Well, we finally did it! After about 15 years of no camping, we not only went camping this weekend... we went kayak camping! Back in the day, we used to go to Indian Lake and paddle our canoe full of gear out to the islands for a weekend in the woods with our family &/or friends. We had ONE perfect trip as far as weather was concerned. After that almost all other camping trips we ever took were almost guaranteed rain. Tim was convinced he was cursed and the camping trips stopped.
The group we kayak with has little by little gotten Tim interested again. He's been online researching all sorts of camping gear. The trip was all planned and site reservations made. Now we had to be able to pack whatever we needed into the hatches on our kayaks: tent, sleeping mats, sleeping bags, food, etc. We headed out on Friday morning and headed for Middle Saranac Lake. The 10 of us arrived at the boat launch and packed up our boats and headed for our sites.
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Some of our gear
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We went down a channel that opened into Middle Saranac Lake. The weather was holding in spite of the dark clouds over head. The waves were small and we were able to paddle across the lake without any trouble. Once we reached the other side we went down a channel that lead us to Weller Pond. As we paddled through I noticed that the trees on the shore looked like they had been trimmed along the bottom edge. Some of us think that maybe deer trim the bottom branches, but not sure.
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| Paddling Middle Saranac |
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Channel to Weller Pond
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We paddled across Weller Pond and left Doug, Cindy, Patty, Victor, Cindy & nephew Alec at their site on Tick Island. Gary, Sharon, Tim & I had to continue on past Tock Island to our site, # 85. We had a nice set of stairs leading up from the shore to the camp site. We got our tents all set up and then looked for fire wood. We had a beautiful view looking out over Weller Pond.
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Tim gets us set up
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We went over to Tick Island for dinner. We each had a nice freeze dried meal. Mmn Mmn. Tim had Spaghetti with meat sauce and I had Beef Stroganoff. They were pretty good. (No room in a kayak for a grill and pans for cooking).
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| View from Our Camp Site |
We paddled back to our site before dark and went to bed at 8:15! It was dark and we were tired, so why not?
Saturday morning you couldn't even see the water. It was so foggy out! We fixed breakfast. Have you ever had freeze dried scrambled eggs with bacon? Don't. After Tim had a taste, we tossed them and had a bagel with peanut butter instead.
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| Me on Friday night |
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Alec, Doug, Cindy & Chris
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The fog cleared and Gary sounded his chicken call. We paddled over to Tick Island to meet the group for our day trip. We were heading for Lower Saranac. We went out the channel that connected Weller Pond to Middle Saranac. As we made our way across the lake I paddled directly over a large rock just below the surface. I didn't tip over, but it left a nice scratch across the bottom of my boat. Ouch.
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Saturday morning
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Tim has breakfast
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Once in the channel to Lower Saranac we saw a Bald Eagle soaring above us. I wasn't able to get a picture, but Cindy did and will get me a copy. What a beautiful bird! We arrived a the manual lock and loaded in. Gary stayed out to operate the lock for us. Once in we held on to ropes to steady our boats while the water level dropped. Gary let us out of the lock and met us on the other side.
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| In the lock |
We paddled a short distance into Lower Saranac Lake and spotted a nice sandy beach. It looked like a nice place for lunch, so that's where we went. We "parked" our boats on the shore and ate, explored and waded in the water. It was a very nice camp site. A short time later we headed back to our sites. You couldn't have asked for a nicer paddle. We were probably gone about 4 1/2 hours.
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Lunch time
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Sunday morning we packed up and headed out. The weather had taken a turn for the worse. Wind & waves had both picked up. Thank God our boats were loaded and had some extra weight in them. It was a much tougher paddle. We fought each wave and the wind as we headed across the lake. Tim & I headed for Ship Island to catch a break from the waves for a little bit. As we approached we heard a loud screech and watched a beautiful Bald Eagle fly out from the Island and fly away. What a great view we had. Again, no picture. The waves meant that my camera was secured under my spray skirt. Darn!
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| Nancy |
Once we got back to the boat launch we packed up and headed out. It was a good weekend. Tim is ready to buy a new tent and will camp again!
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Saturday afternoon
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Alec, Cindy, Patty, Victor, Chris
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