So this is the last of the trip. After a night car camping at Polliwog, we headed south past the town of Tupper and Tupper Lake to Little Tupper Lake in the William C. Whitney Wilderness area.
On our way into this somewhat remote wilderness area in the vastness of the Adirondacks, one of the largest parks in North America, no where near Ithaca, Boston, or Buffalo, we ran into Vinnie's old high school social studies teacher. Mark had been on the lake for a few days with his family and let us know they'd stayed at camp 3 (which is on an island) and had left a bunch of firewood. We were planning to go to a site at the southern end of the lake, but as my shoulder was really aching and the firewood sounded good, we elected to go to camp 3/.
How crazy is it that we ran into Vinnie's high school social studies teacher in the MIDDLE OF THE ADIRONDACKS. What a crazy world.
Vinnie's image of our campsite.
I camped over the lake. Might have been the best campsite of the trip.
Vinnie's pic of our firewood situation. He was very happy about it. Nice benches and counters.
We did a lot of fishing.
Vinnie's pic. The beginning of stand up paddle boarding.
Got one on the line!
Good sized bass.
Dinner.
Not quite dinner. To be fair, Vinnie caught more fish than me. He caught like 4 of them.. But this was the biggest one! So we ate the one I caught.
View from the bedroom.
Cooking dinner.
Little crazy jane's and it's good.
Little swimming.
Sunset from the West point of the island.
Sunrise from the bedroom.
Paddling out. This was my favorite lake of the trip, but I liked the loop the best. The whole thing reminded me that the only time I can actually decompress is in the wilderness. Fantastic trip.
I'm officially back to work and getting de-acclimated, so the stories will be a little shorter, probably. Though right now I'm standing at my new adjustable standing desk waiting for family night to begin.... so maybe I'll spin a couple yarns.
When you left your heros, they had found a campsite on Copperas Pond (Vinnie pronounces this Copper Ass, and I can't think of it any other way). This was a lovely campsite.
I woke in the morning from a solid sleep under the stars in an open hammock. I put in solo since as a young person, Vinnie still sleeps past 5 most days. What a glorious thing to paddle silently on a foggy morning pond.
Despite its weight, which is ample, I really love this canoe. The lines are good. The make is classic. Someday I'll build my own and will love that, too, but I think I'll keep this one.
This is one of the best pictures I've ever taken.
Your moment of Zen, as Jon Stewart used to say.
Vinnie was up and ready to go when I got back. What he lacks in early rising, he more than makes up for in cheery personality and efficiency of breaking camp. He consistently had is tent up well before I had my hammock deployed and was packed with his stuff in the canoe well before i had gathered up all my detritus.
Would you like to hear the loons? Of course you would.
Headed out for a big day of paddling. We traveled from Copperas all the way to Long Pond this day. The trip was about 9+ miles of travel total. About 1 mile of that was portage... blessedly little, but still too much.
On the way out of Copperas Pond, this loon swam straight to us, passed us, and led us out to Fish Creek on our way. Our totem.
The lily pads seemed to have bloomed over night and were everywhere. Our progress was impeded slightly by the necessity to stop and take 10 million pictures.
I'm really happy with this one.
Vinnie's pic of me in my natural state... consulting the map.
Super meta. Vinnie's pic. I have a similar one.
The first, but not the worst.
Unpack everything. Put as much as you can on your body. Carry the remaining 100# by hand in the form of an unwieldy canoe.
ADK high fashion.
This is the bad one. I've never experienced a longer 3/4 mile in my life, I don't think. Weighted down. Harassed incessantly by all manner of biting insects. Arms aching. Hips bruising from being hit by the boat. Roots. Rocks. Hills. What a blast!
Silly from the strain. Credit Vinnie.
Not being silly; that's just how I look. The is the "portage" to Hoel Pond. On the advice of a very nice local, we shoved the canoe through the drain rather than unpacking everything. Worked like a charm... minus the leaches.
Vinnie approved portage.
Set up camp. Anticipating rain.
We searched high and low and decided on this campsite. Camp 7, I believe, on long pond. The deciding factors were that no one else was there, we didn't immediately lose a pint of blood, and the loons were nearby.
We still had some energy to hike and paddle around, do some fishing, and take some pictures.
Photo credit Vinnie
Photo credit, Vinnie. Style credit, Keith.
Vinnie in his natural state, fiddling with the fire.
Keith in his natural state, fiddling with the cooking kit.
Photo credit Vinnie
Photo credit Vinnie
Photo credit Vinnie
Overall, the day was challenging, but really rewarding and 10 miles seems totally doable. I don't think we had another long portage in us this day, but if necessary, we could have kept paddling. We saw so few people for the whole day that there were times we felt totally isolated and like the only people in the world. Unbelievable.
