side trip to Kunjamuk Cave.  Many thanks to Nancy Agen for serving as starter at Mapledale.

By:  Harold Pier