This was our first kayak camping trip. I would like to thank all those who have posted trip reports of the places in the Adirondacks they have paddled. They helped to inspire me to go and see for myself. We arrived at 1:00 p.m. on Thursday, and we were about to set off the beach at 2:30. When BOOM! I looked at my wife and she at me, it was startling, until we realized with the help of a fisherman that it was a "sonic boom" caused by some jets flying above the clouds. We paddled out to Canada Island, but the site was occupied so we headed over to Buck Island, where we set up camp. The beach on Buck isn't as nice as the one on Canada, but it is a very nice site and I would stay there again.
On Friday, the 14th we pretty much stayed in camp and relaxed the whole day, the conditions were windy and gray, so we found it easy to be lazy. Saturday the 15th was cloudy with patches of blue sky, followed by dark clouds and occasional rain. We paddled out around Wiggins Point which is east of Buck Island, our goal was to check out campsites 15 and 16 and sites 17-20 along the bay. What we succeeded in doing (mostly, through my poor choice of crossing) was exposing ourselves to the wicked wind that was blowing into the bay formed between Wiggins Point to the tip of the peninsula, just southeast of Spruce Island, campsite #20. Then it started to rain, we headed directly for the beach in front of us landed, and pulled the kayaks high up the beach. We scooted into the woods to brew some tea and wait for the rain to pass. While looking out from the woods through my binoculars I could see a canoe coming in with two concerned paddlers, a father and son team. The dad said that this was the worst he had ever seen conditions on the lake while paddling. They were camping on one of the sites near the tip of the peninsula, 17-20? They decided to portage back to camp, we didn't have that option. When the next patch of blue sky came through we were ready and launched and headed back to Buck Island and the safety of our camp.
Later, that evening from the landing at Buck, before the gray, cloudy sunset, where shafts of light were shining down intermittently. We saw an eagle flying, in a fashion I haven't ever seen birds fly before. It was flying towards the sun and stopping suddenly and exposing its whole underside to the sun. Through my binoculars it seem like he was deliberately chasing the sun's ray. It was awesome to watch. Shortly thereafter, we saw a rainbow on Wiggins Point, a fine end to a day on Lila. On Sunday, the 16th, our departure day, we had great paddling weather. We left camp at 11:00 am and headed slowly toward the take-out. We saw a float plane actually land and take off from Lila, something that I assumed was off-limits. We stopped and checked out sites, 20, 22, 23, and 2, (Snell Island). All the sites were fine, excepting #23 where the previous party left garbage in the fire pit and around the site. People who are caught willfully not packing out their garbage, should be banned from these types of areas for life. For us it was a wonderful first-time experience, definitely not the last.
regards,
Luis Leon
On Friday, the 14th we pretty much stayed in camp and relaxed the whole day, the conditions were windy and gray, so we found it easy to be lazy. Saturday the 15th was cloudy with patches of blue sky, followed by dark clouds and occasional rain. We paddled out around Wiggins Point which is east of Buck Island, our goal was to check out campsites 15 and 16 and sites 17-20 along the bay. What we succeeded in doing (mostly, through my poor choice of crossing) was exposing ourselves to the wicked wind that was blowing into the bay formed between Wiggins Point to the tip of the peninsula, just southeast of Spruce Island, campsite #20. Then it started to rain, we headed directly for the beach in front of us landed, and pulled the kayaks high up the beach. We scooted into the woods to brew some tea and wait for the rain to pass. While looking out from the woods through my binoculars I could see a canoe coming in with two concerned paddlers, a father and son team. The dad said that this was the worst he had ever seen conditions on the lake while paddling. They were camping on one of the sites near the tip of the peninsula, 17-20? They decided to portage back to camp, we didn't have that option. When the next patch of blue sky came through we were ready and launched and headed back to Buck Island and the safety of our camp.
Later, that evening from the landing at Buck, before the gray, cloudy sunset, where shafts of light were shining down intermittently. We saw an eagle flying, in a fashion I haven't ever seen birds fly before. It was flying towards the sun and stopping suddenly and exposing its whole underside to the sun. Through my binoculars it seem like he was deliberately chasing the sun's ray. It was awesome to watch. Shortly thereafter, we saw a rainbow on Wiggins Point, a fine end to a day on Lila. On Sunday, the 16th, our departure day, we had great paddling weather. We left camp at 11:00 am and headed slowly toward the take-out. We saw a float plane actually land and take off from Lila, something that I assumed was off-limits. We stopped and checked out sites, 20, 22, 23, and 2, (Snell Island). All the sites were fine, excepting #23 where the previous party left garbage in the fire pit and around the site. People who are caught willfully not packing out their garbage, should be banned from these types of areas for life. For us it was a wonderful first-time experience, definitely not the last.
regards,
Luis Leon
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