A camping we will go,
A camping we will go,
Hi-ho and merry’o,
A camping we will go.
For the last few years, members of the club have enjoyed all the aspects of camping for a few days in the biggest park in the nation, two to four hours away. What a great benefit of living here in CNY. We’ve had the best leader/guide for these trips, long time member, Terry Avery.
This year Terry took a break, and Sunny Murray and Michael McCabe took on the task of organizing the trip to Rollins Pond near Tupper Lake. Most of us had never been there, so we looked forward to paddling, hiking this new area.
Starting Sunday, August 4th, a group of 24 OSC’ers arrived at Rollins Pond campground for a few days of hiking and paddling. We enjoyed a pot-luck dinner that night…..so much food, in good old OSC fashion. While munching on the great grub, we made plans for the upcoming days.
Monday morning brought lots of water, but it was falling from the sky. Scratch day 1 plans. Someone suggested a flat land hike/walk around the ‘island’ the campground is on. Note that it isn’t completely surrounded by water, but for intents and purposes it is. After gathering rain gear and all, some of us hiked one of the campground trails through the woods – in and out of the rain for 8 miles of trail. The trail became lost, (note: the trail was lost, not us), so Michael McCabe and Christa Foster bushwhacked to find it. Eventually we all got back to camp. A very long walk! Us tired puppies were very glad to have much of the pot-luck food still available for the evening’s meal.
Terry Avery was always ready for a campfire at night. That’s the time we share the adventure we had during the day, as some club members go out exploring on their own, and discuss the next day’s activities. To top this off, Terry always has a campfire song or two to get us singing along.
Most of us paddled through several ponds and streams on Tuesday, more or less following the land trail from the day before. It involved 2 carries, but with everyone helping and having multiple sets of wheels to roll the boats along, it went very smoothly. We were more than ready for happy hour on the beach when we returned 4 hours later and after our respective dinners, we once again gathered at Terry Avery’s site for more campfire relaxation, but no one brought s’mores!
Wednesday some club members had to head home, so they broke camp and started to head home. M&M mentioned that there was an easy paddle on the Raquette River that anyone would enjoy. Those who elected to give it a go drove to a put-in near the Village of Tupper Lake. We paddled up the Raquette River for about an hour or so and back again to the put in. It is possible to paddle miles upstream (like we were headed), and kinda ‘drift’ back with the slow moving current.
After the goodbyes, some of us drove to Tupper Lake for dinner at Little Italy and then an acoustic concert at the new Wild Center. The musicians played while we watched a spectacular slide show of Adirondack scenery and life through all 4 seasons.
Thursday the remaining campers broke camp and left, except Michael and Marilyn who planned on staying until Saturday evening. We had a tip that there was a family of loons on Follansbee Clear Pond, so off we went. Sure enough we found the baby and a parent. We sat silently in our kayaks for over a half an hour watching the parent dive for food, surface again and swim to the baby to transfer the food to the baby. Once when she/he surfaced, he/she was no more than 4 feet from the bow of Marilyn’s kayak. Quite a thrill to be that close. They didn’t seem too concerned we were that close, maybe realizing we can all live together if we try.
Friday we rode our bikes through the entire Rollins Pond, Fish Creek campgrounds on a paved pathway to scout out good sites for next year. We usually go to a different place each year, but Rollins has so much to do, we might go back! Along the way we met and chatted with Susan, a DEC photographer. She took our photo (from the back) riding into a camp site – maybe we’ll be seen in an ad someday! Pizza and ice cream from the store just outside the camp grounds kept our fuel supply up. J
Member Phil Resch knows the area well as he has been going up to the Boy Scout Camp across Rollins Pond for years. He mentioned Floodwood Mountain near the camp as a moderate hike. This was what we had hoped to do with everyone on Monday when it poured. Saturday M&M paddled across Rollins Pond to check out Floodwood Mt. After a 20 minute paddle, and a 2.5 mile walk on a dirt road, we found the trailhead. The tail up the mountain was about a mile in length, easy at first, but more vertical the closer one gets to the top. There were some great views from the top, towards the high peaks from one vantage point, Tupper Lake and the Big Tupper Ski area from the other side of the peak. We reversed the trek, finished breaking camp, showered and headed to Eagle Bay for the night. A great way to break up the 4 hr. trip home and ‘ease’ ourselves out of vacation mode.
We all owe Sunny a big “THANK YOU” for struggling to reserve our sites the required 9 months prior to our camping date, Jack and Marsha Kincella for hosting our pre-camp meeting and to Michael McCabe our trip leader.
John Tuttle, Sunny Murray, Debbie Beaumont, Mary Clay, Dave Holloway, David & Diane Clark, Christa and Scott Foster, Chuck Caster and Mardi Drebing, Grace and Yuan Lia, Marilyn Woyciesjes, Charlotte Buskey, Janice Farrelly, Terry Avery, Joan Salem, Jack and Marcia Kincella, Dianne Emmick and Lou Wassel and the McCabes made up the best camping group in all of Rollins Pond! Thanks to all of them for making it such a great trip – another great OSC memory!
Join us next year, won’t you?
Marilyn and Michael McCabe