Cayuga Waterfront Trail Paddle & 4th of July Fireworks

Ithaca, NY (92 degrees, hot, humid)

We spent a very busy week working at the campground.  Most of the time our cabins and sites were sold out due to a popular  endurance race at the Watkins Glen Racetrack and the 4th of July holiday.  At the end of each day we would come home and just collapse.  However, when we had a couple of days off it was time to play.

We love to take out our SeaEagle inflatable kayak and decided to paddle a waterfront trail on Cayuga Lake (largest Finger Lakes). There are several places to launch and we chose the one located in Stewart Park.  You can launch at the Cascadilla Boat Club where they have competitive sculling racing.  

It’s not much of a launch site but we were soon off and traveled up stream and under a pedestrian bridge. This led to a small inlet in Stewart Park and Fuerto Bird Sanctuary.  It was a very pretty, lazy paddle. 

We then turned around and headed out to Cayuga Lake.  Bearing  to the left we headed towards the lighthouse and turned into the Cayuga Inlet. 

 

 

It’s not an easy paddle due to traveling upstream and encountering a very busy marina with  big boats heading out to the the lake.  Our Take a Paddle Guide said if we had traveled further we would have encountered several dock side restaurants and Farmers Market.  Sounded great in theory but due the heat and heavy boat traffic we turned around and paddled back.  We have decided that river kayaking is more our style, however, it was still very enjoyable. 

View Cayuga Waterfront Trail in a larger map

Several folks asked us about our canoe safe.  We have had it a long time and it works well for keeping your camera, keys, phone, and wallet safe and dry.  It will float and can hang below the seat of a canoe.  We are going to figure out a way to secure it to the back of our kayak.

 

We celebrated the 4th by attending two firework displays.  One was in Corning, NY and we especially enjoyed the local symphony performance before the fireworks. 

A couple of days later we enjoyed the fireworks at the Clute City Park on Seneca Lake.  It’s a pretty park in Watkins Glen with a nice beach and picnic area. 

Lots of boats gathered on the lake to enjoy the fireworks too.  I had fun trying out my new Panasonic Lumix camera’s zoom lens. 

Before zoom

Same place with zoom…wow!

It was enjoyable evening sitting by the lake and watching all the boats go by and the pretty sunset. 

The firework pictures were taken with a special feature that takes a rapid burst of pictures and combines them together. 

Life is good!  Jimmy enjoyed his nap at home in the air conditioning.  We hope you had a nice
holiday too.