Lake Champlain has several distinct and separate areas, all well worth exploring in their own rite. They are the South end of the lake, the North end, and the Inland Sea. Part of the reason I decided to move my boat north for the summer was to put myself well into the North end and to give myself easy access to the Inland sea.

The aerial photo below is a view of the north end of the lake. The yellow line near the top is the Canadian border. My boat is docked in Indian Bay. Valcour is a couple of hours to the north and has several safe scenic harbors for overnighting or getting away from bad weather. Mallets bay is on the right and offers several different levels of protection. The outer bay is fairly large but offers considerable protection when the waves on the lake proper kick up. The inner bay is much smaller and offers even more protection. In the upper right of the photo is the Inland Sea. The only access to it is through "The Gut" The Gut is a broad channel between North Hero and South Hero Islands. At the east end is a Draw Bridge that opens every half hour upon request. I didn't have time to explore the Inland Sea this trip, but I wanted to check out The Gut for next time.

Heading North to Valcour Island and passing Schuyler Island, I spotted the usual kayaker out for a paddle.

My friend Don came along on this trip. Here he's is playing Captain and trying to convince me to try a concoction of yogurt and honey smacks cereal. As convincing as he was, he had no luck :-)

We spent the first night on Valcour Island. Don found a great campsite in Smugglers Harbor and I stayed on Echo. The next morning we headed out to explore the Gut. It was a couple of hours north and in the total absence of wind we had to motor all the way. The following is a chart of the area around the Gut showing our course through the islands at its entrance.

Just a little north of Valcour Island we passed by this very cool looking College! It started life in the 1890's as a high class resort for the rich and famous. They even built a railroad from New York City to serve it. Prohibition and later WW-2 killed the tourist industry so it was converted to a Jesuit College in the 50's and in 1969 the State University of New York turned it into a Community College.

It stands on Bluff Point, the highest point overlooking the lake. During the Revolution and later the War of 1812, American spotters kept track of British fleet movements from there. They had a great view of the Battle of Valcour in 1776 in which Benedict Arnold and our tiny navy fought a stalling action against a far superior British navy. The British were planing to sail down lake and attack Ft Ticonderogs. With winter just around the corner Arnold held out long enough to force the Btitish to give up their plans until the following spring. Imagine sitting in math class and gazing out the window at all that history.

Passing Young Island (lower left hand corner on the chart above) was kind of interesting. Apparently it used to be a heavily forrested island and a rookery for ducks on its shores. Sometime in the early 80's gulls and cormorants took over the island, ate most of the plantlife and gobbled up tons of perch in the relatively shallow water there. Visitors these days are greeted by cormorants dropping fish bones on them to drive them off and protect their nests. LOL, seems only fair.

Just north of Bixby Island we turned east and headed for the entrance to the Gut (in the middle of the chart above). Here are a couple of boats coming and going through the entrance.

Once in the Gut we could see the drawbridge at the other end. Beyond it is the Inland Sea.

When the bridge opened we were too far away or I'd have scooted through.

Running short on time, we had to head back, but we'd seen what we had come to see. Looked like getting to the Inland Sea would be a snap. So we turned around and headed back to Valcour. On the way we passed this guy taking a break on a can.

Once back in Smugglers Harbor on Valcour we had dinner. Afterwards, Don, being Don, took the inflatable for a ride...

and disappeared around the corner into the fading light. He made it back in one piece and the next morning we headed home