My girlfriend and I paddled the Nine Carries Route as a day trip this Saturday. Doing the 1.6 mile carry from Nellie to Long Pond was easier than I remembered. Not having tents and big packs makes a difference, although my sweetie still made me carry the canoe for at least half the portages. She also made me sit in the bow for at least half the paddling. I asked her if she learned all this gender equality stuff at that fancy school she went to (The Yale School of Forestry), but she says it mostly comes from growing up in a house with three brothers and two sisters.
The deerflies were only occasionally numerous enough to blot out the sunlight. It took us about 8 hours starting at Little Clear Pond and ending at Hoel Pond, with detours through Green, Little Fish, and Little Long Ponds. We had a leisurely floating lunch and swim on Fish Pond, and another long break on Long Pond. If we’d had more than the one beer with us the trip would have taken a lot longer.
After dinner at a bar and grill in Saranac Lake we tried to get a tent site at the Fish Creek state campgrounds. Arriving at the entrance station about dusk, in a small car with a canoe on top and a couple of portage packs on the back seat, we were greeted with clear suspicion by the park attendant. Pretty much everyone we could see inside the park had RVs or giant shiny pickup trucks. I asked if there were campsites still available. “What kind?” I was asked. “Well”, I replied, “We really just need a place to set up our tent for the night.”
“Let me check”. The ranger disappears for a moment inside the entrance station. “We do have one tent site available, but have you tried anywhere else yet?”
At this point in the conversation dark is falling rapidly, and the crowds of mosquitoes are edging closer. I tell the ranger that the tent site she has will be fine. She backs away from me slightly. “You really should try the ones on Green Pond. Have you tried there yet? Or at Cory’s? I don’t close up until 10 o’clock” she tells me. “I guess you could come back here if you can’t find somewhere else.”
I tell her that the campsites on Green Pond had all looked full, and ask if there is some sort of problem?
“Well,” she answers. “You look like wildernessy paddlers, and we’ve had too many complaints. Other campers don’t like to have to listen to those little camping stoves making noise at 5 in the morning, and the rangers get can’t get any work done when someone is always reporting rare bird sightings, so we try to send wildernessy people somewhere else where they will feel more comfortable.”
We drive away in defeat and spend a comfortable night in our tent (For free! No $22 fee!!) down near Axton Landing, waking to the dulcet tones of a Swainson’s Thrush overhead. - Kalmia
The deerflies were only occasionally numerous enough to blot out the sunlight. It took us about 8 hours starting at Little Clear Pond and ending at Hoel Pond, with detours through Green, Little Fish, and Little Long Ponds. We had a leisurely floating lunch and swim on Fish Pond, and another long break on Long Pond. If we’d had more than the one beer with us the trip would have taken a lot longer.
After dinner at a bar and grill in Saranac Lake we tried to get a tent site at the Fish Creek state campgrounds. Arriving at the entrance station about dusk, in a small car with a canoe on top and a couple of portage packs on the back seat, we were greeted with clear suspicion by the park attendant. Pretty much everyone we could see inside the park had RVs or giant shiny pickup trucks. I asked if there were campsites still available. “What kind?” I was asked. “Well”, I replied, “We really just need a place to set up our tent for the night.”
“Let me check”. The ranger disappears for a moment inside the entrance station. “We do have one tent site available, but have you tried anywhere else yet?”
At this point in the conversation dark is falling rapidly, and the crowds of mosquitoes are edging closer. I tell the ranger that the tent site she has will be fine. She backs away from me slightly. “You really should try the ones on Green Pond. Have you tried there yet? Or at Cory’s? I don’t close up until 10 o’clock” she tells me. “I guess you could come back here if you can’t find somewhere else.”
I tell her that the campsites on Green Pond had all looked full, and ask if there is some sort of problem?
“Well,” she answers. “You look like wildernessy paddlers, and we’ve had too many complaints. Other campers don’t like to have to listen to those little camping stoves making noise at 5 in the morning, and the rangers get can’t get any work done when someone is always reporting rare bird sightings, so we try to send wildernessy people somewhere else where they will feel more comfortable.”
We drive away in defeat and spend a comfortable night in our tent (For free! No $22 fee!!) down near Axton Landing, waking to the dulcet tones of a Swainson’s Thrush overhead. - Kalmia
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