Day 1: June 28
I departed at 8:30 am for a 3-day trip to the Round Lake Wilderness, just north of Long Lake, NY. I made a couple of stops en route and arrived in Long Lake at 1:30 pm. It was a short drive from Long Lake to the William C. Whitney Wilderness Area where the put-in is located.
The put-in is a short distance from the parking area. I pulled up to the put-in, unloaded my Sawyer Autumn Mist solo canoe and my gear. I then parked the car in the designated parking area, which is about 50 yards from the put-in. After parking the car, I walked back to the put-in, signed the register, carried my canoe and gear the short distance down to the water, loaded up and headed out.
It is a short paddle to Round Lake. It is a marshy area with lots of bird life. On the way I passed the outlet for Little Tupper Lake. It passes under the roadway.
A short time later I arrived at Round Lake. I paddled up the east shore. Since it was late in the afternoon, I decided to take campsite #1, which is on the right just after the inlet ends. The site is located on a rise of ground; there is a mix of large white pines and paper birch.
The landing is before the site and is unmarked.
The designated tenting area is towards the back of the site. However, that area had a "widow-maker" in it, so I had to set-up camp towards the front of the site, closer to the fire ring (which had a nice log bench). I finished setting up camp by 4:30 and then had a late lunch/early dinner.
The site has a western exposure, the slight breeze seemed kept the bugs at bay. Despite this, I decided to deploy the bug mesh walls of the Nemo Bug Out shelter. Later, around 7:00 pm, the wind died and the mosquitoes were bad and was grateful to have the shelter to retreat to. I relaxed in the shelter for a couple of hours and did some reading.
Just before 7:30 pm I readied camp for the night and retreated to my hammock, a Warbonnet Ridgerunner bridge hammock, which was suspended beneath a Warbonnet Thunderfly tarp. Once I was settled in the hammock, I turned on my phone and to my surprise I had a cell signal! So I called home and had a nice conversation with my wife and son. When our conversation ended, I turned off the phone and the light and fell asleep to sound of thousands of mosquitoes buzzing around my hammock. I was thankful for the bug netting on my hammock which kept them away from me.
I settled in comfortably and slept soundly but awoke around 2:30 am when nature called. When I left the hammock, it was pitch-black, with no stars out. Soon afterwards, it started to drizzle and I fell back asleep. The temperature had dropped 10°; it was now 61°. I did not wake-up again until 6:30; it was still drizzling so I slept a little longer. I woke up at 7:45 and the drizzle had stopped.
Day 2: June 29
It was cloudy, the temperature was in the 60s and there was a slight breeze. The forecast was for scattered showers in the morning and clearing in the afternoon.
The weather was unsettled and the clouds hinted at showers. The wind picked up and then diminished around mid-day. After breakfast, I put together a day pack with some camera gear and snacks, readied the canoe and then headed out to investigate some of the other nearby east shore campsites.
I proceeded up the east shore of Round Lake, didn't see site #2 and stopped at site #3. The site has a nice beach landing area, but the site itself is not attractive. The site is back from the lake in deciduous trees, with no suitable trees for hanging a hammock. It looks like it is at the end of an old road.
I decided that before heading up the lake to investigate the other sites on the east shore, I would find site #2 and check it out.
Site #2 is located back in a bay. It is set back from the lake in the trees. There are some big white pines on the site. The area is big enough for several tents and there are trees suitable for hanging a hammock. However, there was no breeze from the lake so it was very buggy. After a quick look at the site, I headed back down to the shore to escape the bugs. Being mid-afternoon, I decided to head back to camp for lunch in the Nemo bug shelter.
After doing some relaxing and reading, I prepared dinner and processed some wood for a campfire after dinner.
After sitting around and enjoying the fire, I readied camp for the night and turned in. The forecast was for rain, so I closed the doors at both ends of the tarp. Not long after turning in it started raining. The rain was steady and the wind blew hard enough to push the tarp towards the hammock. The tarp extension poles stayed in place and kept the tarp away from the hammock.
Around 12:30 am I awoke and got up to relieve myself. The rain had stopped and the stars were out. I returned to the hammock and quickly fell asleep. I was awakened at 5 am as the rain started again. I awoke several times afterwards and since it was still raining each time, fell back asleep.
Day 3: June 30
Around 10:30 am I got up and made breakfast. There was some sunshine and blue skies, but it would shower every so often.
The forecast had a chance of thunderstorms so I decided it was not a good idea to venture out and explore the lake. I decided to spend the day relaxing, reading and taking photos of the forest adjacent to the campsite.
As clouds and a steady rain moved in, I had to retreat to the Nemo shelter for some tea and a snack.
When the rain let up, I ventured out and took some more photos of the forest.
The rain continued on and off for the remainder of the day. At time the wind was very strong, but there was never thunder and lightning. The lake was very choppy and there were white caps. The weather would change every 15 minutes! Despite the strong wind, the temperature was very comfortable. The evening consisted of dinner, readying the camp for the night, watching a beautiful sunset and turning in early in preparation for a busy day tomorrow.
Day 4: July 1
I arose early to a bright and sunny day. After a quick breakfast, I prepared gear and food for a tour of the lake. My plan was to explore the lake by paddling its circumference, stopping to check out unoccupied campsites for future stays and to do some fishing. Since I had explored some of the east shore of Round Lake, I decided to head across the lake to site #11 and then work my way up the west shore to the outlet and then come down the east shore back to my campsite. Then I would break camp, paddle to the outlet and the take-out. If time allowed, I would use the outlet to explore some of Little Tupper Lake. The lake was calm and smooth as I headed out, making the paddling easy and pleasant.
It was a beautiful day of paddling. I did do some fishing at the north end of the lake, near the outlet, but with no luck. I did not disembark to hike the trail that runs along the outlet, saving that for another time, when I plan to camp at a site closer to this end of the lake.