Adirondak passage. the cruise of the canoe Sairy Gamp
by Jerome, Christine 1943-
pub. by Harper Collins, 1994       isbn 0-06-092582-5 pbk -     LCCN 93-36723 - - 230 p. -- maps p. ix -- Acknowledgments p. xiii --
Preface p. xvii -- photos between p.134-135-- Epilogue p.199 -- Bibliography p.211 -- Index p 217 -- illustrated

The author retraces the long canoe trip done 105 years previously by George W. Sears (aka Nessmuk)
who wrote about his canoe trip in the Adirondak area of NE New York State in Forrest and Stream magazine.
Nessmuk had a very special, extremely small and light canoe, the Sairy Gamp, made for his trip.
It was truly a wonder, made by J. Henry Rushton of Canton, NY.
It was made of very thin cedar with many ribs. It weighed only 10 and a half pounds and was only 9 feet long.

For her re-creation of the trip Christine Jerome had a canoe 9 ft long made by Peter Hornbeck of Olmstedville.
It was approximately the same size and shape, but of kevlar, a very modern material & weighed only 10 pounds.
A second slightly longer canoe of the same make was made for her husband traveling companion, John.
They started on their trip in late August 1990, from Old Forge, the southern end of their planned trip.

      This is a narrative of a canoe trip in the Adirondak Park in northeastern New York State.
It was to be a re-creation of the trip that George Washington Sears (pen name Nesmunk) made
from Old Forge NY at the southern end of First Lake to Regis Lake traversing a chain of lakes mostly linked by the Raquette river
to Paul Smiths College on Lower Saint Regis Lake in 1883. At the time Sears was 61 years old and not in the best of health.
This was a 266 mile trip paddling and portaging from one body of water to aother
sometimes around rapids which were not traversable in the water.
As Sears trip was both from the southern terminus to his northern end, and back to his starting point.
The authors trip was also up and back, approximately 266 miles.
This book not only describes the voyage, it also describes the history of various places
in exquiset detail for the area along the route back well over 100 years.
      I was drawn to read this book because it was about a trip in a replica of the Sairy Gamp
perhaps the smallest of the fameous Rushton canoes.
It was almost impossibly small and light, weighing only 10 and a half pounds.
yet it survived this adventure without damage.
Reading this book I got much more than a simple adventure tale.
It serves a deep history of the Adirondak area as well a history of the people who enjoyed the place.
This inclues a number of US Presidents, business leaders and the colorful developers of the area.
      Chapters
    Introduction
    1. Boonville to Old Forge -1
    2. Old Forge to Inlet - 19
    3. Inlet to Raquette Like - 32
    4. Raquette Lake to Forked Lake
    5. Forked Lake to Long Lake - 65
    6. Long Lake to Rqquette Falls - 75
    7. Raquette Falls to Stony Creek Ponds - 87
.     8. Upper Sarnack Lake to Spitfire Lake - 100
    9. Turnaround - 112
    10. Upper Saint Regis Lake to Indian Carry - 124
    11. Indian Carry to Bog River - 140
    12. Blue Mountain lake to Eagle Lake - 158
    13. Eagle Lake to Eighth Lake - 171
    14. Eighth Lake to Minnehaha - 185
    Epilogue - 199

This is a good read for anyone intersted in the Adirondak area of upstate New York.
Or interested in how to canoe trip using a very small canoe.
~ 2025-05-02 ~

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