Just got back from a great camping adventure up in the Adirondacks. Michelle went back up to school on Friday, and less than hour later Jeannie and lit out for Saranac Lake. We met up with our friends Mark and Kelly. The plan was to go camping on Fern Island in Lower Saranac Lake. The site is accessible only by boat, so we were going to paddle out there on canoes, bringing everything we need with us. This is a whole level more compact and lightweight than car camping, so apart from our tent, sleeping bags and warm clothes, we only brought a minimal amount of cooking stuff and food.
Unfortunately, it was raining most of the drive up, and after looking like it was clearing up, began raining again on our arrival. So we decided to bag it the first night and instead went to Lake Placid to see a movie. The Barbie Movie was the best thing playing, so that was our choice. It was fun and entertaining, especially the part where Ken gets all patriarchy happy. I think it completes a trilogy with Toy Story and The Lego Movie, although I’m not sure what the higher level meta-point is of three of them take together.
Saturday morning the weather started to clear up, so we decided to go for it. Mark and Kelly have a pair of small, lightweight canoes, almost like open-top kayaks. In addition, we borrowed a larger two-man canoe from Mark’s friend and neighbor Morgan, who had been our D&D party over the winter. It was a super nice canoe, made of kevlar, light enough to lift with one hand. We loaded up all three boats with our camping kit and a big load of firewood, and were off. Mark and paddled the bigger boat with most of the stuff. It was about two miles to the island, about forty-five minutes of paddling. We started in a small bay but the last part was in open water, and the wind started to come up, the rain clouds blowing by overhead and even a few drops of rain.
But by the time we got to the island the rain had basically stopped. We unloaded and set up out stuff. There was a fireplace and a picnic table and a latrine there. The island was hilly and rocky, so it was a bit of a challenge to find two relatively flat places to set up our tents. Mark and Kelly had really compact folding chairs and and generally everything about their kit was a bit more efficient then ours, being optimized for canoe rather than car camping.
After that it was peaceful and beautiful. We took a hike to the other side of the island (we were the only people there) and looked the lake and more islands over there. We built a fire and cooked dinner and sat around watching the fire and the water, talking about life the universe and everything well into the night. The next day it was basically the same thing, and the sun even came out! We spotted some wildlife on the island including a giant toad, some newts, a loon up close, and heard an eagle in the trees.
Mid afternoon it was time to go, since Jeannie and I had to drive back to New York City. So we packed down our stuff and loaded it onto the big canoe. Mark came along with us in one of the smaller boats so he could restock the firewood supply; he and Kelly were staying another two nights. Jeannie was a little nervous in the big canoe with all our stuff, because a couple summers ago we were canoeing up there and we capsized after a power boat passed us and swamped us with its wake. But she did fine, and I generally steered our bow into the wake of any passing boat to avoid side-to-side rocking, and she got more comfortable handling the waves and being out in the water with motorboats around.
We stopped for dinner on the way home at Lake George, at a restaurant overlooking the lake and the marina. Nice end to a great weekend.