We planned our menu, went shopping, packed the trailer and headed for the Adirondacks, arriving at camp just in time to meet our camper and her parents from the Albany area. After visiting for a few minutes, we set up the tents and kitchen and began preparing dinner. A campfire finished off the day and it was finally time for bed.
The next morning, after a hearty breakfast, we took off for the rocks for a day of climbing. Everyone did very well, climbing the different routes and hanging around on the rock face. Some routes were definitely more challenging than others. After a few hours of climbing, we were getting somewhat tired and hungry so it was time for lunch. We went down the road to the picnic area and swimming spot between Upper and Lower Cascade Lakes. Everyone ate and some went swimming while others climbed on the rocks.
Afterwards, we drove over to the public beach in Wilmington, just down the road from camp, to swim and play in the sand before going back to camp for dinner. That night, Harry tought how to light a campfire using "flint and steel" instead of matches.
Tuesday morning we had a good breakfast and drove to the trailhead for Cascade and Porter mountains. Everyone donned their packs and we were off on the climb to the top of 4098 foot Cascade Mountain. After a time of hiking through the woods, people were getting a little itchy for some views but soon we came out on a big open rock and we discovered that we were up pretty high and the view was great. Not long afterwards we approached the final open climb to the peak and everyone scrambled up the rocks to enjoy the awesome views in all directions. After eating lunch and enjoying the wam sunny day on the peak, we started back down to the trail junction that led to 4059 foot Porter Mountain. A few of the campers didn't want to hike over to porter so we split into 2 groups and one went to Porter while the smaller group went down a little further to the big open rock to wait for their return. When the group was back together, we hiked down, returned to camp for showers and clean clothes, then piled into the cars to go for dinner in town. We found a nice Chinese buffet in Saranac Lake that had something for everyone and we all chowed down until we were full. Then back to camp and bedtime.
The next morning (Wednesday) we packed everything up and headed for Follensby Clear Pond (near Upper Saranac Lake) for our canoe trip. When we arrived, we started unpacking but had to wait because a thunderstorm rolled into the area. We waited out the storm and when it looked somewhat clear, we packed the gear into the canoes and kayak and started out to find a suitable campsite, preferably on an island. As we moved down the pond and around the islands, we found the island campsites were taken. we started across to the far shore and another thunderstorm rolled in. Quickly moving to shore, we waited out the storm and then found a good campsite and moved in. We carried all the gear up the bank to the flat area and quickly set up the tents in case it rained again. We flipped one of the 17 ft canoes and tied it between trees to make a long table and put up some tarps to protect us from any more weather that might visit us. Dinner was cooked and eaten and we built a campfire while some kids explored around the camp area to see what was there.
The next morning we ate and loaded the canoes with what was needed for our all-day paddle around the ponds and creeks of the area. As we paddled north on Follensby Clear Pond, we saw a couple of loons and they actually came pretty close to the boats. How Exciting! We found the portage at the north end of the pond and carried the canoes and our stuff over to Pollywog Pond. Climbing in, we did a short paddle to the next portage to Middle Pond where we did a little swimming and had a snack. Then we did the longer portage to Floodwood Pond, got wet again, and started towards the mouth of Fish Creek for an enjoyable paddle through the twisting creek and side waterways leading to Fish Creek Ponds. We saw more loons and ducks along the route untill finally arriving at the big pond we found the shoreline filled with campsites and many boats (both people and power propelled) on the water. We paddled around to the east end of the pond and then stopped for ice cream at the small store located there. Then it was north to the narrow creek that led back to Follensby Clear Pond and back to camp for dinner. We had a nice dinner and lit up the campfire. Harry led a game of "Red Knee" and it was a fun finish for the day.
The next morning, we ate, packed everything into the canoes and paddled back to the cars for the long drive home.