St. Regis

With two consecutive days of clear weather, we car-topped the Hornbeck boats and met our friends, Jeff and Lisa Cornell on Floodwood Road bordering the St. Regis Canoe Area. The last time that Lisa and I had visited this region, we had kayaks and the carries required strapping our boats onto dollies. This time, we would simply throw the boats over our shoulders and carry on.

With pack baskets on our back and boats loaded, we made the carry into Long Pond. It was aptly named, and after meandering, we found a campsite on a point with space enough for three tents. We set up camp, and searched the woods for a privy, with no luck.

Since we were there to paddle, we got back in the boats and kept following the dogleg of Long Pond and found our first carry at the end of the easternmost shore. We strapped our pack baskets on and threw the boats over our shoulders and made the portage in a fraction of the time that it would have taken in the kayaks.

While we floated on Slang and Turtle Ponds, we traded stories with Jeff and Lisa before we found the portage to Hoel Pond. We had two choices: carry the boats over the railroad tracks OR go through the culvert into the pond. Naturally, we chose the culvert - pushing our boats through ahead of us! It was great fun and we got very wet in the process.

We found a small sandy beach on Hoel Pond and had a picnic before exploring the shoreline further. It was a large pond and we managed to find the access to Floodwood Road, where we had initially turned off the main route.

Being late afternoon, we decided to follow our previous course to our campsite. We got to rush through the culvert again with Jeff catching our boats at the end. We were serenaded with harmonica over dinner, delicious baked apples for dessert and great stories before we dozed for the night.

The next day we ate red velvet hash and banana bread early and packed camp before nine. Naturally we headed to Donnelly's for two ice cream cones before parting ways. A whirlwind of a trip for sure, but a great time exploring some of the lesser explored areas of the Adirondacks.

Valcour

With a heatwave in the forecast and temperatures heading into the nineties, we bagged our plans for a backpacking trip and headed to Valcour Island in Lake Champlain. When we launched at the busy Peru dock we were happy to have the breeze in our face with the cool water beneath us.

We headed directly to Valcour Island, aiming for the lighthouse and then made a turn south, following the shoreline. We found a perfect campsite with plentiful shelving rocks facing west. We set up the tent and got back in the boats to tour the island.

After crossing the southernmost tip of Valcour, we headed to Garden Island before looping north to follow the eastern shoreline. Being a "calm" day on Lake Champlain there were rolling waves and we were happy to have had our sea kayaks for the venture. We stopped on a rocky beach in Paradise Bay for a picnic before finishing our loop of the island.

We found dozens of sailboats anchored in Butterfly Bay, the majority seeming to be from Montreal. We wondered if this might be a vacation week in Canada.

The shelving rocks at our campsite were the perfect spot to while away the evening playing cards and music at passing boats (I brought my trumpet...). We meant to stay up late looking for shooting stars but our eyes got heavy just after sunset. We headed to bed.

The morning was soggy. With the high humidity, the dew had left an amazing amount of water on everything. We strapped on our hiking boots and planned to hike the lower loop of the perimeter trail before paddling home. The trail seemed lightly used, but offered some nice lookouts at beaches and cliffs.

It was getting too hot by mid-morning so we packed our campsite and headed through the rolling waves to our car at the Peru landing. We went to Plattsburgh to eat some michigans for lunch before making the long, air-conditioned road home.

Hopkins

With unstable weather for the past week, we haven't been able to get out much. Thursday looked like a slight break in the weather so we took advantage by heading to Keene Valley with day packs. We parked and embarked on the Mossy Cascade Trail towards the summit of Hopkins Mountain.

The trail was a steady climb but never dangerously steep. Oddly enough, there was plenty of soil under our boots to keep from slipping, even when it started to rain. We found ourselves at the summit at noon and we ate our sandwiches while watching the stunning view of the high peaks. It is certainly one of the best views in the Adirondacks.

We could see a rainstorm heading our way and it luckily timed with when we were ready to head back down the mountain. Donning our raincoats, we started back down the trail for an easy descent to the trailhead. The rain didn't last long, and we were able to pack them about twenty minutes later. We arrived back at the car feeling refreshed and with a camera full of great pictures!

Naturally we headed to the Noonmark Diner for pie. Yum.

Northville-Placid Trail: Upper Benson to Piseco

The weather has finally been dry enough that we were willing to attempt the first stretch on the Northville-Placid Trail. It can be notoriously wet in a rainy season and not wanting to slog through swamps, we waited until August to start the first section. We were able to arrange a ride to the trailhead from Mom and Dad, who went kayaking while we started the hike from Upper Benson. The hiking was flat, dry and easy - we stopped for a picnic at a falls about 1.5 miles in.

We continued hiking, intending to spend the night at the Silver Lake lean-to. When we got there, it was unoccupied and we dropped our packs and ate some more. We looked at our watches and decided that since it was only three o'clock that we would head further up the trail.

About an hour and a half later we found ourselves at Canary Pond with a perfect tent site and excellent sitting rocks going into the pond. We had energy to go further but decided that we would not find a more picturesque campsite any further. We set up camp, had an early dinner, played a round of cribbage while watching the loon and went to bed early.

We were up early the next morning and despite the chill in the air, got moving and packed before eight o'clock. We started north on the trail and found ourselves taking a break at the Mud Lake lean-to at midmorning. The site was nice, but made us glad that we chose Canary Pond for the previous night.

After leaving the lean-to, we were looking intently for water to pump, but only finding dry stream beds. It wasn't until we reached the west branch of the Sacandaga River that we found enough water to pump. We pumped drinking water while soaking our feet in the river (downriver of where we were pumping of course) and relaxed before starting the next stretch.

The last portion of the trail from Whitehouse was a relaxing stroll through the woods. We took breaks at the lean-to and Buckhorn Lake and found ourselves back on the pavement of route 8 in the afternoon.

The road section of the trail was by far the hardest part. The unforgiving pavement was straining our feet. We took a break at the Piseco airport but managed to get back to the car on Haskell Road a few minutes later. Happy to lose the packs for a while, we headed to North Lake for a rest with some great company.

Wild Center

Our latest venture into the Adirondacks was a bit different for us. We brought our nephew (Ben, 3) and niece (Maya, 1) and needed to find some kid-friendly adventures along the way. We departed and hit the first snag with an upset stomach after the North Hudson road. It brought back memories of queasiness from days gone by...

Our first planned stop was at the Newcomb town beach where the kids splashed in the water for as long as possible. We helped Ben kick his legs while Maya happily got dragged through the lake. We followed up the swim by eating some sandwiches with prune fingers before getting back in the car and heading to Lake Eaton.

We set up camp for the night and then drove back to Long Lake for ice cream at Hoss's. It was a popular side trip for the kids and adults alike.

The next day we headed to Tupper Lake for a venture through the Wild Center. We had not been before and since it was going to be pushing ninety degrees, we did the "wild walk" in the morning. We enjoyed playing in the gigantic spider web and looking at the mountains from an oversized birds nest. Ben enjoyed seeing the bears at the bottom of the tree, but was a bit scared of the sounds coming from the speaker behind them. 

In the afternoon, we toured the museum which was thankfully air conditioned. We enjoyed the otters and trout as well as the geologic and natural history within the facility.

After playing with every puppet that the Wild Center seemed to own, we got in the car and headed to Limekiln Lake, just outside of Inlet. We swam again which was refreshing on such a sweltering day, and we had a picnic in the park before heading to bed for the night.

The next day we packed up our tent and headed to Thendara for a ride on the Adirondack Scenic Railroad. We enjoyed the rock of the train and the kids loved being able to run around on the train. We even pulled out the instruments and played all of the train songs that we could think of! After breakfast in Big Moose, we rode the train back to the Thendara station and bid farewell to the kids. They headed back to Vermont with their Mom and Grandfather.

Lisa and I continued south for the annual Atwell Fish and Game Club picnic at North Lake. We spent the weekend enjoying time with family, eating, playing music, eating, canoeing, eating and eating. It was a successful picnic and good times were had by all.

Saranac

Our most recent venture into the Adirondacks took us to the Saranac Lake region. We snagged a campsite at Meadowbrook State Campground in Ray Brook which may be the world's most perfect place to spend the night. With an ice cream stand across the street and Tail o'the Pup barbecue right next door, who could ask for anything more?

We set up our tent quickly and headed to Ampersand Mountain for a morning hike. It was humid and we were huffing on the ascent, but we seemed to be in good company on the popular trail. There were some scrambles toward the top of the mountain but the panoramic view on the rocky summit made it all worth it. We enjoyed the view of the Saranac Lakes while we ate shrimp scampi and French dip leftover from the previous night's supper.

After descending from Ampersand, we drove to the boat access to Lower Saranac and launched kayaks. Seeing signs indicating that the lower locks were out of commission, we followed the river in that direction figuring that we would see few motorboats. We saw deer and heron and found a perfect lean-to site with a sand beach that appears to not be part of the state campground. Turning around at the lower locks in a refreshing light rain, we made our way back to the car and to our campsite for the night.

The next day, we awoke early and headed to Baker Mountain on the eastern side of Saranac Lake for a quick morning hike. It was a steep and steady climb but over in less than a mile. The views overlooked the village and Lower Saranac Lake. It was a fine climb that seemed to be a popular "pre-work" hike for the locals.

We then brought the boats back to the Lower Saranac launch and followed the river into Lower Saranac Lake. We skirted the islands until we found ourselves looking down Crescent Bay. We then tried to paddle up Fish Creek but were turned around by weeds. With predicted storms but curiously clear skies, we made our way back to the launch before any thunderstorms were supposed to hit.

They never did. We went to the village and played music in the park before going for a stroll and getting supper at Tail o'the Pup. A good day!

On our last morning in the region, we hiked Scarface Mountain; the trailhead essentially left from our campsite. It was a two-mile woods walk followed by a steep climb to limited views. I would guess that the false summit had views when the DEC cut the trail. It looked like fairly new growth up there!

We got some desperately needed showers at the campground before packing the car and getting out of town. It was just in time: with the Lake Placid Ironman scheduled for the following day the area would be congested and roads would be closed. It was a great trip to Saranac Lake and with plenty more left to hike and paddle, we will be back.

Forked Lake

With two days of good weather predicted, we loaded kayaks on our car and headed to Forked Lake - one of the larger lakes on the Adirondacks that we had never seen. We naturally stopped at Hoss's for lunch and followed the road past Buttermilk Falls to the state campground. The lake looked tiny from the launch but we were told that it opens up.

It felt silly loading the kayaks only to then unload them two hundred feet away. We set up camp around the corner and spent the rest of the evening floating around the northern bays and exploring the inlet of the Raquette River. After a scrumptious supper, we had to head back onto the lake to avoid the hordes of mosquitoes on shore.

The next day we explored the northern fork of the lake. We were pleased to find a wild area with only two visible camps. Much of the land surrounding the northern portion of the lake belongs to the Whitney family however and trespassing is patrolled by armed guards (and presumably sharks with laser beams strapped to their heads). We had a nice floating picnic before slowly making our way back to the site.

With rain forecasted overnight, we decided that we would rather pack up while things were dry. We madly stuffed our belongings into dry bags and got into the boats before the mosquitos could rip us to shreds! It was a great trip and we left a portion of the lake and inlet to explore on another trip.