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Sand Lake to Clockmill Pond

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  • Sand Lake to Clockmill Pond



    Looks great right??
    If only we had continued...

    We planned (me mostly) to paddle and carry from Sand Lake to Clockmill Pond.
    Google and Bing recon looked favorable, with a few rough spots in between.
    MDB and I, along with hickoryskier and his SO, carried to Sand Lake. It was an easy .4 mile carry, with some sloppy going at the midpoint (headwater of a feeder to Big Bay).
    There is a sloppy campsite right at the end of the trail.



    We put in from the campsite on a postcard picture perfect day...



    and paddled across to the inlet. We found our way though a maze of pickerelweed and water lillies, past a huge beaver hut.



    We paddled up the inlet for a minute, or so it seemed, and came to a small rock garden.



    I whacked through the woods for no more than 100 yards, easy going with no undergrowth. Looking upstream, it was small, but certainly navigable.
    I came back to report to the gang, and they had already decided today would be a low effort day.

    So we circumnavigated the lake, spotting 4 campsites along the shores.
    We stopped for a snack at a particularly scenic and attractive campsite.



    The southern most part of the lake has some nice views...



    Watched a pair of loons fill their bellies, and that was it!! Many rises from fish, and not another soul to be found. It was quiet and nice, not bad for a close to home day trip.
    I need to go back with more motivated minions!!

  • #2
    Nice trip. A hidden gem. I ski all over in there in the winter, so many open meadows! A friend took his Hornbeck to clockmill once. Don;t remember the details.

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    • #3
      Good recon trip.
      'I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself, than be crowded on a velvet cushion.' - Henry David Thoreau

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      • #4
        Keith,
        That little rock garden couldn't have been more than 100 yards. After that, it looked like easy paddling all the way to the confluence with Clockmill outlet.
        I'll get there eventually...

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        • #5
          Thanks for the report.

          Great photos - as usual.

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          • #6
            Stripper, my buddy Jamie and I are planning to complete the the sand to clockmill trip next week. We recently did the clockmill, rock and un named loop and found it to be a very enjoyable paddle. If I can figure out how to upload photos to this site will share. John

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            • #7
              Blue (John),
              I'll look forward to your photos and descriptions. The photos are most easily uploaded from a hosting site like Picasa, Photobucket, Flickr or similar.
              I was really disappointed that my gang was reluctant to put in a little more effort, the flats between Sand and Clockmill look to be some interesting stuff.


              Oh, and welcome to the forum...

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              • #8
                Stripperguy, my paddling buddy Jamie and I went to complete this trip on Wednesday the 27th. We started the hike to Sand Lake shortly after 10am and found the hike and paddle across Sand to the inlet to be as you described. We bushwacked the hundred or so yards and continued up the meandering inlet stream. Our research showed that we would encounter 4 obstructions, with the last being a rock garden. We paddled through several breached beaver dams and had to carry over three. The last obstruction was a rock garden that required a bushwack through the forest. It was much shorter than the the first bushwack. After this carry we went left towards clockmill and paddled til we came to where the stream dropped out of the forest. We tried to bushwack but woods were very thick. We contemplated walking up the stream bed, but it was all rock face and slippery. We decided this was not wise for a couple guys in their early 60s carrying 15 foot boats. At this point we were over 3 hours in from the car.
                Rather than turn back we decided to venture onto mud pond and carry out to the road. We figured we would be about a mile from the car. stream became very narrow and windy. It was also chock full of beaver dams. We thought we were becoming adept at dam crossings and quite the explorers. While patting ourselves on the back we missed the right to mud and continued towards the clockmill trail til we ran out of water. At 4pm we decided it was wisest to head back to Sand and out to the car. On our return we found the cutoff to mud but it too was just wet mud.
                We made it back to Sand and out to the car by 6pm. We figured that we had carried over about 17 beaver dams and had completed 2 bushwacks.
                We did not make it in to Clockmill from this approach, but had an excellent day. I paddle a PBW rapidfire and Jamie paddles a Hemlock Kestrel. I still cannot get my photos on this site and hope somebody will tell me how without using a host site. I am willing to send photos to you or any other readers. Send me your email by private message and i will see what I can do
                John

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                • #9
                  John,
                  Sounds like you and your pal Jamie had quite the adventure!! That spot where the stream dropped away must be the spot that is hard to see on the satellite photos. But, it sounds like it was good paddling up to that point, am I right? Did you see any moose sign?
                  And I guess the short loop via Mud is a no go, maybe in the spring?
                  Did you happen to have a GPS with you? From your description, it sounds like your wrong turn past Mud outlet might have left you fairly close to the Clockmill Pond trail. But it's encouraging to hear that there was enough water to make it to the Clokmill outlet confluence.
                  If you want to directly link photos, you have to reduce their size to less than 146 KB and use the manage attachments feature under "additional options" below the "reply to Thread" window.
                  The Wednesday that you went was just about perfect, you must have had a really great time!
                  Thanks for posting, you've given me hope for a successful return trip.

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                  • #10
                    Ooooh, I'm so frustrated!!
                    Son Josh and I gave it a shot today and failed to reach Clockmill, we didn't even make it to the outlet, but I can explain.
                    After coming home and looking at the photos, maps, satellite images, and rereading John's description of his route, I know exactly what happened.

                    At the 2nd rock dam, we stayed right, and then looked for the channel to Clockmill. My printed map, and the map in my GPS agreed, and we followed those directly into oblivion!! The channel as shown on the maps is not the channel that is obvious (and that Bluefire took) on the satellite views.
                    Oooh!! I should have reviewed his description before our trip.

                    With all that said, we both had a great time, despite the weather and our navigational faux pas.

                    Being half my age and twice my strength, Josh graciously offered to carry my boat, I carried MDB's that he paddled.



                    The trail to Sand Lake could use a little work

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                    • #11
                      The put in at Sand Lake remains the same as ever...messy.



                      We paddled across Sand into a foggy mist



                      Josh doing his best effort of foreshadowing in a wrong channel



                      We paddled up the inlet into more mist, there is a .1 mile carry around a rock dam just ahead on the left



                      Within sight of the rock dam carry was the 1st of 10 beaver dams...remember what this dam looks like

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                      • #12
                        This was beaver dam number 6...or was it 7? I lost track



                        So here is Josh in the channel to Clockmill that is shown on the maps



                        Yeah, I can't see him either. We went as far as possible, there was too little water and too much vegetation! So we backed out of there and made a bee line towards Mud Pond.



                        All along the way, I used my freshly painted boat to carefully mark the underwater hazards

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                        • #13
                          Some of the spots were very nice, rock outcroppings everywhere, just nice paddling



                          When we got to the spot where Mud Lake outlet comes in, we realized there was no hope of going any farther upstream, we couldn't float on mud...

                          So we turned around and returned to Sand Lake.
                          Remember that 1st beaver dam?
                          Well, Josh was passing the boat over that dam, standing on the very same dam, when it began to collapse. The rush of newly released water nearly swamped his boat. I was standing next to him, for a moment...until the dam under my feet gave way!! I guess those beavers have some repair work to do, sorry guys!



                          We did ultimately make it to Clockmill Pond, but the boats remained on the roof racks as we walked the trail. We bushwhacked to the old dam at the outlet.

                          Clockmill from the old dam



                          Cascade on Clockmill outlet



                          1 of 1,000 red efts along the way



                          So, even with a misty start to the day, and missing our target, we had a great time.
                          The deer flies were particularly active and aggressive, especially on the trail.

                          So...it looks like I have to go back yet again.

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                          • #14
                            Looks like an enjoyable day of exploration. Thnx for sharing, with the nice pics.

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                            • #15
                              Nice photos Mike, thanks for sharing.

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