Floodwood, July 17-19

I arrived bleary eyed and annoyed at flight delays Friday morning in Boston, and was immediately whisked away by my Mom and Rich to upstate New York for my cousin's pre-wedding party.  It was a flurry of hanging out with family, and watching fireworks exploding overhead in the best non-professional display I've ever seen.  On Saturday, everyone headed to Green Lakes State Park for the wedding, which was a beautiful ceremony and reception overlooking the water from an old stone building.  We danced, drank, ate great food, then walked around Turning Stone Casino until 1am.

We had a quick brunch at my aunt and uncle's house on Sunday morning, then Rich, my Mom, and I drove three or so hours to Rich's family camp off of Floodwood Pond in the lakes region in the Adirondacks.  The camp is composed of a small shack 15 feet from the water with a propane stove, a few propane lamps, a bunch of boats and beds, and no running water or power.  In other words, this is your perfect escape from a life in front of a computer screen.  We decided not to sleep in the shack, and instead packed up our tents and boated over to a neighboring island to setup our base camp.  Afterward, we went for a quick kayaking trip down Floodwood to the outlet.  The scenery here is gorgeous with remote lakes and waterways, yet we had the comfort of quinoa patties with spaghetti thanks to the camp's well-equiped kitchen.

Heading out to the island on Floodwood

None of us slept too well Sunday night due to an epic thunderstorm that rained hell onto our tents.  At around 6am, a massive thunder strike scared us all, and the ensuing downpour made me question my tent's stability.  Luckily, I fell back asleep, and awoke to calm weather and a five lake loop on the agenda for the day's activities.  The loop consisted of paddling across 5 lakes with 5 different portages involved.  We went from Polliwog, to Follensby Clear, to Horseshoe to Little Polliwog, then back to Polliwog.  The packraft came in handy on the portages, but was certainly tough to paddle for extended periods of time.  It doesn't track nearly as well as a kayak, and is much slower, but that is more than made up for with its portability.  We were treated to a variety of wildlife, including a Bald Eagle, Great Blue Herons, and Loons.  Afterward, we swam in the cold water at the Floodwood inlet, then had dinner and a much more uneventful night with far more sleep.

My Mom near the start of the loop

Tuesday started with beautiful weather, and the unfortunate need for us to pack up and leave.  We did a quick paddle to another Floodwood inlet, this one being long with rather swift water.  When we made it to the connecting pond, there was a line of 20 or so people waiting to make their way to Floodwood!  According to Rich, this is an exception number of people considering how remote this place is.  We played around a bit, and I practiced jumping in and out of the packraft while my Mom swam after dramatically falling out of her kayak.  We made our way down the swift-ish water, and packed up the car and left.  We stopped to gawk at the climbing areas around Keene Pass, which is another trip in the making.  

Goodbye, Floodwood!