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.
We weren't sure how long the loop would take us. The guide book suggested 3-5 days with a possible side trip to Long Pond Mountain, a hike that would take several hours. We were planning to do the mountain hike, but the day to do it would have been day 3, and it was rainy and overcast. Vinnie was well concerned about thunderstorms and talked incessantly about them, so we decided to pack up and paddle out lest we be electrocuted by lightening or deafened by thunder or drowned in the rain or some other calamity.
There is a lot of exploring and infinite fishing that could be done on the loop, and one could add more lakes to increase travel time as well. So far as the loop goes, if one were interested, it could be completed in one long day, though with a heavy canoe, the portages would make the day long indeed.
I took the hammock and bug net down from under the tarp, and that left us a nice place to breakfast. I tried to take a lot of pictures of Vinnie, because it was the only way to get him to stop talking about the weather.
Fussing with the cooking gear.
Here we go again. The mosquitoes and biting flies were truly biblical on this carry. Fortunately, we came upon a flooded beaver pond about half way in and were able to put the canoe back in the water and paddle around the last part of the portage.
Anniversary pond, thank you, beavers.
One of several houses for the beavers. Dam building is, of course, an evolutionary trait. Beavers don't live in the dams. They build homes in the middle of the flooded pond where predators can't get them. Really amazing. Also, I'm reading a book right now that posits that beavers were the most abundant mammal in North America before the fur trade. I can't imagine how the landscape would have been changed. Seems like the whole country would have been flooded.
A big ole' nest. We didn't see anyone home.
Happy guy. The skies are clearing and the carry is over.
We stopped in at St. Regis Outfitters on our way out and chatted with Mark for a bit. He suggested staying down the rode at Polliwog Pond until the weather cleared and then going to check out Little Tupper Lake or Lake Lila in the William C. Whitney Wilderness Area. He hadn't led us astray, but first we needed some ice cream, a new rod and reel, and a place to dry our clothes.
Mission accomplished.
Peek-a-boo. I see you, you cheeky little monkey.
The wash.
Adam bought me some pint glasses many many years ago, which had various climbing knots on them. I remembered that one of them had shown a butterfly knot. I'd never tied it before, but executed them from memory to make holders for our paddles.
That evening, we drove into a little town of Tupper Lake and had a beer and a burger at a little brewery. Both were fine and tasted fantastic after a couple days in the woods. At the brewery, we had the choice of sitting inside in a vast echoy hall with bad music, or outside where a chainsaw artist was set up and executing his craft. We sat outside.
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.
