We packed all the gear into the trailer Sunday morning and loaded the kids into the van for the 6 hour drive to our campsite in the Adirondacks. First we went shopping for the food for the first half of the week. Arriving at camp around 6:15 PM, we were met by our 2 campers from the Albany area. Introductions were made and camp was soon set up. Then it was time to prepare dinner and eat. a little socializing and a campfire finished out the evening and at last it was time for sleep.
Monday morning, after a good breakfast, we hiked down into the gorge behind the campsite to check out the waterfall on the Ausable River and play on the rocks.
Then it was time to drive over to Pitchoff Mountain to do some rock climbing. Everyone was doing so well that we spent the better part of the day on the rock face and then finished up with a swim at the public beach in Wilmington before returning to camp for dinner.
On Tuesday, we cooked another good breakfast and then went to the Adirondack Loj parking lot to start our hike up Wright Peak. First it was down to the creek and then back up the other side as we made our way to the trail junction that would take us up. Unfortunately, we had a sick camper and only made it about halfway up before turning around. We really wanted to be on top of a mountain so we drove to Whiteface Mountain and drove up the road to the "Castle/Visitor Center" where we then hiked the rest of the way to the top for some awesome views. We then returned to camp to get cleaned up for our dinner out at the "Chinese Buffet" in Saranac Lake.
On Tuesday
On Wednesday, we topped off our food supplies and paddled out into Follensby Clear Pond for a couple of nights roughing it on our canoe trip. We got lucky and found a great campsite on one of the islands. We set up camp, went for a swim, cooked dinner and watched the sunset before enjoying a campfire and bed.
Thursday was the long day. We made a good breakfast, packed what we needed into the canoes and paddled north to start our adventure. We saw a pair of Loons along the way and finally found the portage (canoe carry) at the northwest end of the pond. Carrying our boats across the land bridge, we paddled some more and did 2 more carries, each one felt longer than the last one. We stopped along the way to check out the wildlife, eat snacks, take photos and splash each other until finally arriving at Floodwood Pond. From there it was straight (well, really crooked) paddling down a narrow creek and over open bays and ponds until we began to see signs of cicilization. We were arriving at Fish Creek Pond, a public campsite along our route. We paddled around the bend and across the open pond to a beach where we parked the canoes and went up for some ice cream before the final paddle back to camp. We had taken our time and took most of the day to complete the big circle back to camp.
Arriving back at camp, someone said "Let's swamp the canoes" and suddenly no one as tired and we took 2 canoes out onto the pond to experience the joys of "swamping" or filling the boats with water and playing and swimming off of them. Everyone splashed around and laughed until it was time for dinner. A few of us went out fishing after dinner (no luck) and we finished the day with a nice campfire and a game of "Red Knee".
Friday morning we packed up, ate breakfast and loaded the canoes for the trip back to the van. Soon enough we were at the van and loaded and driving into Tupper Lake to meet the parents. We took a group photo, hugged and said our goodbyes and were soon on the way home to Rochester.
