Ok, maybe I’m strange but I love long distance drives – especially when you are going somewhere you have never been to. In the summer of 2015, my boyfriend and I planned a New York extravaganza where we drove 12 hours to New York City from Toronto, spent a couple days there doing the most city of city-things and then headed north towards the Adirondacks for complete off-the-grid charm.
Why the Adirondacks? Both being Canadians, and having done a lot of Ontario camping and hiking, we wanted to see what camping on the other side of the border was like. To be honest, it was very similar to Ontario’s Algonquin Park, but felt more like a holiday since we were out of country and used currency that didn’t look like colourful Monopoly playing pieces.
We decided on a 3 night canoe trip in the Saranac Lake area, not far from the border of Vermont. If you are renting gear, we rented from St. Regis Canoe Outfitters and they were fantastic. They helped us not only plan the route, but gave us suggestions on the best campsites to reserve, as well as picked up the gear from us at the end of the trip – saving us the hassle of trying to tie a wet boat to the top of a car.
Our route sounded a bit complicated but it was actually quite easy as long as you have a map – we took off at the parking lot at First Pond, had a very leisurely paddle upstream to Lower Saranac Lake, canoed through The Narrows, past Loon Bay and into Saranac River, which then led us to Middle Saranac Lake where our campsite was waiting for us (Campsite #66).
The first stretch of paddle takes you through a set of hand operated old-school locks to get from one lake to the next – if you’ve never experienced this before, it’s kind of exciting to watch the boat jump from high elevation to low elevation – but make sure all your gear in your canoe is secure and in dry bags.
If you’re a hiker, Ampersand Mountain trailhead can be accessed from Middle Saranac Lake – which we planned on doing as the views looks amazing but due to rainy weather, and a hiking boot mishap the night before (I might have melted the back of my hiking boots near the fire…), we had to pass unfortunately.
We got pretty bad weather the whole time, and as campers, we were prepared with our rain gear, but you get a bit of cabin fever staying in the tent for too long. I would love to do more of the Adirondacks in the future, especially in the fall when all the leaves start to change. There is no cell service, and we barely saw any one else while on the lakes and rivers – and considering we were there in June (aka busy time), this really is a great place to get away and reconnect with nature.
Have you ever been camping/canoe-tripping in the Adirondacks? We plan on going back with the hope of good weather, so let me know about your trip!
Backpacking with blisters 