Floodwood Loop, St. Regis Wilderness Area, Adirondacks. Day 1

So the story of this trip goes back to Vinnie's prematurely ended campaign on the Long Trail.  The story of the lost toe nail and inflamed Achilles is his to tell.  The original plan was for me to meet his weary party for their final week and provide a much needed resupply.  

My intention was to get off the grid and be unreachable for a week.  This is becoming more and more a necessity for my survival, and the advent of Sarah's deepening interest in camping and Emmett's tolerance to it, has given me new vigor.  There was no way we would be doing a Long Trail backpacking trip as a family though, and when the opportunity arose to do some recon in the Adirondacks (a place in which Sarah and I both have interest), as Theodore Rex once said, "I took it."  The limiting reagent for this trip became the single vehicle.  At 4+ hours from home, the drive was onerous enough without having to make it in two cars.  There are several circuitous routes in my ADK paddlers guide, so we looked for one with shorter portages (carrying an 80# canoe is a PITA) and more wilderness.

Vinnie had already bought a lot of backpacking grub, so we went mostly with that.  We added a six pack and some whiskey because it was a luxury afforded us by the canoe, and some cheese, honey, and oatmeal.  That way we could add flavor to the dinners and eat warm breakfasts since we were not going to be rushing into 15 mile hiking days.

As I get older (read; achy, weaker, fatter, less resilient), I am finding, fortuitously, that I can keep biking and that my other interests seem to compliment my abilities.  Besides the biking, and arguable the interest in craft brews, I'm finding less desire for self destructive pastimes.  The canoe has been such a breath of fresh air.  It is beautiful, interesting, has a learning curve and an always present skill development, gets me away from people, and an almost endless variety of optional gear to look at, research, and get.  And with the addition of overnighting with it, I can add chopping wood and building fires.  It's almost a complete package.

Enough of that for now.  Here are some pictures of our first day. (Some of these are mine, some are Vinnies.  Sometimes I know which is which, and I'll indicate.)

This photo is out of order... and possibly out of focus, I just realized.  Anyway, I can't believe we didn't take more pictures of Betty loaded up, but I want to give her her due.  At almost 200k, she got us and all our gear to ADK and back again.  The canoe looks pretty good on her, too.

The trip was pretty easy and straight forward, it was just long.  4+ hours is a long way to drive.  Fortunately, central NY and ADK are beautiful.  

We launched from Floodwood Rd into Floodwood Pond.  At #12 on the map.  We stopped at St. Regis Outfitters (Mark is in the 8th photo on their scrolling slide show) and talked to Mark for a bit.  He was super kind and helpful.  We talked to him when we got done, too and he pointed us to two more great spots.  Big thanks to Mark! 

The water was glassy and the paddling was easy.

Pure bliss.  Thanks for packing the beer, Vinnie.  Not sure I needed an 8%er on day one in 80 degree weather, but sometimes sentiment trumps practicality.  

Here she is, fully loaded and not very well organized after lunch.  I think we did pretty well for our first trip.  Vinnie would have preferred his hiking pack to the deck bag, and I admit it would have been a lot more comfy on the portages, but all the books recommended deck bags, so there you go.  After looking at thwart bags for $80, I scored a mountain hardware fanny pack at Old Goat for $15 and it worked perfectly.  Bonus points for strapping to my body during portages.

On the ride up, we wondered about whether we'd see loons or even hear any.  Not only did we, they wound up being like our totem animals for the trip.  After our first amazing campsite on Copperas Pond, where we watched and listened to a family of loons all evening, we looked for loons to indicate good campsites and fishing grounds.  They treated us right.  This family had a male, female, and two chicks.  They communicated all the time and the male and female took turns hunting and watching the chicks.

We fished for awhile.  I was interested in having fish for dinner.  Vinnie was altogether more obsessed.  Neither of us know anymore about fishing than what we remember from our youth.  Vinnie even brought his childhood fishing rod (more about that later).  Neither of us got more than a nibble on Copperas, but it was enough to keep us going for a long time. 

Sorry these are blurry, but they get the point across.  This guy swam right by us, with both hooks in the water and grabbed a fish, showed it to us, then took it over to his chicks.  I'd call him cocky, but he's a loon.

Some of the following sunset shots are mine, and some are Vinnies.

 K

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Vinnie's shot, I think, of our first camp.  And Vinnie's shots follow.

Crap spread out everywhere for dinner.  We kept a generally cleaner camp than it appears.

I brought 3 stoves to try out.  This is a firebox.  It's really cool, but made of stainless steel, and really heavy.  For canoe camping I like it a lot.  It takes all kinds of different fuel, is super sturdy, and you can even set it up like a hibachi.  It's way too heavy to consider for backpacking.  I'll keep it in my emergency kit in my truck.  Chance of emergency use: practically 0.

Nope, that's not Bob Ross in a canoe; ADK is known for it's bugs.  All things are relative, and I would say we really lucked out.  That being said, I wore a bug net and used a lot of spray and slept inside a mosquito net.  Got away relatively pain free. 

We ended the first night with a nice campfire and fell asleep tired, happy, and listening to loons and frogs.

Winter to summer and back again

Not too much going on up here right now. I'm struggling to get/stay healthy as the weather fluctuates back and forth between winter and spring.  Emmett's had the sniffles to so Sarah has been keeping the ship steady.  I don't know how she stays so healthy with us boys blowing our noses on everything.  All in all, though, I'll remember this as a great winter, full of laughs and little moments of surprise and joy.

Not to be dramatic or melancholy, but I've really felt grateful to have so much time with Jonas.  When we took him into the vet over a year ago, I thought it was the end.  To have him still holding on and helping to get Emmett off to a good start has been such a joy.  I have lots of bad dreams... I guess I'm pretty stressed over it on a subconscious level, but day to day, things are going ok.  He and Emmett and I have gotten quite a few hikes and skis in together.  And because of the unnaturally balmy weather, Jonas was able to accompany me on the canoe's maiden voyage.  I know that the canoe (and canoeing) is going to be a major part of our next adventure and to have Jonas's paw on it is really important to me.

 Emmett and Jonas and I took a hike last week in big heavy snowflakes.  As we passed some trees, we saw one that still had leaves and it popped out beautifully.  I took a picture (above) but it just didn't stand out the way it did in real life or in my minds eye.  So I doctored it a little to look like it felt like it looked (below).

The usual route.  Love how the bright fresh snow makes the evergreens look almost black.

The contrast between the snow and the trunks of the staghorn sumac.  Soon these shrub-trees will be filled with grateful robins, gorging themselves on red juicy fruit after their long flight back from their winter in the South.  Their bellies will be a pale orange-yellow when they return, but will soon darken to the illustrious orange we know and love.  Here though, the sumac looked to me like black lightening.

The most beautiful transitional wetland I know.  I'm pretty proud of this shot as it actually looks like what I was seeing with the "ghost hill" hovering ephemerally in the background.

Still awake back there?  

This is from later that evening or the next day when I went out for a ski.  Coming back as the sun set behind the hills and reflected off the river.

Zhora's farm.  Another cold sunny day.  Can you see your breath and feel the nip at your nose and cheeks?

More planning for the summer.

I took this picture on a walk Thursday afternoon as Emmett and I headed up toward the spring to stretch our legs.

Baby's first campus board.

The maiden voyage of Merry-weather.  Can you spot the river running through the pond?  This is the most navigable course as most of the rest is less than a foot deep.  Still, to paddle from the shore to the farthest point, and up the creek as far as is navigable and come back takes about 45 minutes or so, includes sightings of several duck species, geese, turtles, frogs, often herons, and occasionally raptors.  That is to say, it ain't the wilderness, but it'll due for a place to sip coffee and contemplate the day.

This is my buddy Jevon's kid, Wes.  He's one and a good egg.  He has donated a lot of cool clothes to Emmett.  He loves my sunglasses.  I stopped over at Erik's on Friday for a hot minute to say hey and have a taste of the Sloop Sauer Peach that Jevon brought over.  Zach was there with his kids, and obviously Sebastian was there, too.  It was a wonderful day to sit on the back deck and wax poetic about mouth puckering yeast cultures (if you were a dad) or run around and save the yard from super villains (if you were a kid). 

Emmet's first 100 days marked by a trip to the plantations and a wild hat

This weekend was an exciting one. Grandma Neta was in town and so was our friend Boo. Nai nai also told us that the 100 day milestone was an important and fortuitous one for babies. She gave Emmett a gift of a couple of good luck tassels, with which we adorned him, along with the first wearing of his tiger hat.

On Friday evening, we built a magnificent fire and caught up on news with Boo. Sarah and Emmett went to bed a little early to catch up on rest and fight the plague that has descended upon the house. For some reason, Boo decided to sleep outside in his tent.

On Saturday morning we got up, got dressed and headed out for a day in the fall weather. Here's Emmett all snuggly and warm in his flannel pants and Danish sweater. He's always ready for the adventure ahead!

I'm bummed that this picture is blurry, but putting it in anyway, as it is one of few full family shots.  We got some rain, which we're all hoping is an indication of a snowy winter. Any reason to throw on the galoshes is good enough. Here's the family in front of the beautiful redwood tree at the botanical gardens at the Cornell plantations.

All dressed in green. 

Brilliant fall flowers

The secret door to the magic shade garden kingdom. Lots of wild ginger, too. 

Striking fall colours!

An interesting fern in a beautiful autumn woods

That's a big pumpkin, papa!

After the botanical garden, we headed over to Dano's for OPT brats and German fare.  This was a first trip for both the Dude and Boo.  Technically, the Dude has been there before, but only as a passenger in Sarah's belly.  He was amazingly well behaved despite the leisurely pace of service.  Boo was a pretty good boy, too.

At dinner, I had a Lucky Hare Brewing Fall n' Oats that was so good we drove straight to the brewery after.  I got a regular sized beer, but Emmett can only handle small glasses at this point.  The brewery is in the brewers' former rental property.  Boo and I waxed philosophical about the buildings in which breweries exist.  It's a testament, I think, to the quality of the brew that, despite the humble abode in a region lousy with million dollar chalets, that the street was lined up and down with cars.  Our advice to brewers, spend your time, energy, and money on the beer, not the building.

When we returned home, we dressed Emmett in his lucky tassels and tiger hat for his hundred day milestone.

Then we were all whooped and it was time for bed.  One more change for Chopper for the day; this time, into some sweet PJs that his aunt and uncle sent him.  Thanks guys!

If I have anytime this week, I'll share photos of our bike rides, the market, children's garden, and fall foliage drive on Sunday.  Today, was more of a business day.  We visited another day care provider, met with an HR person for Sarah, picked up diapers (cuz running out would be a true disaster!), chopped wood, cleaned house, and worked on our budget.  I'll provide one sneak peak since it's unlikely I'll ever get to that blog:

The family working on the budget.  "It's ok, momma.  Try that calculation again.  I'm sure it'll work this time!"