OsticoLake

On a perfect July Sunday afternoon 25 paddlers gathered for a 7 mile jaunt up the west side of Otisco Lake to the infamous "Causeway" at the south end for a break on the beach where an unfortunate kayak sat in some material referred to by its owner as "POOP" amongst some other unpleasant debris. The 76 degree water for some to frolic in may have made up for the negative scenery. Alas, a kayak was discovered to have a malfunctioning skeg which made for some more mechanical consultation amongst the men resulting in Greg successfully getting the skeg back into working order, thank you very much Greg. With time flying by too fast we returned to our put-in for the dreaded climb back up the steep hill we were parked on with all of our stuff that went so easily down the hill. During this an unfortunate incident was our EMT Phil Crandon getting stung by bees from a ground nest of bees on the hill but he declined to medically treat himself and tuffed out the pain, however, one paddler had to forego dinner due to a major sun-driven headache to go home. The smell of grilling steak in the air served as initiative to proceed to dinner on the Footprints Restaurant's lovely deck facing the lake where we could gaze upon the water's beauty from a distance and other boating activities. Kathy and Kitt joined the group for the very important partaking of food, drink, etc. and the anxiously anticipated Bodacious Hat Contest for which only 3 brave souls wished to compete for kayak-oriented prizes while a perfectly respectable fourth entry bat-wing hat was left out in the car. A fine time was had by almost all, however, one of the hat contest competitors was leaving the deck alone when verbally brutalized by a male restaurant patron making a very sarcastic remark about the hats and then another rude sarcastic question about her dress. And we thought everybody liked us happy kayakers. He must not have made his quota yet for the day of insulting total strangers or else we middle-aged people aren't allowed to act silly in public. Better luck next week at the nice Buffalohead Restaurant in Forestport.


Otisco Lake Sunday, July 27, 2008 Approximately 6-8 Miles	Report by Cindy Phillips	Images and Panoramas by Roger Harrod	Images by Greg Ramsey
On a perfect July Sunday afternoon 25 paddlers gathered for a 7 mile jaunt up the west side of Otisco Lake to the infamous "Causeway" at the south end for a break on the beach where an unfortunate kayak sat in some material referred to by its owner as "POOP" amongst some other unpleasant debris. The 76 degree water for some to frolic in may have made up for the negative scenery. Alas, a kayak was discovered to have a malfunctioning skeg which made for some more mechanical consultation amongst the men resulting in Greg successfully getting the skeg back into working order, thank you very much Greg. With time flying by too fast we returned to our put-in for the dreaded climb back up the steep hill we were parked on with all of our stuff that went so easily down the hill. During this an unfortunate incident was our EMT Phil Crandon getting stung by bees from a ground nest of bees on the hill but he declined to medically treat himself and tuffed out the pain, however, one paddler had to forego dinner due to a major sun-driven headache to go home. The smell of grilling steak in the air served as initiative to proceed to dinner on the Footprints Restaurant's lovely deck facing the lake where we could gaze upon the water's beauty from a distance and other boating activities. Kathy and Kitt joined the group for the very important partaking of food, drink, etc. and the anxiously anticipated Bodacious Hat Contest for which only 3 brave souls wished to compete for kayak-oriented prizes while a perfectly respectable fourth entry bat-wing hat was left out in the car. A fine time was had by almost all, however, one of the hat contest competitors was leaving the deck alone when verbally brutalized by a male restaurant patron making a very sarcastic remark about the hats and then another rude sarcastic question about her dress. And we thought everybody liked us happy kayakers. He must not have made his quota yet for the day of insulting total strangers or else we middle-aged people aren't allowed to act silly in public. Better luck next week at the nice Buffalohead Restaurant in Forestport.