Directions to the ACA Camp at Lake Sebago

The American Canoe Association camp on Lake Sebago is in Harriman State Park, near Sloatsburg, New York. There is no street address, but getting there is pretty simple.

Note: There is a locked gate at the drive. If you don’t have a key, then make arrangements ahead of time to meet someone. Cel service is very spotty, so don’t count on contacting someone in the camp.

The ACA Camp is starred in the top right.

Getting to Sloatsburg
Sloatsburg is right off I-87, just northwest of I-287. Highway 17 runs parallel to the interstate. You can get there in a variety of ways, but the interstate and the highway are likely for most drivers.
In Sloatsburg, from either the interstate or highway, you’ll intersect with Seven Lakes Drive. This is a long road that runs through the park.

You can also access the Seven Lakes Drive from the north, via Exit 16 on the Palisades Parkway, in which case you will not drive through Sloatsburg.


Seven Lakes Drive
From Sloatsburg, the entrance to the camp is a little over three miles, and on the left. If you find yourself passing a sizable lake on your left, you’ve overshot.


From the Palisades Parkway entrance, you’ll drive pass Lake Welch and bear left, then turn left, for a total of seven miles. The entrance will be on your right, after passing a sizable lake on your right.


Drive to the Camp
Once past the gate, there is a fairly meandering drive through the woods. Eventually this reaches a fork: The ADK (Adirondack Mountain Club) camp is straight ahead, and the ACA (American Canoe Association) camp is to the right. You want the ACA camp. There is a second gate here, but the same arrangements for accessing the first should get you through the second, i.e. a key or a friend.

A Spring Boost

I hope everyone’s had a good enough winter. Wherever you are, I hope you’re healthy and able to get outdoors, and in particular, I hope that the Omicron variant has subsided, and that new variants stay clear.

This past weekend, I got a different sort of boost than the vaccine kind – a performance coaching boost! I attended a two-day class on coaching methods, and hopefully I’ll be able to use some of those in sessions this summer. Nothing nefarious! Just new ways to assist learners in developing their paddling skills.

With that, I want to share that Paddles Up is the new home for British Canoeing awards delivery. I would say in part that’s because there aren’t British or American ways to paddle, which seems to have been the perception by some. Instead, Paddles Up is open to everyone, and the progressive series of awards developed by British Canoeing are now delivered through Paddles Up.

That said, last year I qualified as an L4 Open Water Coastal Kayaking instructor, so those of you invested in the American Canoe Association awards can work with me to develop skills in more open and dynamic environments. And, if you just want to go for a paddle, that’s cool too.

With so many options, I thought I’d start the year off with a survey. If you’re on the THPC email list, you’ll get a link shortly, but here’s the form all the same. I would love to hear from you about what you’re interested in doing, and literally how far you’re willing to travel.

March is almost over, spring has just arrived. The paddling season is right around the corner.

Cheers,

Julie