One of the things I like about tripping are the images I see. It's mostly scenery and sometimes wildlife. Sometime I can capture it on film and sometimes it's just a memory, but the Adirondacks always comes through for me. It's one of the places that I find so beautiful that I can't stop taking pictures. This is a pic heavy report but I'll try not to go overboard.
I got a 6:30 AM start on the lower dam and it was nice and calm.
I did the portage around the upper dam without a problem. I had three packs that were all pretty light. I wore the pack basket while carrying the boat and carried the other two with one stacked on the other. The pole was an issue but I strapped it to the boat and it was fine. I wouldn't have brought the pole but when I left home I didn't know where I was going and it was already on the truck from a previous getaway. The wind picked up and I had to strap down my hat. I made it to campsite 18 but it was occupied. It was too windy to continue and was going to stay at camp 13 but it too was occupied so I made it back to campsite 12. This is also a very nice spot that I stayed on with my wife a couple years ago.
I got another early start in a light rain. I put on raingear but the rain never materialized. I didn't have enough time to explore the far end of Lows because I wanted to get out early on Friday so I headed back towards Hitchens Pond. Now I had plenty of time and didn't have to rush or otherwise kill myself. I portaged my stuff back down to Hitchens Pond then I took the hike to the Hitchens Pond Overlook, which was very worthwhile.
Once on Hitchens Pond I decided to camp at site 8 right near the outlet from Lows. It was a nice spot with a beaver pond and a stream coming in. I figured I could kill some time exploring up the creek to see how far up I could get. I crossed the beaver pond and another dam and came to a pretty large pond. There were some old relics from bygone days there. I don't know what they were for but I'm thinking possibly a water supply for steam locomotives. That exploration didn't kill much time so I went out to explore Hitches Pond itself. I found another inlet to the pond with considerable water and some beaver dams. The map I had wasn't the paddling map for the area and it was pretty vague and didn't show the stream I was on. From what I could tell there was another pond upstream, Long Pond, that I tried to get to. I crossed seventeen beaver dams and came to a dead end where there are RR tracks. These are the same tracks you go under on the way in. After looking at the better map that I left in the truck I saw that the pond wasn't too far away, but it was on the other side of the tracks. I turned around, came back and checked the other campsites on this end of Hitchens.
I returned to my campsite where I had left a pack and my tarp set up around 4:30. It was still too early for me to want to hang around the campsite so I decided to head towards the truck so I could get an early start home in the morning. My hope was to find a West facing site that was open to a breeze to keep the bugs down. Site #3 fit the bill, it was really nice and close to the truck. At this point I was low on water and also low on fuel to get some boiled up. It was a little after 6:00 and there wasn't a lot of firewood here so I had the idea to paddle back to my truck and my other stove with a full fuel bottle and grab my ballast back which was full of firewood. It was an hour round trip but I was happier paddling then I would have been firewood collecting. Within minutes after getting back to the site I had water boiled and when it got dark I made a log cabin style fire with all the wood in the bag. I also wanted to test the wood in the bag because it had been outside for am couple months and was concerned it might be damp. I was well rewarded with this campsite as it was a nice sunset.
I got on the water early again and had a great little paddle back to the put in. It was a great trip. It was short and easy. It would have been easier if I hadn't crossed all those beaver dams, but I guess that's my thing. The sunset pics and the ones from the following morning were taken from camp. It was still very scenic and I took photos right until I got to the truck.
I got a 6:30 AM start on the lower dam and it was nice and calm.
I did the portage around the upper dam without a problem. I had three packs that were all pretty light. I wore the pack basket while carrying the boat and carried the other two with one stacked on the other. The pole was an issue but I strapped it to the boat and it was fine. I wouldn't have brought the pole but when I left home I didn't know where I was going and it was already on the truck from a previous getaway. The wind picked up and I had to strap down my hat. I made it to campsite 18 but it was occupied. It was too windy to continue and was going to stay at camp 13 but it too was occupied so I made it back to campsite 12. This is also a very nice spot that I stayed on with my wife a couple years ago.
I got another early start in a light rain. I put on raingear but the rain never materialized. I didn't have enough time to explore the far end of Lows because I wanted to get out early on Friday so I headed back towards Hitchens Pond. Now I had plenty of time and didn't have to rush or otherwise kill myself. I portaged my stuff back down to Hitchens Pond then I took the hike to the Hitchens Pond Overlook, which was very worthwhile.
Once on Hitchens Pond I decided to camp at site 8 right near the outlet from Lows. It was a nice spot with a beaver pond and a stream coming in. I figured I could kill some time exploring up the creek to see how far up I could get. I crossed the beaver pond and another dam and came to a pretty large pond. There were some old relics from bygone days there. I don't know what they were for but I'm thinking possibly a water supply for steam locomotives. That exploration didn't kill much time so I went out to explore Hitches Pond itself. I found another inlet to the pond with considerable water and some beaver dams. The map I had wasn't the paddling map for the area and it was pretty vague and didn't show the stream I was on. From what I could tell there was another pond upstream, Long Pond, that I tried to get to. I crossed seventeen beaver dams and came to a dead end where there are RR tracks. These are the same tracks you go under on the way in. After looking at the better map that I left in the truck I saw that the pond wasn't too far away, but it was on the other side of the tracks. I turned around, came back and checked the other campsites on this end of Hitchens.
I returned to my campsite where I had left a pack and my tarp set up around 4:30. It was still too early for me to want to hang around the campsite so I decided to head towards the truck so I could get an early start home in the morning. My hope was to find a West facing site that was open to a breeze to keep the bugs down. Site #3 fit the bill, it was really nice and close to the truck. At this point I was low on water and also low on fuel to get some boiled up. It was a little after 6:00 and there wasn't a lot of firewood here so I had the idea to paddle back to my truck and my other stove with a full fuel bottle and grab my ballast back which was full of firewood. It was an hour round trip but I was happier paddling then I would have been firewood collecting. Within minutes after getting back to the site I had water boiled and when it got dark I made a log cabin style fire with all the wood in the bag. I also wanted to test the wood in the bag because it had been outside for am couple months and was concerned it might be damp. I was well rewarded with this campsite as it was a nice sunset.
I got on the water early again and had a great little paddle back to the put in. It was a great trip. It was short and easy. It would have been easier if I hadn't crossed all those beaver dams, but I guess that's my thing. The sunset pics and the ones from the following morning were taken from camp. It was still very scenic and I took photos right until I got to the truck.
