Floodwood Loop to Polliwog Pond- ADK day 3

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.

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

 K

 V

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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.