Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Adirondack Park - 2008

We went camping at Eighth Lake and to best describe the weather, there is a poem in a book that I gave to Leo, Travels With a Kayak, by Whit Deschner, that describes it perfectly. Thanks to Leo for copying it. We had a good time in spite of the weather.

It rained and rained and rained,
The average fall was well maintained,
And when the tracks were simply bogs,
It started raining cats and dogs.
After a drought of half an hour,
We had the most refreshing shower;
And then, most curious thing of all,
A gentle rain began to fall.
Next day was one but fairly dry,
Save for one deluge from the sky,
Which wetted the party to the skin,
And then at last - the rain set in.

One of the sight seeing highlights for me was a trip to the Adirondack Museum in Blue
Mountain. We visited this museum many years ago and I was impressed with it then when
it was much smaller. I was no less impressed with it this time.

It was nice to see some folks who we had not seen in a while, like Caroline and Jeremy and
Chris T. We had never met Jeremy's children, nor Chris's girlfriend, Lauren.

We brought the Folbot with us and since it has been a while since I assembled it, it took
about 50 minutes to get it together. As always, Anne and I found it a bit sluggish as a
two person boat, so I decided to rig it for solo use. That really made a big difference. It
seemed to glide along much easier and faster. I really brought it because I was reluctant
to put the Tsunamis on top of the car, but after seeing so many kayaks transported that
way, I think we may try that next year.

We also drove into Inlet and Old Forge and visited Old Forge Hardware, which is
something of a local tourist attraction. You get the idea of what the area is like when
the big whoop is visiting the hardware store. Anne bought a canning kit and sourdough
starter and Greg found a walking stick that helped him hobble along on his sprained
ankle.

Chris T. recommended his favorite Scotch, Ardberg, so when we got home I went out
and bought a bottle. It is very nice; smoky, as I like it, but light and refined.

As for wildlife, we heard bard owls and loons and we did see a bear on the road, not
too far from the camp ground.

Anne and I were very pleased with our tent which kept us perfectly dry despite some
horrendous downpours during a couple of the nights. We were actually quite
comfortable with our regular sleeping bags and an air mattress that Anne got before the trip.
Most meals were shared with Art, Marian, Andy and various others, which worked out well,
I thought. Unfortunately, we had to pack our tent, canopy and boat still wet in the car.
When we got home, we put everything out in the yard and it dried quickly.

It's hard to imagine how much stuff you have to pack along for a week in the woods.
We think we did pretty well in our planning and would make very few changes on
future trips. We might save some weight if we had a parawing tarp instead of our
canopy, but the canopy worked well.

Most of all it was the people that made the trip a success. It's nice to have a nice family
and I'm glad I'm a part of it.







 

Saturday, August 2, 2008

Off to the Adirondacks

Today we put the final touches on our packing preparations for our camping trip to Eighth Lake at Inlet, NY. We have everything we hope we will need including tent, canopy, kitchen table/box, stove and a 17 foot boat in our minivan. Most of the stuff is already in the car. We are looking forward to a week in the woods with Anne's family with no internet or cell phone connections. I'm sure there will be adventures and photos to share on our retuen.