I have shared this adventure elsewhere online but never in this complete format, I want to turn what i do into my profession, so with this thought in mind please bare with me as this will be the format i develop on for how i will share my outdoor adventuring
Pictures, words and videos, all full on escapism, come with me on an adventure
Part 1 and 2
I am from the UK some of you may have noticed
So there I am 3 days before leaving Massachusetts and I am roped into helping pack the van and get the family glamping (glamorous camping) gear ready, I have never been glamping before and as the kit piled up so did my astonishment at how much they were going to be taking for the 6 days they would be there with me. We had planned leaving at 5am on Thursday 28th Aug so I planned to pack my kit for the 3 weeks I would be in nature at 4.30am on the same day, this left me ample time to be a packing assistant
So we hit the road 6am on the 28th for the 4hr drive into the Adirondacks, stopping halfway for a hearty breakfast at The Malta Diner (a greasy spoon with great grub) where we met up with the other family members who were joining us for the first few days, I stuffed my face and took the opportunity to use the last real toilet I may see for some time.
It was not long before the scenery changed and we were in the mountains and crossing the Hudson River for the first time, as anyone knows who has been up this way the vista is stunning and before we knew it we were arriving at Forked Lake near Long Lake.
Unpacking and ferrying everything across the lake via the little inflatable dinghy and canoes took best part of half a day, I heartily chipped in on the workload after quickly stuffing my kit into the 10ft kayak for my single trip over once I had helped everyone get their gear over to our campsites.
Setting up my tarp took a whole five minutes so again I was roped into helping the small tent town appear at one of our campsites (like any true gentleman I was more than happy to offer a helping hand to all the women in the camp), hey there no point standing around doing nothing when people were working.
I had arranged that I would have my own campsite for me and my basic setup, the glamping setup was impressive to say the least, consisting among other things of a fully equipped kitchen, at this point I was equally amazed and disgusted as to me this is not camping it is taking as much of your house as you can with you and relocating it into nature. Now then, I firmly held this opinion until themasters of this fully equipped glamping setup got to work and made a genuine feast, we all sat down to a well earned dinner including pudding (it is safe to say my freeze dried provisions remained safely stored away in the bear proof food safe), the multitude of coolers held all manner of feastable goodies and the ladies of the family were masters at taking care of us all and insisted on doing so and all offers of assistance were quickly and kindly shooed away.
My heartiest thanks go out to them, I was really looking forward to my upcoming solo adventuring but there was a part of me dreading them all going home at which point that would be myself switching from the feasts of glamping luxury to my freeze dried meager provisions, regardless of how hearty a meal I am proficient in making from them {see later images} this was a comically heavy thought due to how spoilt rotten we all had been.
So the next six days were spent slothing and feasting in the company of family, doing a spot of fishing, a lot of sunbathing and swimming in the crystal clear waters of Forked Lake, all the time getting far too used to the luxuries and the excesses of the family kit and food supplies.
Click to access a folder of images from this period
On the second last day before the family headed back to Massachusetts me and my father escaped the luxury of family glamping and headed over to the Adirondack Museum {see pictures}, if anyone ever goes up this way I can't recommend this place enough except for the food (it was nice enough but the prices were crazy). The museum itself covers 121 acre area with displays in over 20 buildings, over 40,000 square feet of exhibitions in an excellent very scenic setting overlooking Blue Mountain Lake with a full mix of indoor and outdoor displays, best part is peppered throughout it all are very informative guides who are keen to share their info.
Click to access a folder of images from the Adirondack Museum visit
Part 3 Day 01 Solo
Well day 6 arrived quickly and I was packed up in 15 minutes and ready for my solo venture, I was keen to help everyone pack but my father said it made better sense to drop me off so I can get my first days paddling started and that they can all deal with removing tent-town without me, so I loaded my gear into the kayak and paddled to the dock near the car park where my father was waiting with his van to ferry me down to Blue Mountain Lake.
Before I knew it i was paddling out onto Blue Mountain Lake and when I looked back my father was gone, I was finally alone in the Adirondacks, the lake seemed huge and was a little choppy so I cut across at a steady pace and headed for the first of a series of islands which had 4 primitive campsites allocated on it, an Adirondack primitive campsite is a designated clearing for camping in with a stone fire circle nearby and marked with a little symbol on a tree, the 4 sites on the island were not to my liking for various reasons but mostly because it was so early in the day I did not feel like setting up camp yet, I knew that approx 14 mile away to the west at the end of Utowana Lake there was a lean-to shelter so I got my head around the idea that this is where I was heading and going to sleep on day 1
I kept a steady pace stopping now and then to rest and take pictures or shoot a little video, drink plenty of water or top up on sunblock as it was easily 90f by midday, it wasn't long before I was entering the much smaller and glass-like Eagle Lake on the South West corner of Blue Mountain Lake. This lake was impressively shallow, it was amazing to think that huge paddle steamers filled with tourists ferried in and out of here back in the late 1800's when at times I was worried I was going to ground my kayak. The water was crystal clear and if i was not on such a mission to get to my desired location it would have been a great spot for some attempted bass fishing due to the amount of large fallen trees in the water creating the perfect cover for them.
It was blistering hot by now and my pace slowed but I kept at it slow and steady and before long i was entering the beautiful Utowana Lake.
I kept heading west and gradually the houses on the edges of the lake got further and further apart and became less regular, before long it was just woodland either side of the lake and it gradually narrowed, the whole time the water was like a mirror reflecting the trees and the sky perfectly, then on my right hand side on the north shoreline I seen my goal the lean-to shelter, this was a sight for sore eyes and arms and back and butt as I had been paddling for about 6 hrs in total), I aimed the kayak at the little beach and picked up a pace so I could beach the front end and get out easily, in minutes I had my insect bivvi bed setup inside the lean-to and had the kettle on for a well earned cup of tea (I know, I know very English of me).
I quickly settled into my home for the night, after a couple of cups of tea and a quick explore of the area I took a seat on the edge of the lean-to and in silence took in the views and mulled over my first day, I had made really good progress without going so hard that I was unable to stop and enjoy the views, the fresh air and the experience as a whole
Before dark to be 'bear safe' I hung my air tight food bag high in a tree about 100 yards from my sleep area and for piece of mind I grabbed myself a large pole and pointed the end of it with my knife.
As darkness fell I climbed in my bed, with my pointed pole nearby consciously aware of where it was I was asleep instantly, well that was until I heard a noise, asleep this noise sounded like something rummaging in my gear off to my right and it woke me instantly my heart racing, I shone out my headlamp and could see nothing and all of my kit looked untouched, this seemed to happen every couple of hours each time I woke startled and seen nothing, each time I fell back asleep laughing at myself.
Part 4 Day 02
At first light I was up and had the kettle on the boil straight away, whilst drinking my tea I heard the exact same type of noises I had been hearing whilst asleep and noticed a chipmunk scurrying under the lean-to, upon inspection I spot the nest entrance right under the lean-to, seriously here no joking at least twice through the night I had convinced myself those noises were a bear, maybe even two bears hahahaha laughing at myself and my first night alone in the wild I looked at my pointed stick and laughed again, I also had an air horn which I had kept close by, the stick was to be left behind and the airhorn left in the bottom of my kit bag and forgotten about, it is amazing how the mind can plays games with you.
After a couple of cups of tea I was ready to get on my way, packed up in 5 minutes and loaded the kayak in another 5 and I was ready to go, I took a thorough check of my campsite to ensure there was zero trace of my presence and took a quick photo to remind myself I had left the place better than I found it, kit all packed onto the kayak i climbed in and pushed off from the bank with my paddle.
Today's goal involved the first portage which was 980 meters long (0.6 mile or 0,98km), this poratge started about 1 mile from where I was camped so I gently paddled towards this area at the far west end of Utowana lake, the portage was on the old line leftover from the railway that used to shuttle tourists between the paddle steamer that ran them up and down the Marion River and the steamer that took them to Blue Mountain Lake and back.
I quickly arrived at the little dock, ahead was a little beach area but being a wise guy I figured i would climb out at the little dock and avoid getting wet feet, I pulled alongside the dock in the kayak and went to stand up wobbled and capsized fully over into 1 meter (3.3ft) of water and at least 30cm(1ft) of mud on the bottom, I bobbed up instantly due to wearing my personal floatation device and the cockpit filled with water washing away one of my trekking poles and my metal water canteen which I had been using to pump filtered water for drinking into from my Lifesaver bottle, I righted the kayak and dragged it, the kit and myself ashore laughing and spluttering as I went, the irony was not lost on me even at the very instant as I knew I was tipping over that through trying to keep my feet dry I instead got completely soaked to the skin head to toe.
Once onshore I took stock of my kit and noticed the missing items, I took everything out, most of my kit was inside submersible drybags but the things that weren't were saturated and some even filled with water like the stuff sack containing my ground bivvi and my tarp, I laid out all the wet kit in the sun to drain of water and dry off, I checked on the stuff in dry bags like the electrics, all were fine. This gave me confidence that if or when I capsize again the kit that needs to stay dry will.
continued in the next post due to word count limits ...
Pictures, words and videos, all full on escapism, come with me on an adventure
Part 1 and 2
I am from the UK some of you may have noticed
So there I am 3 days before leaving Massachusetts and I am roped into helping pack the van and get the family glamping (glamorous camping) gear ready, I have never been glamping before and as the kit piled up so did my astonishment at how much they were going to be taking for the 6 days they would be there with me. We had planned leaving at 5am on Thursday 28th Aug so I planned to pack my kit for the 3 weeks I would be in nature at 4.30am on the same day, this left me ample time to be a packing assistant
So we hit the road 6am on the 28th for the 4hr drive into the Adirondacks, stopping halfway for a hearty breakfast at The Malta Diner (a greasy spoon with great grub) where we met up with the other family members who were joining us for the first few days, I stuffed my face and took the opportunity to use the last real toilet I may see for some time.
It was not long before the scenery changed and we were in the mountains and crossing the Hudson River for the first time, as anyone knows who has been up this way the vista is stunning and before we knew it we were arriving at Forked Lake near Long Lake.
Unpacking and ferrying everything across the lake via the little inflatable dinghy and canoes took best part of half a day, I heartily chipped in on the workload after quickly stuffing my kit into the 10ft kayak for my single trip over once I had helped everyone get their gear over to our campsites.
Setting up my tarp took a whole five minutes so again I was roped into helping the small tent town appear at one of our campsites (like any true gentleman I was more than happy to offer a helping hand to all the women in the camp), hey there no point standing around doing nothing when people were working.
I had arranged that I would have my own campsite for me and my basic setup, the glamping setup was impressive to say the least, consisting among other things of a fully equipped kitchen, at this point I was equally amazed and disgusted as to me this is not camping it is taking as much of your house as you can with you and relocating it into nature. Now then, I firmly held this opinion until themasters of this fully equipped glamping setup got to work and made a genuine feast, we all sat down to a well earned dinner including pudding (it is safe to say my freeze dried provisions remained safely stored away in the bear proof food safe), the multitude of coolers held all manner of feastable goodies and the ladies of the family were masters at taking care of us all and insisted on doing so and all offers of assistance were quickly and kindly shooed away.
My heartiest thanks go out to them, I was really looking forward to my upcoming solo adventuring but there was a part of me dreading them all going home at which point that would be myself switching from the feasts of glamping luxury to my freeze dried meager provisions, regardless of how hearty a meal I am proficient in making from them {see later images} this was a comically heavy thought due to how spoilt rotten we all had been.
So the next six days were spent slothing and feasting in the company of family, doing a spot of fishing, a lot of sunbathing and swimming in the crystal clear waters of Forked Lake, all the time getting far too used to the luxuries and the excesses of the family kit and food supplies.
Click to access a folder of images from this period
On the second last day before the family headed back to Massachusetts me and my father escaped the luxury of family glamping and headed over to the Adirondack Museum {see pictures}, if anyone ever goes up this way I can't recommend this place enough except for the food (it was nice enough but the prices were crazy). The museum itself covers 121 acre area with displays in over 20 buildings, over 40,000 square feet of exhibitions in an excellent very scenic setting overlooking Blue Mountain Lake with a full mix of indoor and outdoor displays, best part is peppered throughout it all are very informative guides who are keen to share their info.
Click to access a folder of images from the Adirondack Museum visit
Part 3 Day 01 Solo
Well day 6 arrived quickly and I was packed up in 15 minutes and ready for my solo venture, I was keen to help everyone pack but my father said it made better sense to drop me off so I can get my first days paddling started and that they can all deal with removing tent-town without me, so I loaded my gear into the kayak and paddled to the dock near the car park where my father was waiting with his van to ferry me down to Blue Mountain Lake.
Before I knew it i was paddling out onto Blue Mountain Lake and when I looked back my father was gone, I was finally alone in the Adirondacks, the lake seemed huge and was a little choppy so I cut across at a steady pace and headed for the first of a series of islands which had 4 primitive campsites allocated on it, an Adirondack primitive campsite is a designated clearing for camping in with a stone fire circle nearby and marked with a little symbol on a tree, the 4 sites on the island were not to my liking for various reasons but mostly because it was so early in the day I did not feel like setting up camp yet, I knew that approx 14 mile away to the west at the end of Utowana Lake there was a lean-to shelter so I got my head around the idea that this is where I was heading and going to sleep on day 1
I kept a steady pace stopping now and then to rest and take pictures or shoot a little video, drink plenty of water or top up on sunblock as it was easily 90f by midday, it wasn't long before I was entering the much smaller and glass-like Eagle Lake on the South West corner of Blue Mountain Lake. This lake was impressively shallow, it was amazing to think that huge paddle steamers filled with tourists ferried in and out of here back in the late 1800's when at times I was worried I was going to ground my kayak. The water was crystal clear and if i was not on such a mission to get to my desired location it would have been a great spot for some attempted bass fishing due to the amount of large fallen trees in the water creating the perfect cover for them.
It was blistering hot by now and my pace slowed but I kept at it slow and steady and before long i was entering the beautiful Utowana Lake.
I kept heading west and gradually the houses on the edges of the lake got further and further apart and became less regular, before long it was just woodland either side of the lake and it gradually narrowed, the whole time the water was like a mirror reflecting the trees and the sky perfectly, then on my right hand side on the north shoreline I seen my goal the lean-to shelter, this was a sight for sore eyes and arms and back and butt as I had been paddling for about 6 hrs in total), I aimed the kayak at the little beach and picked up a pace so I could beach the front end and get out easily, in minutes I had my insect bivvi bed setup inside the lean-to and had the kettle on for a well earned cup of tea (I know, I know very English of me).
I quickly settled into my home for the night, after a couple of cups of tea and a quick explore of the area I took a seat on the edge of the lean-to and in silence took in the views and mulled over my first day, I had made really good progress without going so hard that I was unable to stop and enjoy the views, the fresh air and the experience as a whole
Before dark to be 'bear safe' I hung my air tight food bag high in a tree about 100 yards from my sleep area and for piece of mind I grabbed myself a large pole and pointed the end of it with my knife.
As darkness fell I climbed in my bed, with my pointed pole nearby consciously aware of where it was I was asleep instantly, well that was until I heard a noise, asleep this noise sounded like something rummaging in my gear off to my right and it woke me instantly my heart racing, I shone out my headlamp and could see nothing and all of my kit looked untouched, this seemed to happen every couple of hours each time I woke startled and seen nothing, each time I fell back asleep laughing at myself.
Part 4 Day 02
At first light I was up and had the kettle on the boil straight away, whilst drinking my tea I heard the exact same type of noises I had been hearing whilst asleep and noticed a chipmunk scurrying under the lean-to, upon inspection I spot the nest entrance right under the lean-to, seriously here no joking at least twice through the night I had convinced myself those noises were a bear, maybe even two bears hahahaha laughing at myself and my first night alone in the wild I looked at my pointed stick and laughed again, I also had an air horn which I had kept close by, the stick was to be left behind and the airhorn left in the bottom of my kit bag and forgotten about, it is amazing how the mind can plays games with you.
After a couple of cups of tea I was ready to get on my way, packed up in 5 minutes and loaded the kayak in another 5 and I was ready to go, I took a thorough check of my campsite to ensure there was zero trace of my presence and took a quick photo to remind myself I had left the place better than I found it, kit all packed onto the kayak i climbed in and pushed off from the bank with my paddle.
Today's goal involved the first portage which was 980 meters long (0.6 mile or 0,98km), this poratge started about 1 mile from where I was camped so I gently paddled towards this area at the far west end of Utowana lake, the portage was on the old line leftover from the railway that used to shuttle tourists between the paddle steamer that ran them up and down the Marion River and the steamer that took them to Blue Mountain Lake and back.
I quickly arrived at the little dock, ahead was a little beach area but being a wise guy I figured i would climb out at the little dock and avoid getting wet feet, I pulled alongside the dock in the kayak and went to stand up wobbled and capsized fully over into 1 meter (3.3ft) of water and at least 30cm(1ft) of mud on the bottom, I bobbed up instantly due to wearing my personal floatation device and the cockpit filled with water washing away one of my trekking poles and my metal water canteen which I had been using to pump filtered water for drinking into from my Lifesaver bottle, I righted the kayak and dragged it, the kit and myself ashore laughing and spluttering as I went, the irony was not lost on me even at the very instant as I knew I was tipping over that through trying to keep my feet dry I instead got completely soaked to the skin head to toe.
Once onshore I took stock of my kit and noticed the missing items, I took everything out, most of my kit was inside submersible drybags but the things that weren't were saturated and some even filled with water like the stuff sack containing my ground bivvi and my tarp, I laid out all the wet kit in the sun to drain of water and dry off, I checked on the stuff in dry bags like the electrics, all were fine. This gave me confidence that if or when I capsize again the kit that needs to stay dry will.
continued in the next post due to word count limits ...