forget it
There is a Placid Boatworks weekend at Fish Pond the end of Sept. While thats car camping expect hordes of die hard day trippers with light Rapid and SpitFires to ruin your solitude. We might try for the entire loop in a day trip!
Or come join us for the food!
PS I am planning a Whitney Loop to avoid the crowds for a week before or after the merriment. St Regis Canoe area aint what it was forty years ago.
Placid boat people
If those Placid Boat cult members are going to hog all the water I’m just going to have to go somewhere else.
hey you wont see anything
– Last Updated: Aug-22-08 8:55 PM EST –
but our wakes!
Here one moment, gone the next.
Well save the ribaldry for the campsite and share the water with others.
Wonder why this is under the Wilderness category..at least the St Regis area isnt my idea of wilderness..not quite like it used to be 40 years ago to me.
PB people
I’ve met many nice folks in PB canoes but I have also met several owners who spend an inordinate amount of time bad mouthing all other canoe makers, they often come off as elitist and judgmental. I am a slower paddler and my boat is perhaps not quite as nice, I don’t need to be told about it.
the weekend is about the people
– Last Updated: Aug-27-08 9:43 AM EST –
not the boats and some tips on improving your paddling but only if you want that feedback.
Paddling is more about people and the paddle and less about the boat.
I have (I think 17) and they all get used. I dont expect everyone to like the boats I use. Frankly I dont care. I am having fun and not trying to meet anyone elses expectations.
Yeah I have a Rapid Fire and someone will undoubtedly give me feedback on how used looking its getting. But it spends its time in the water and not on the car. Its given me some miles of fun. It aint just a purty boat.
Back some years ago I had alot of fun in my Keowee. Look where that got me!
A 300 dollar boat grew into how much worth of boats? EEsh maybe I should have gotten a wakeboard boat.
places change, i guess…
i have heard descriptions of this area from people who were there 20 to 30 years ago… It sounds as if the area has drastically changed then… Perhaps I should have posted under a different forum title… The more research I do the more I agree with you - this isn’t wilderness area anymore. It’s a shame… I’m looking elsewhere now, there are plenty of other areas off the beaten path. The Adk’s are big enough to find what I’m looking for anyway…
yep
– Last Updated: Aug-27-08 11:42 AM EST –
there has been some change but its not wholesale..there are plenty of places to get away from it all and there are actually more places set aside and accessible for canoeing than there were when I was an everyday Daks paddler in the mid 60's.
St. Regis area-
If you have not been here you should consider going here. I have looped these ponds a couple of times and it was some of the best canoe camping my wife and I have done. The off season is prime and the colors are breath taking. With so many ponds here the possiblities are widely varied. Another great place we visited this years was the Bog River flow and Low’s Lake - A ten mile paddle into the main lake with campsites on the way, a dam, and more incredible camp sites on the big lake. Low’s has plenty of places to explore but like any big water, paddle early the wild can blow up good in the afternoon. For us we are going back to Cranberry Lake for our third time - a huge lake in the North West corner of the park with few people. It has a state park there for base camp and plenty of camping spots on the lake.
mtpaddler mentioned Cranberry Lake
if you end up going to Cranberry:
http://adkforum.com/showthread.php?t=8262
And are so many other great paddles in the Adirondacks, especially in September and October.
Mike
Get the new Adirondack Paddler’s
Guidebook by Dave Cilley.
Its a companion to the ADK Paddlers Map…
The guidebook has all the ports etc and campsite info and suggestions for loops and day trips.
Need to get the people out of the St Regis Area…its become overloved.
I am doing the Whitney Loop I hope though its hardly a cakewalk… I might have to shorten it some to the LTL-Lila Traverse.
Appreciate any suggestions for stashing bike…but I will ask at ADK Forums.
September Camping
I have been up during the 2nd week of September and it can get cold. Since I like to swim as much as I like to paddle I don’t like it much. I have found that the week before labor day (leave the area Thursday night!) to be great. Schools start that week and so the crowds are minimal. I camp at Rollins and the place is only about 25% occupied. I took a trip up to St Regis Pond and there were only 3 sites taken. That is a good time to get good deals on used equipment from the outfitters however.
And my super favorite time is
the end of October. Sure there are hunters but swimming is possible in a hydroskin.
The paddling is just magical at the end of fall.
Sept can vary
One year I did the Saranac lake chain in late Sept and saw very few people . Last year I went to Lake Lila for a long weekend ; got there mid day on Friday and there was only one campsite open on the whole lake .
Another year I had Fish Pond to myself for three days midweek .
It is a great time of year to go there though .
Guaranteed company this weekend
Friday from Old Forge to Blue Mountain Lake, Saturday from Long Lake to Tupper Lake, and Sunday from Fish Creek Campground to Saranace Lake Village you will have 250 boats for company and over 550 paddlers. But it will pass by in a couple of hours.
The camping crowds in any of the popular areas of the Adirondacks are random. Some years you have solitude and the next trip is a big beer blast around the same pond or lake. Thankfully its a big place and some paddling and a couple carries puts the crowds behind.
Bill
thanks for all the input…
i literally just got back about 1/2 hour ago… i ended up going early due to change in job (currently unemployed, looking…)… i was there from fri to to wed… very populated until monday afternoon, then died down… i found a very nice very isolated in the back reaches of long pond… the site even had a “private” pond at the top of a hill… after the holiday crowd died down i stayed at a site on fish creek…
i see what everyone means by its not wilderness anymore… maybe at one time, but not any more - way to many people passing through, even towards the st. regis area… but then again, i picked what was probably one of the busiest weekends… but, i had all the time to due it now due to a change in my work status, so i figured what the hell, why not - its not often i have 5 days to spend anywhere… tomorrow - thurs - i’m off to canada for some white water for a few days, then i guess its time to start a job hunt… ick!!! but for now, life is great - 5 days at the adirondacks, 1 night at home, then 4 days doing white water in canada… life don’t get much better…
Fall paddling
Anytime after Labor Day should be late enough to avoid what Twilight Paddler refers to as the “masses of people”, depending on what your definition of too many other paddlers is. Of course, when Twilight Paddler was dismayed to see so many paddlers out, he or she was among the masses that all the other paddlers didn’t like seeing either. Perspective. I paddled Cranberry Lake last weekend and didn’t see even one other canoe or kayak, but the fishing boats were certainly out there. I later learned that there was a fishing tourney there.
weekends…
Best to avoid weekends if you can. Last week I was off. I went to the Pine Barrens on Sunday-Tuesday and had the entire campsite to myself! Only saw one couple on the river the entire day.
Weekend after I went camping and it was madness. Seems to always be that way on weekends. I’ll never do weekend camping again unless I can get myself an island.
news for you
I got the LAST campsite on Lows on the verge of darkness two weeks ago.
It was a TUESDAY night. The weather was nice and everyone apparantly played hooky.
OTOH, Lila on Monday night was virtually empty (3 parties) and on Thursday ditto (two parties)
As long as…
…If you don’t have a family of Mexicans blasting their Spanish music at 8 am across the way from you then it’s all good. These people brought a TV for crissake!
I really need an island to myself. Lake George sounds good…
St Regis Canoe Area
I work every weekend so All of my paddling is mid-week, makes a big difference. My last trip up to the St Regis last year was the first week of November, solo, 3 days , didn’t see another person. On the way in from Hoel pond it was bright and still, could see my shadow moving across the sandy bottom in 20 feet of water. 3 days later a big storm was blowing in from the east (very odd) messed up my shoulder paddling back to the put in, still bothers me a year later. Didn’t stop me from paddling though, among other things I did the 90 Miler with my 16 year old son again this Sept.
The St Regis is still a nice area if you pick your time, no buildings, no roads no people, lots of loons and trout.
I also XC-ski in to St Regis Pond several times a year. Again mid-week, there is usually new snow over old tracks so I don’t have to break trail all the way, but in at least a dozen trips in, I’ve Never seen another person.
We do have a place in Lake Clear that I sort of use as a basecamp.
Sometimes I paddle in 3 or so portages and fish the Green Drake hatch on some of the ponds in the spring, and paddle back out after dark, I really enjoy that paddle out. It’s odd how few of us do any wilderness travel in the night, it awakens all the sences.
John M. A Connecticut Yankee