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St Regis Canoe Area, NY ADKs - asking for tips and advice

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Sep 9, 2020
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Location
Syracuse, NY
Hello all,
Your resident camping/canoeing newbie asking for advice and tips for a three night trip to the St Regis Canoe Area in NYS ADK Park in a couple of weeks. Our current plan is to use the Hoel Pond Boat Launch and canoe into the Turtle Pond and/or Slag Pond area to set up camp. We also are thinking of taking a day trip to Long Pond, which involves a short portage.
Thanks in advance!
 
You probably cant go wrong there this time of year, it may get busy on Friday and Saturday but if you are there early enough on Friday you can most likely snag a choice site. I carried from Floodwood to Long Pond back in August, I was able to get the least desirable site early on a Friday afternoon. Long Pond has a short carry from the parking area and some of the Basecamps I saw were Pretty impressive.
 
If you make it into Long Pond go further to Pink and Little Pink. Both known for the carnivorous plants. The carry over the RR tracks is often done by lining boats through the culvert with a person stationed at the other end of the culvert to receive the boat. (not recommended for fragile boats as they might rub on the sides of the culvert)
 
Hi Otto, I returned from precisely that area about 10 days ago. Put in at Hoel Pond, traversed Turtle and Slang Ponds into Long Pond, and finally carried to Mountain Pond- all in one afternoon- after having driven 8 hrs. from southeast PA! If there are no significant headwinds you'll have no trouble with your itinerary. Site #1 in the northwest corner of Slang Pond is pretty nice, with a great fire pit and view of the lake on a rocky promontory and logs for sitting and gazing at the sunset and your campfire.

The carry to Long Pond is relatively brief, and virtually level. As Waterspyder suggested, Pink and Little Pink are worth the effort to explore... intimate little ponds with wildlife and flora to admire.

On my return, I paddled to Hoel Pond after climbing Long Pond Mountain and exploring Pink Pond, and camped on a high rocky cliff above Hoel Pond on the northern shore. If your party is big, you may have difficulty in finding a truly level tent pad however. It's worth a look to admire the view from the cliff.

I then returned to my truck, moved to Little Clear Pond and paddled into Little Long Pond (east) via Green Pond, then returning via a short carry to St.Regis Pond for my third night. I had a truly biblical deluge of rain that night, but I knew it was coming and chose my tent pad carefully for runoff drainage... and, erected my tarp over my tent for additional protection. I stayed dry but the downpour was deafening on the tarp. I wish I had brought foam ear plugs.

Anyway, I guarantee you'll have fun. You might even see me out there in a couple of weeks in the wood/canvas canoe I'm restoring. I'm two coats of paint & a few details away from her maiden voyage!

See also my June 15th St. Regis Canoe Area trip report
 
Thanks, good advice so far!

Patrick, I did read your thread and it was a great report. When my friend mentioned going the St Regis Canoe Area, I already knew a little about the area and said yes right away.
There is only the 2 of us going, so we don’t need a big campsite, but we do want a nice one! Site 1 on Slang Pond sounds pretty nice! We had a site like that on Lake Lila last year (#10 I believe) and it was nice to be slightly elevated and be able to easily watch the sunset and moon rise from the campfire.

I should have asked in my original post about fishing and hunting tips. I did see on the DEC website that Slang and Long Ponds have bass and pike. I believe trout closes in that area on October 15? We do plan to bow hunt part of the time too and have a couple of areas scoped out based on maps, but additional tips are always helpful.
 
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