We joined Mark, Matt, Nathan and Mark’s dog Natalie at the Kibby Pond Trailhead a little before noon.  We were immediately faced with a small stream crossing which we managed negotiate without getting wet feet or having the kids fall in.  Once across the stream we put the packs on the dogs and headed up the trail.  It was almost 2 mile hike in and a climb of 600’ so Nathan and Eric dictated a few breaks along the way where we could sit on rocks or logs eat our lunch or just rest.

Kibby Pond was very pretty.  The leaves were a little past peak but very colorful.

Nathan and Eric posed in front of Kibby Pond as we searched for an appropriate campsite.

We found a nice campsite on a slight knoll slightly removed from the pond so the dogs weren’t in & out of the water all day.  There was room for three tents with lots of down wood.  We were entertained watching Mark trying to recall how to set up his tent – a clear sign that he didn’t get out camping enough this summer!

While Mark and Matt cut wood, I cleaned out the fire pit and the boys played a version of baseball.

For dinner we made one pot spaghetti cooked in sauce, Nathan had hot dogs, and Mark & Matt had lasagna.  The temperature dropped during the evening and there was a slight breeze.  We sat around the fire and played the progressive story game and turned in at 8pm. During the night we heard migrating geese flying overhead in the dark, we heard owls and we heard beavers slapping the water nearby as they were surprised by our campsite.  All very cool!

We slept fine.  Eric and I were pretty toasty but Kathryn was a little chilled as we estimate the overnight temperatures settled in around mid-30s.  We slept until 7am and woke up with temperatures warmer than it was the previous evening.  Our hike out was easy.  The dogs got along fine the whole trip.

Sunday afternoon we cleaned up our camping gear, did laundry and relaxed.  Monday Eric, Trevor, Kathryn and I had a cook out.  I warmed up some MREs by dropping them in boiling water.  The boys didn’t find the meals particularly tasty, but they were intrigued by the wide variety of items that were included in the MRE packet: crackers, jelly, plastic ware, several powdered drinks, and a fruit bar – everything a soldier would need.

I picked up Skip at 2pm and we were on the water by 3:20pm.  Moss Lake has 8 free, secluded water access sites with outhouses and fire pits.  One of the sites is handicap accessible.  The access site has a map and site reservation system where one slides the campsite number from Open to Occupied.  There was one group staying at the large group site #2.

Skip and I opted to reserve site #4 on the point, hoping for a breeze to keep the black flies abated.  We paddled counter clockwise around the lake and checked out the other sites thinking we could swap sites and change our reservation if we found something better.  As we cruised around the lake we saw three loons.

Campsite 4 was clean.  As we unloaded dark clouds were moving in, so as Skip dragged in firewood I set up our tarp.  We broke up the fire wood and covered it with the canoe as the brief shower passed through.  Afterwards we cleaned the fire-pit.  The fire-pit was filled to the brim with charcoal and old ashes, but there was little trash or garbage in the fire-pit.  We troweled 4 shopping bags full of ashes and dumped them in the outhouse.  As I opened the outhouse door I saw the toilet paper that had been left there was shredded into a mouse nest with two beady eyed occupants.  They didn’t like the fact that I dumped their nest down into the pit, but I wasn’t looking forward to using an outhouse with surprised mice running around in it.

On the island across from the point there was a osprey nest.  The osprey nest was being watched by ravens which would fly in if the nest was left unoccupied.  The ospreys were quite vocal and although we saw them out fishing several times we never saw a successful catch returned to nest.  It wasn’t possible to determine if there were eggs or little ospreys in the nest.

We set up our tents and sleeping systems and decided to take another tour around the lake, mainly to escape the black flies.  The osprey peeried over the nest and spied on us the whole time.

It was about 6pm when we returned to our site so we built a fire for cooking our hot dogs.  The wood was a little damp on the outside from previous rain and it smoked a little – which was ideal for ridding the black flies.  We had a simple meal of hot dogs, sauerkraut, and beans. After dinner we watched two of the loons put on a splashing display, not the “Penguin Dance” or by  flapping their wings, but by splashing primarily with their feet.  Although the two loons remained 15-20 yards apart, I wonder if there wasn’t a mating ritual aspect to the display.

We sat up around the fire until 9:30pm listening to the loons on the lake and a barred owl in the woods.  At one point the three loons were all calling back and forth as fast as possible to be nearly simultaneous.  I have never heard anything like that.

We received more showers during the night and both Skip and I had single wall solo tents.  Large, hard rain drops would create a fine mist inside the tent.  I wouldn’t say I got wet, but I am not sure I would want to be in this tent for a full night in a long rainstorm. I was awoken at several points during the night from loud loon calls – an interruption  I will gladly accept.

We awoke at 6am, packed up our tents and made breakfast.  At home I had prepared scrambled eggs with crushed bacon,  fried mushrooms and onions.  I put everything into a ziploc bag and froze it for the trip.  Now I cooked the eggs in boiling water while sipping on coffee.  The eggs came out fine.

We were paddling out by 8am. A nice trip.  Moss Lake is worth repeating, perhaps with Eric, as a late fall or early spring trip in 2010.

Day 1 is to encompass

• Driving up through Old Forge to Brown’s Tract and checking out the boardwalk/portage through Brown’s Tract.
• Checking out Rock Lake off Route 28
• Backtracking a little towards Long Lake. Checking out Big Brook as a possible overnight canoe trip.
• Going to Long Lake and checking out the Boy Scout camp – depending on the time we may or may not try the hike up the overlook.
• Checking out John Dillon Park as a possible winter camping destination
• Camping overnight at one of the roadside campsite pull offs near Horse Shoe Lake
• Others to be added as “targets of opportunity” during the day

Day 2 -

• St Regis Area access roads
• Meacham Lake
• Santa Clara Tract
• Tooley Pond
• Oswegatchie River below Cranberry Lake
• Grass River

The weather forecast for the three days was clear and sunny with temperatures in the 80s.  We left at 9am and were in Long Lake and paddling about 11am.  After 90 minutes of paddling we began looking for a place to pull out and stretch.  We found a nice campsite with a large rock that jutted out into Long Lake with Kempshall Mountain rising in back of us and a nice sunset view to the west.  Our rest stop turned into a decision to stay for the night.  The site was small and just tolerated our two tents, but a nearby stream with fresh clean water and the large rock sold us.  We were concerned about mosquitos, but we sat on the rock and caught the breeze out on the lake. The panorama picture below was our view looking north up Long Lake from our rock.

We watched a gorgous sunset and were surprised by a display of fireworks at the north end.  Judging by the timing and presentation we surmised it was a private exhibit.  I took a number of pictures, but the distance and timing made it hard to capture the fireworks and reflections.

The next morning I captured a picture from my solo tent as Skip prepared coffee out on the rock.

We had a leisurely breakfast and decided to leave our campsite in place and headed out for Cold River on a day trip across a dead calm Long Lake.  Bob & Skip made nice ripples on a windless Long Lake.

Turning up Cold River we had a short paddle to the Cold River Lean-to.  It was a short distance up a pretty stream.  This panoramic makes the river look wider than it truly is.

The Cold River Lean-to was buggy and we were glad we decided to stay another night on Long Lake.  We continued up Cold River for a short distance until it required too many exits and lining of the canoes.

We returned to camp and enjoyed burgers and beans for dinner, sat out on the rock and once again saw a beautiful sunset and were entertained by fireworks.

Sunday we had an early breakfast, broke camp and were paddling out at 8am across a once again dead calm Long Lake.   We explored the new State Land and DEC’s roadside lean-to before packing up.

We called to confirm on Thursday night and the forecast had dropped to probable rain Friday night, but clearing to 20% rain during Saturday with rain likely coming in on Sunday afternoon.  We agreed to go ahead, meet early at Hoss’s General Store in Long Lake and try to get on the water at Little Tupper Lake early before winds became a problem on the shallow lake.

We had planned for company for dinner on Friday night and so began our packing early in the week.  Friday afternoon we loaded canoes and packed the car so Saturday morning we only had to add our sandwiches and food packs.  Kathryn & I arose at 5am and got Eric up a little before 6am and were on the road soon after.  We met Jason and Beth at 8:30 as planned.

We counted 28 cars in the parking lot at Little Tupper Lake and decided to return to the nearby empty Round Lake parking lot.

We dropped our canoes in the Little Tupper outlet which drains into Round Lake.  It was a pretty little stream lined with white lily pads.

Below Kathryn, Eric and Jim cruise down the outlet stream.

We found Round Lake devoid of other paddlers as we explored the eastern shore examining the potential campsites.  Several of the campsites are located at old hunting camps built by the Whitney’s.   Most sites are located back from the shore line and have P3 toilets.  We ended up staying at site #4 which was on a prominent point with several large white pine trees and copious blue berry bushes.  The only drawback to the site was lack of level tent sites.  We managed with our two tents, but more or larger tents would be a problem.

Eric, Kathryn and I went swimming while Jason and Beth basked in the sun.  Below the swimmers threaten a passing canoe.

We found a large rock that let us play King on the Mountain before we cooled enough to call an end to the swimming.

After our swim we took short nap and then a walk to scout the nearby campsites.  Beth demonstrates our voting technique:  Everyone that wants to take a hike put their hands on their hips!

As we prepared for the hike Jason noticed an interesting bug on his leg.

After our hike gathered firewood and baked biscuits using our Outback Oven.  We had afternoon tea and biscuits so we could delay dinner until later in the evening.

After our snack we swapped canoes and explored more of the lake so that Jason and Beth could test out the Wenonah Minnesota II. It was a beautiful evening for a paddle.

For dinner we had a vegetable tortellini salad and turkey chops grilled over the fire with marshmallows and s’mores for dessert.

We tried to stay up and look for meteorites, but Kathryn, Eric and I crashed about 10pm.  Beth and Jay stayed up until midnight buring wood, watching the fire and looking for meteorites.  They saw a total of 14 during their watch.

We slept great and heard loons through out the night.  In the morning we added fresh picked blueberries to our three berry muffin mix and then began our leisurely packing up to head out Sunday morning.

It was sprinkling lightly as we paddled out.  As we were loading up Ranger Coons stopped by to talk.  We told him where we stayed and talked a little bit about Round Lake.  He characterized Round Lake as without the winds of Little Tupper Lake and without the portage of Lake Lila.  I asked him about the illegal introduction of   largemouth bass into Little Tupper Lake.  He said they have spread through out the watershed and it doesn’t bode well for native trout.  I asked him about the navigability of Shingle Shanty Brook.  Ranger Coons referenced recent advice by Kenneth Hamm NYSDEC, Office of General Counsel  in the June issue of the NYS DEC Conservationist Magazine. He jokingly asked if we wanted to provide a test case.  We also talked about the portage trail connecting Round Lake to Low Lake/Hitchins Pond.  Another trip……

We stopped at Hoss’s for a milk shake on our way home and thought we had parted ways, however, we later saw Jason checking out canoes in Blue Mtn Lake.

• Once on Barton Hill in back of my parent’s house where they brough everything- pillows, dinosaur books, flashlights with dead batteries and two cook kits, “because I didn’t have to wash one”.  Needless to say Kathryn and I remember carrying our stuff and a fair amount of their’s as well.
• Once in back of their parent’s house where I famously forgot the matches for the fire to toast the marshmallows.

After a successful trip to 13th Lake it was decided to take Eric and Nathan – the next generation – camping again.  We chose Spy Lake as our destination, canoing in on Sunday afternoon and  coming out on Monday. Mark, Nathan and Matt occupied one canoe and Eric paddled bow in our canoe.  For his 1st ‘extended’ paddle Eric did quite well.  Upon arrival we set up tents and the boys enjoyed a snack ‘sitting’ in their chairs.

During the afternoon Matt, Nathan, Eric and I took a short hike exploring a near by stream.  Nathan packed his snack bag.

Uncle Mark took a nap.

On our return to camp the boys decided to put the snack bag to good use.

In the evening we had Mac & Cheese and hot dogs or Brats. Below Mark & Matt check on the food preparation.

While the cooking was going on Nathan & Eric worked on sawing serious wood for the fire.

Nathan and Eric eat their Mac & Cheese while the Brats are being roasted by Matt & Mark.

After dinner we enjoyed a game of war.  Below Eric stacks his deck while keeping one eye on his chocolate cookie lest Dad grab it!

Afterwards we enjoyed a spendid sunset.

Matt proved he could not only throw a bear rope over a tree, he also has an artisy side.

About 9pm the mosquitos came out in full force and we retired to our tents.  After a brief story everyone was snoozing.  During the night we got a brief shower which had Mark, Matt and I scrambling to zipper up rain flies – there was a two minute stretch where the sound of nylon zippers dominated. sleeping bag, tent, rain fly, tent, and back to sleeping bag).

Everyone slept late the next morning.  Mark made breakfast burritos and the boys had hot chocolate and oatmeal.  It was a nice trip and Eric & Nathan make great camping companions.

We were on the water at 3:30 and at Fall Lake 30 minutes later.  We had several rain showers as we paddled.  I donned my rain coat for the 1st hard down pour, but embraced the cooling showers thereafter. There was only one hard rain that caused us to pull under a hemlock tree for a little protection.

Above Fall Lake we encountered a few beaver dams that required exiting the canoe and lifting over. The photo below looks SW and depicts the relationship of Piseco Lake in the background, the airport on the right with Fall Lake in the foreground and Fall Stream draining towards Piseco Lake.

We arrived at Vly Lake at 5pm and surveyed the two campsites along the north side of Vly Mtn.  Both had a nice view of the lake, but were markedly different.  The eastern most campsite had a fireplace and two areas cleared and leveled to accommodate solo tents. Unfortunately, i had brought my Big Agnes Emerald Mtn 3 person trip on it’s maiden voyage and needed more space.

The western most campsite had been “improved”.  It had a  an old canvas chair, a gas barbeque grill sans the gas tank, two flag poles, a half buried 5 gallon bucket (clean and 1/3 full of water), and a lot of garbage.

The last residents had left a smoldering fire and left toilet flowers all over the woods.    They had cut a large spruce tree off at 4′ that was apparently obscuring their view and dropped it into the lake.  They dumped crackers on the ground, burned their cans in the fire and dumped beans on the ground.  We ended up taking 2 grocery bags of trash out with us on Saturday.

All this aside, Vly Lake was beautiful.  It was hot, hazy and still as the sun set and the bugs (mosquitos, deer flies and gnats) were swarming.  Skip went swimming while I cooked dinner: corn bread using my Outback Oven and Spanish Rice with tomatos, onions, peppers and  hamburger.  Dinner was one of my better meals.

While Skip washed dishes I went swimming and washed off the sweat, sun screen and bug dope.  Although it was a full moon and bright the overcast kept the moon from being seen by us.  We turned in at 10pm.

One nice feature of the Big Agnes Emerald Mtn 3is the amount of mesh on the tent.  We slept with the sides open and had a nice cross breeze through the night despite recurring light rain sprinkles.  During the night we heard a owl close overhead.

We awoke at 7.  Within minutes after arising we could hear rain coming across the adjoining woods and across the lake.  We packed the tent in a hurry and donned our rain coats.  10 minutes later the rain passed and we had coffee and breakfast.

At 8pm we paddled over to explore Mud Lake which was interesting, but didn’t offer any opportunities to exit a boat.

Our paddle out was uneventful.  We arrived back in Piseco in time for me to walk into the airport along with the finishers of the Piseco Triathalon.  Once loaded up Skip & I did a scouting trip on nearby Fawn Lake and returned home.