Little Tupper Lake

In the pantheon of perfect paddling lakes in the Adirondacks, Little Tupper Lake sits near the top of the list. We were lucky to have spent three perfect mid-summer days kayaking and camping on this beautiful waterway.

After an obligatory stop at Hoss's (which we realized is sixty percent "S") for ice cream, we drove to the Whitney Headquarters and packed our holds before setting out in search on a campsite. As it was a Thursday evening on the edge of a perfect summer weekend we were expecting sites to be occupied. On our initial paddle, we found the opposite to be true. With the exception of a few select spots, we had our pick of campsites and chose a site with a rocky promontory - possibly the greatest defensive position on the lake.

However, we were preparing for exploration not warfare so we went to bed early finding low hanging fog when we woke up. After omelets for breakfast, we embarked in our kayaks following the shoreline heading north towards Round Lake. When we arrived we found even more solitude on a seemingly pristine Adirondack lake. Where Little Tupper Lake did have two camps, Round Lake had a completely natural shoreline. We meandered around the coves with a stop for rice-free stir-fry on a small beach. Yeah - I was the one that left the rice in the car...

Astonished that we could have such a pristine and accessible lake to ourselves, we finally found a group paddling in while we were on our way back to our campsite. It was a perfect summer day and we enjoyed the sunset on our rocky point with a game of cribbage. Still no sign of imminent attack so we went to bed just after dark.

The next day we headed south, following the shoreline. We found the ranger on the lake and grilled her on all the questions that had been running through our minds about the area. She suggested a series of carries through ponds and into Lake Lila, perhaps as far north as Cranberry Lake. That adventure would have to wait for another day.

We found the outlet to Rock Pond and donned our bug nets to thwart the incoming deer flies - finally that attack we had been waiting for... It was a smooth paddle with one short carry. When we arrived, we found yet another area devoid of humans. Where were all the other paddlers?

After a snack on the island, we explored the shoreline and tested the quality of our hat strings in the stiff wind. We donned our bug nets a second time as we entered the river section back to our campsite at Little Tupper Lake. We cleaned up as best we could before heading back into civilization and took one last look from our promontory and shoved off towards the village of Long Lake for dinner at the diner and more ice cream at Hoss's.