Adirondack Pond Hopping for the elusive Salvelinus fontinalis

[Bioguide]

I head off with a good friend on an overnight “shake down” pond hopping fishing/camping trip to the Saint Regis Canoe Area. I recently sold my 70 pound Adirondack Guide Boat (which had spent the last 5+ years hanging in the garage rafters) and purchased a Placid Boatworks Spitfire 13 that weighs 20 pounds. This will allow me to carry into remote Adirondack Ponds to fish and enjoy the outdoors more. For shelter I use, for the first time, a hammock and tarp system I’ve owned for several years but have not used for camping.

https://youtu.be/zk4W72OiPCI

 

[snapper]

I wondered if you'd sold your guideboat or not? Glad you were able to do so and pick up a nice alternative. As much as I like my guideboat the Placid Boatworks canoes are a joy on a carry. Best of luck with your new avenue to adventure.

Until next time...be well.

snapper

 

[Robin]

Hi Bioguide,

Another excellent video, those canoes are perfect for that back country exploring/fishing, and those trout looked great cooking over the fire.
Are the comfortable when you carry them on your shoulder like that?
How was the hammock? I see Larry had a small tent, was there much weight difference between the two?
The campfire scene at the end was classic.

 

[Bioguide]

Hi Bioguide,

Another excellent video, those canoes are perfect for that back country exploring/fishing, and those trout looked great cooking over the fire.
Are the comfortable when you carry them on your shoulder like that?
How was the hammock? I see Larry had a small tent, was there much weight difference between the two?
The campfire scene at the end was classic.

Thanks Robin.

The canoes are certainly light enough to shoulder them comfortably and you can easily alter them from one shoulder to the other when you have enough clearing from trees and bush to do so. I was wearing my external frame pack and on the return carry from fishing I discovered that I could rest the top gunwale on the top cross bar of the pack frame. This particular pack frames crossbar has a slight upward curved tip so it “hooked” the canoe. The bottom gunwale then fit nicely on my waist belt. If I was standing still the canoe would just rest in that position. When walking all I had to do was pull the canoe snug, usually by grabbing the thwart, and I did this with one hand. It worked well and it took all the weight of the canoe and contents off my shoulders and put it on my waist.

I really liked the hammock and will use it for similar trips. Larry’s tent weighs 5.5 lbs; the hammock and tarp weigh 5 lbs.