Whether it’s a S. NH lake or a SoCal surf break, when more and more people want to use a resource, the more the entitled class wants to restrict access.
1 Like
I don’t like the idea of private lakes, but I don’t own property on one. Just be careful, as if someone complains, you could be arrested for trespassing, though I would hope you’d get nothing more than a warning. I agree with you about the stupidity of some power boat owners, but they own their property and their boats and if they aren’t breaking any laws, there’s nothing that can be done about it. We used to hold skills sessions at Glen Lake in Goffstown and people would go blasting from one end of the lake to the other, over and over again. By the time they got up to speed, it was just a few seconds before they had to slow down and turn around. I don’t see the fun in that, but whatever.
I live in Nashua as well, and when I first started paddling, I stuck to ponds, lakes and one stretch of the Nashua River. Squam and Umbagog are reasonable interesting, but most of the other fresh water I paddled was pretty boring unless you’re into birding or fishing, and the kayak is more of a means to an end. Once I tried coastal paddling, I never looked back other than skills sessions on Walden Pond, one club trip on the Charles River and the Newfound Rendezevous events on Newfound Lake. These were fun because of the other paddlers, more than the locations.
There are plenty of protected coastal marshes, coves and bays that you can explore, where the water doesn’t get any rougher than on ponds and small lakes.
I know your boat is not suitable for coastal paddling, but that’s where the real fun is, IMO. The short NH coastline shouldn’t deter you, as you have access to great paddling in Maine, MA and points south. Heck, it’s actually possible to paddle in the waters of ME, NH and MA, or MA, RI, CT and NY without every getting out of your boat. If you decide that you’re interested in trying saltwater, check out the North Shore Paddler’s Network at www.nspn.org. They’re very welcoming to new paddlers and they have members all over New England. I’m pretty sure that they still run skills sessions and club day trips. Getting in with a group of experienced and trained paddlers is the safest way to expand your horizons and I’m sure you can find someone who will help you get started on the right path to paddling coastal waters.
Not always. Sometimes people abuse the privilege.
The traditional take out for one of our local rivers was on private property - a narrow strip of land up a steep bank on a little used side street. People have been using it for years. Couple of years ago a no trespassing sign went up. We ignored it, only to get a visit from the landowner. He said he posted it for two reasons: 1. People (mostly fishermen) are slobs and leave trash all over the property, and 2. Some kids had put up a rope swing and were swinging off the bank and he was concerned about liability. After years of allowing access, he was sick of dealing with it, so he posted it. He told us next time he saw us he would just call the cops - at least he gave us a warning. There is a public boat launch a couple miles downstream that we now use.
I have to admit that I have boot-legged plenty of times across private property - just me, what’s the harm. Multiply that times lots of people trying to access a popular lake or beach, and I can see how landowners would get frustrated. Too many people trying to access limited resources.
1 Like
Agree 100% - too much demand for too little supply … not to mention too little common sense on the demand side.
Almost on topic: Lake Raponda in southern Vt is about 1.25 miles long, a third of a mile wide with a depth of 12 feet. It has a public launch too. The only issue you will have here is 3 (three) surf boats! It can get very interesting at times.
Classic example of why property owners start clamping down on trespassers, on land or water. Too many people decide that once they have access, they can do whatever they want. This frequently includes forbidden uses, or abuse of the area.
AND no matter how much access already exists, which varies by location, it’s never enough for the greedy who demand everything for free, without any restrictions.
Once “the public” is granted access, the owner cannot refuse anyone. Who’d want to allow anybody at all onto their property, given the worsening attiudes of entitlement and disrespect?!
4 Likes
For me in my area (New Hampshire), the open ponds outnumber the “private” ones, especially for the better spots. The ones so far that do seem to be private though are gatekept by groups that most definitely have their own agenda. They claim on the surface to be “protecting” their pond or lake, but when you go there, it’s clear that they just don’t want anyone else in their backyard. Most own massive boats way too big for the lake and the shores are either blown out by erosion or there are seawalls at the lakeside because of it. Some lakes have limited canoe or kayak access only for the owners to be flying around on party barges. Seems hypocritical to me.
This whole issue is just something I came across when cataloging my area.
I admit that I recently (4 years ago) purchased a nice large lot and erected a large camp on a private lake. Even though not in the Adirondacks, it is just outside by only a mile, and similar restrictions apply regarding setbacks, wetlands restrictions, and type and color of construction, as approved by the association board of directors ( of which I am now a member). It is a small lake, less than two miles end to end and only a couple hundred yards or less wide in most places. No motors allowed, canoes and kayaks only. We have an annual loon family population, plus otters and beavers. The association recently spent almost $200K to renovate the dam. We annually stock the lake with trout, and maintain private access points and a swimming beach with self-rescue gear. The association provides an annual free for members picnic, including all the food and BBQ; funded by a raffle of owner and commercially donated items.
The Association has a policy of requiring permission from the board for personal parties of 10 or more persons using common areas of the lake and the beach area picnic pavilion. There is an outside nearby kayaking club who travel to and utilize a number of open public lakes in the region.
In the past a lake lot owner member or two would allow and accompany. a small number of the kayak club members to paddle the lake with them. However, last year I noticed an armada of 28 high angle paddle kayakers, filling every possible beach parking spot, preventing legitimate owner/members from parking there. The kayaks were occupying the entire width of the lake as they paddled from the beach access area toward the far end. I asked and they admitted there was no lake property owner among them. They accessed the lake during a time when the coded access gate arm happened to be broken and was open.
They paddled in an unbroken broad straight line sweeping through where the loon family with small chicks was minding their own business. Loons are very skittish nervous birds, not just at close boat approaches, but also and especially at high swinging paddle blades above (eagles are known to take loon chicks by swooping down from above). What were the loons to do to escape?
As a result the leader of the kayak club received a letter not welcoming them back to use the lake ever again. They do have unlimited access to many public larger more appropriate nearby waters for their use.
A boat sank here on Lake Murray during the boat parade this Fourth of July. The family was new to boating and hadn’t any concept of what the water conditions would be like.
I am not familiar with paddling in the northeast. The only place I have paddled up there was around Islesboro, Maine in West Penobscot Bay. I loved it.
I am blessed here in the south where most of the places I like to paddle are surrounded by swamp, forest, marsh, or big open water. The rivers I paddle have almost no development on them. I would be both bored and uninterested in small overbuilt waters. The large reservoirs are the exception. Although even they have areas that are not built up. I have the luxury to paddle them during the week when boat traffic is less than on the weekends. I can paddle year-round and cold weather tends to keep most of the boats off the water. I much prefer paddling wild places away from the crowd.
However, we each have our own agendas. Reading this thread, I feel for those that have to deal with restricted access. Good luck with your endeavor of paddling as many lakes as possible in NH.
1 Like
Here in Appalachia (and Pennsylvania straddles that ancient mountain range, the oldest one that still survives on the planet after all the tectonic plate rearrangements of 4 billion years) the terrain is so corrugated that large natural lakes simply do not exist. So other than the tiny portion of the state that touches Lake Erie in the north our choices for open water tend to be reservoirs, and most of them allow power boats.
I’m fortunate to be less than an hour from Lake Arthur, a meandering empoundment in a basin in the northwest of PA that was originally scraped more level than most of the state by a tongue of the Continental glaciation in the last Ice Age (hence the name of the surrounding park, Moraine.) Though not as large as Raystown reservoir SE of me or Pymatuning, on the Ohio border, both of those tend to be heavily dominated by power boat traffic and are unpleasant for paddling, IMHO. The 3,225 acre Lake Arthur has nearly 44 miles of shoreline, which gives you an idea of how many deep inlets and coves it has, some of them too shallow for power boats and/or protected due to wildlife habitat, especially waterfowl nesting. The wide central area gets decent winds since the terrain north is somewhat flat (again, thanks to those glaciers that receded 10K years ago) so there are a lot of sailboats, which I would much rather paddle around than motorboats. Unlike some other state rec areas, this is NOT heavily developed and does not have permanent marinas, homes or businesses other than a couple of snack bars at the dock and swimming beach areas. There is a hiking trail through the woods around it as well as an 11 mile paved bike trail. My favorite launch area has a small sandy ramp where we can drop boats before parking in the spacious lot. All in all, quite a gem of a water body and park to have so handy.
But Pennsylvania’s best paddling options are our abundant streams and rivers, hundreds of them. Most flow through deep valleys, some steep enough to call canyons. The West Branch of the Susquehanna has been nominated for Federal recognition as a “wild and scenic river” and has a fantastic 230+ mile Water Trail that passes through both small towns and beautiful wilderness. Here in Pittsburgh I have 4 big rivers that are feeders to the Mississippi system to choose from, all within less than 30 minutes from my door. At most flow rates, it is possible to paddle both upriver and downriver so I can easily plan 10 to 30 mile day outings from home base, even farther if I arrange to lock through the dams that bracket the watershed.
An unusual aspect of the scenery on the big rivers here are all the abandoned ruins from the era of Big Steel here, the vast moldering concrete barge docks and retaining walls and rusting steel contraptions that are all being reclaimed by Nature. On one short tree-lined stretch of the Monongahela where I often kayak I can take a break on the gravel bar of a small stream outlet that drains from the site of a long-gone glass company and find bits of colored slag glass in the alluvium, spot a beaver dam along the shoreline or a large rat snake sunning on an abandoned ashlar bridge pier, surf the long slow wake of a tandem coal barge, hear the shrieks of riders on the roller coasters of Kennywood Park and see ospreys and bald eagles fishing.
But I agree with you, the Maine coast is amazing. Feeling wistful at the moment because if I was not stuck here in Pittsburgh in the middle of a property sale I would have once again joined my friend for kayaking at her cottage on Flood’s Cove (30 miles SE of where you were.) She’s been plagued with rainy weather though for her first 2 weeks there – always a risk on the Atlantic.
1 Like
This isn’t true, as you don’t have to make access “public” in order to allow others access. People selectively allow others on their property all the time; one of the most common examples around here is giving people permission to hunt on their land. If you invite your neighbors or relatives onto your property, it doesn’t mean that anyone can access it. If you post your land, that doesn’t mean you can’t make exceptions.
1 Like
I think the OPs point is from another angle: “If you do allow public access, you can’t selectively disallow some.”
1 Like
Giving selected individuals access, a.k.a. *permission,*is a private property owner’s right. The right to exclude some people is also their right.
This isn’t just about prohibiting motorized access (for example), it’s down to the level of prohibiting anybody who did not get legitimate permission before entering. Without that, they are trespassing.
2 Likes
I’m not talking about taking a random stroll across someone’s yard with a kayak in hand, I really mean the literal basic access to decent sized lakes by small, non motorized craft. Declaring an entire lake, especially one of size to be “private” is an insane concept to me. I do realize all parties have their responsibility in maintaining these resources.
First of all, that lake camp sounds idyllic.
Second, did the large group even belong to the kayak club? If not, it’s a shame that the regular club guests who had abided by the by-laws became shut out because of that one scofflaw group of trespassers. If they did belong to the same club, I wonder if it was a group who were jealous they did not have a friend who would allow them there (“If I can’t go there, I’ll ruin things so that nobody can!”).
When it comes to gates, it’s like that saying, “If it isn’t tied down and locked up, it WILL get stolen.” Regardless of property laws, presence of fences/signs/gates, if the gate is open, people WILL trespass.
Not that there were never trespassers long ago, but more recently people casually trespass and, if caught, toss out one excuse after another. Or they get belligerent. If you’re really unlucky, they vandalize (criminal trespass). It’s a sign of the decline of collective human behavior.
The large group were all part of a “mostly senior” kayaking club in the area that are normally based at the public access area of a fairly large motorboat occupied lake not far away. They regulary take group exccursions to many of the nearby Adirondack lakes, most of which have open public access. The group organizer said she did not anticipate such a large number (28 kayaks) to participate on this day. One or two club members are lot owners at my small lake, but when I asked several within the group while on the water who and where their lot owner sponsor was, most had no answer and the name I did get was not present with them.
That was an oversight in the existing policy as part of our bylaws. As association president, I directed with board concurrence that the policy be immediately changed to include and clarify not only the existing requirement for pre-event 15 day registration permission request, a $100 refundable cleanup deposit and notification to the board of directors of groups with 10 or more wishing to use association lot owner’s common areas (picnic area, parking, other access points, and the lake itself). Most importantly, an association lot owner event sponsor must accompany and monitor the group event activities. The gate has since been repaired and a remote cellular camera monitor is installed at the gate entrance to record every vehicle access.
1 Like
So, you’re saying more or less that you prefer to gatekeep the lake entirely? Would you be against a limited access point similar to what Island Pond does in New Hampshire? There, they have a limited number of spaces for kayak/canoe users only. There’s half a dozen total. The people who live on the lake care even less for Loons than they do on your lake. I saw one in the middle of the lake sitting there while fully loaded pontoon boats went screaming by on the other side of the buoys. The less developed half of the lake seemed to be where everyone liked to really throttle up. Since there is no motorboat launch for non-residents, all powerboats on the lake were owned by residents.
Sounds similar to Mirror Lake in Lake Placid NY. Public access is very limited. It’s a 50 yard carry for kayaks and canoes only. I’m sure many of the residents would do away with it if they could.
Only electric motors are permitted so even though giant boats aren’t an issue, the lake is heavily developed and most paddlers go elsewhere. Why bother when there are so many beautiful undeveloped places to paddle in the ADKs where no motors are allowed?
It’s pretty sad when people have such issues with such typically unobstructive uses of the water, all while blasting up and down in big boats.
Limited access for whom to do what? Come on, this is a very small 1.5 mile long no motors shallow lake with lots of water weeds on the inlet end terminating paddleable water at a shallow rocky river rapids inlet. Private owner’s lots were created mostly 5 acres in size, with strict distance set back rules from water shore, roads, and property lines, so cottages are not window to window close as you see on many other lakefront residential areas. The gate and branching private limited access roads are on the south side only, A rough town road with owner’s cabins is on the ungated north side and continues unpaved/privately maintained several miles upstream along the inlet river.
The one association maintained lake access point with a dock on the north side is posted private property, but is available to launch boats belonging to paying association lot owners only. I often see otters playing there. Association fees go toward maintaining the dam (recently upgraded to the tune of almost $200k), annual stocking of trout, and private road maintenance and winter snowplowing.
A large armada of 28 kayaks arriving at the same time is nothing but disruptive.
I am confident that anyone ever seen on the lake area harassing loons or other wildlife would be quickly reported by any association member to the NYSDEC environmental police.