Nick's Lake

Nick's Lake Campground is located in the Black River Wild Forest of Adirondack Park.  From Kayuta Lake, we drove for about 24 miles on Route 28N turning on Birch Street by the Adirondack Scenic Railroad in Thendara then through local roads toward Nick's Lake Campground. The main road to the campground is less than 100 yards past the road to the McCauley Mountain's scenic chair lift. The campground has 112 campsites, playground, picnic area, a large beach, and over 20 miles of biking and hiking. On this trip, we were mainly interested in paddling around the lake which is closed to motor boats.

We passed a boat launch where we could have easily dropped our kayak but there was no parking allowed at the site so we decided to go to the beach area instead.  There was a restroom, changing room and picnic tables around. After only a short walk from the parking lot, we inflated our Sea Eagle kayak on the sandy beach.  There was a number of canoes on the beach which can be rented by calling Tickner's in Old Forge.

 Nick's Lake is named after Nick Stoner, a near-legendary Revolutionary War and the War of 1812 veteran.  According to a sign at the campground, it is "shallow glaciated lake fed primarily waters from aquifers". Data from the Adirondacks Lakes Survey Corporation show it to be 208 acres in surface area with a maximum depth of 17feet, mean depth 8.2 ft.

The lake was so peaceful and quiet with only a few other canoers around.  There were a few people fishing (brown and brook trout, rock bass, sunfish, bullhead and suckers are found here) but we did not find anybody with a catch.  Starting counterclockwise, we passed the bridge that goes over the inlet. Against some moderate winds, we paddled parallel to but not too close to the shoreline, much of which is quite shallow. Although the lake was small, it's irregular shape makes for a good 4.8 miles of shoreline to explore. 


The aquatic plants were blooming, particularly the pickerelweeds and the white water lilies. We saw what looked like an old beaver lodge (or maybe just a bunch of tree branches). To our delight, a solitary loon popped up close to our kayak and stayed there for several minutes, a fitting climax to our first and likely not our last paddle on Nick's Lake.