Little Tupper Lake Canoe-Camping (October 23 - 27, 2022)

Day 1: Sunday, October 23

I left home about 4:30 am. The drive up was uneventful, with virtually no traffic the entire way. I reached the Adirondacks around 8:30. As I drove towards Long Lake, the temperature varied from 31-38°. When I reached the put-in on Little Tupper Lake, it was sunny, with blue skies and a temperature of 50°; a perfect day for a paddle!

There was only one car in the parking lot. The entire lake was like glass, so the paddle in was easy. After a leisurely paddle of about an hour and a half, I reached  campsite #11 (one of my favorites) and found it unoccupied. My intention for this trip was to camp at site#12, which was further up the lake, but after disembarking at site #11 and finding a large supply of dry firewood and kindling, I decided to camp there instead. It was just too nice at the site to pass it up.

After securing the canoe, I began unloading the gear and carrying it up the embankment to the campsite proper, depositing it in one place by the log towards the rear of the site near the fire ring. I then took out my camp chair, set it up and had lunch while enjoying the fine view and weather.

After lunch I began setting up camp, beginning with the hammock and hot tarp. I had only set up the hot tarp once before (in the backyard) so it took some time because I still had some configuring to do, beginning with ridgeline. I had a video on my phone to guide the process, but it still took some time. I used a new knot (a Siberian hitch) on one end of the ridgeline and a Cam-Lock on the other. After some adjustments, the system worked well. I used Prusik knots and carabiners to attach the hot tarp to the ridgeline. 

Next, I attached one end of the guylines to the tarp with carabiners; the other ends were tied to trees or anchored to stakes. I then attached carabiners to the doors at each end of the tent so they could be clipped open or secured closed. When this was done, I put the hammock up, with the (wider) head end furthest from the stove jack. The hammock had the sock on it and considered taking it off, but decided against it so I could see how it worked in the tarp with it on. My initial conclusion is that the hammock would be close to the wood stove pipe, but I don't know for sure because I didn't set the stove up.

After finishing setting up the tarp and hammock, I did some other camp chores - hanging the bear bag and splitting some of the firewood. I also went to check out the thunderbox (which was in the same location as my last visit and in good shape).

By this time, dinner was next, which was simple - just reheating some shrimp pasta I brought from home. Dessert was pumpkin pie and Ovaltine. I then readied camp for the night - checking to make sure the canoe was secured, gear was stored away and the food bag was hung. The temperature had dropped so I made a campfire and spent some time relaxing and enjoying it. 

After awhile I decided to call it a day and turn in, closing the doors on both ends of the tarp. I put on the usual sleep clothing - my Terramar merino wool base layers, fleece socks and a down beanie. I kept my Patagonia down sweater and pants handy, but they were not needed. The temperature went down into the 40s that night and I slept comfortably, only getting up a few times to pee.

Monday, October 24

The last time I remember looking at my watch, it was 6 am and I remember hearing the drizzle of light rain on the tarp. I next awoke around 9 am with a slight headache that I think was due to my head not being comfortable on the pillow. I got up and dressed, putting on a base layer since it was still pretty cool. I went about getting a breakfast ready of hard-boiled eggs, chicken sausage, a blueberry muffin, banana and coffee. While doing so, I took some photos. It was cloudy and mostly gray sky, so it looked like a zero, in-camp day. However, as I was doing some after breakfast - tweaking the tent, doing a bear hang in a different location; the sun came out and the sky cleared! There was virtually no wind so it was a perfect day for a day paddle.

I decided to paddle the shore up to and beyond site #12, with the intention to visit it if it was unoccupied. I decided that rather than eating lunch first, I would take it with me and eat it at site 12 or another location on the intended route. I assembled all the gear, including phot, video and sound gear, lunch, and paddling equipment. After taking it down to the canoe and stowing it onboard, I setup the GoPro in the stern and the Akaso on a headstrap. I launched around 12:30, paddling along the shoreline towards site 12, stopping ocassionally to take photos. After a short distance, I noticed the Akaso was not positioned correctly, so I adjusted it as best I could.

I continued along the shore and shortly arrived at site #12, which was unoccupied. Like site 11, where I was camped, parts of site 12 are being restored, so there is signage asking that visitors and campers not use parts of the site. It's a large site, so that was not a problem; the main part being restored is just at the front edge of the site, so one only has to stay back a few feet to remain off the restoration area. There is still an excellent view of the bay from the site.

The landing area that is not in the restoration area is relatively small, but has a sandy area bottom and steps up the hill to the site proper. There is a small area where one can pull a single canoe onshore and still remain off the restoration area. Anyway, up the steps I went with my electronics, binoculars and lunch. Once on top, one immediately sees the area marked off for restoration, evident by rocks lining it and some "Please Keep Off" signs. I kept the Akaso headcam on as I walked around the site and to the thunderbox, which was off to the right of the site and clearly signed, making finding it easy.

Despite not being able to go to the front edge of the site because of the restoration, one still ha a great view of the bay at the end of Little Tupper. There is a good fire ring, a bench and a good tenting or hammock camping area. There are actually two sets of trees that would work for a hammock or a tarp shelter. After taking some photos, I sat down on the bench to have lunch, which consisted of a tuna pita sandwich, celery sticks and some grapes. While having lunch, at one point I noticed the sound of the wind blowing through the leaves of the trees behind me, so I made a sound recording of it. After lunch, I spent a few minutes collecting some birch bark from a nearby log, easily filling a one-gallon zip lock bag with it. I then carried everything back down to the canoe, readied the video recorders and launched.

I continued along the shoreline, intending to pass by the marshy area directly across the bay from site 12, then continuing on towards the Rock Pond outlet, by site 13, along the island where sites 14 and 15 are and then back to camp. As I paddled, I would occasionally stop to take photos, mostly of shoreline features. It didn't take that long to reach the marsh, which had a large opening onto the lake. It had gotten windy and fairly large waves had developed, so rather than continue on my intended loop, I decided it was more prudent to take a more direct route back to camp. However, I was intrigued by the opening into the marsh, so I decided to paddle into it and see what it was like. Since it was sheltered from the wind, it was a pleasant, easy paddle. 

As I meandered through the marsh, I paused to take photos. There were several beaver lodges along the way and many tamaracks, which had turned golden. Small mountains ringed the marsh, which made the paddle seem all the more intimate. The blue skies, white clouds and bright sun were very enjoyable. After about a half hour of paddling, I came to a trail/road crossing the river. There was an insufficient amount of room below the roadway/trail bridge and a small beaver dam before it, so it was not possible to pass through without carrying around it. There was a small landing area to the left, which looked like a take-out for the carry. According to the map, the river does not go much further beyond this point, however, there are some wider spots that might be interesting to explore. But that would be an excursion for another day, so I turned around and paddled back towards Little Tupper, pausing to take photos along the way, as the perspective was different.

When I reached the point where the marsh meets the lake, to my surprise the wind had ceased and there were no waves to make the crossing of the bay difficult. 

So across I went, arriving at the point of land in a short time. I pulled up on a little sandy area just past the point for a snack before continuing on back towards camp. I noticed the GoPro would not turn on with voice commands and I assumed that the battery pack had turned off and wanting to record the rest of the paddle back to camp, I spent a few minutes getting the GoPro back up and recording.

Continuing on, I unintentionally flushed three mergansers from shore, who then flew off. Next I encountered two loons who were lingering near the next point of land. As I approached my campsite (#11), I paused to take a few photos of it before landing. Upon landing, I happily noted the sunny blue sky and excellent weather that had accompanied me back to camp. I unloaded and secured the canoe and carried the gear up to the campsite. Next I secured the food bags from the hang, made some tea and sat down to relax. My intention was to do some journaling and reading, but instead I ended up taking photos. By the time I finished these things, the sky had transformed itself and was gray and overcast. It would change yet again later on. That is part of what I enjoy about camping at a location for a period of time; one gets to experience the "moods" of the area, which seem to change quickly and quite often, making it so attractive and interesting. 

My next activity was to prepare dinner, which was simple - an Indian pouch dish and some bread. I also had some more tea and the last piece of homemade pumpkin pie that I had brought with me. I then spent some time sitting at the edge of the campsite, overlooking the lake, as night came. Because of the cloud cover, there was not a magnificent sunset like the previous night, but I was warm and comfortable as I sat and watched the lake transition from day to night. Eventually the stars came out and I noted one that was particularly bright and pretty high up in the east and determined that it might be Jupiter. I had read that with binoculars one could see the moons around Jupiter, so I fetched my binoculars and tried, but I could not see them. After awhile I made my final trip of the day to the thunderbox and then returned to the tent to catchup on my journaling. The string of lights that I put in the tent made it very convenient for doing my journaling and some reading before calling it a day, around 10:30.

Tuesday, October 25

I got up before 7am to catch the sunrise, which was quite brilliant, considering the campsite faces east. It was calm, warm and beautiful to see. Loons were calling on the lake as I took in the scene. I shot quite a bit of video with both the camera and my phone. I also did some field recording. 

Between the time I got up and the last of the morning, the weather changed and varied quite a bit. First it is calm with sunny, blue sky and then it turns gray and windy, causing the temperature to drop and me to add layers of clothing. Despite the lack of sun and the wind, with the layers of clothing I put on, I am not cold. My plan for the day is that if the weather improves and the lake calms down, I will go for another day paddle and explore the opposite side of the lake which has multiple islands and a good number of campsites (some of which I have visited or camped at). If the weather doesn't sufficiently improve, I will spend the day in or near camp, taking photos, shooting video, making field recordings and reading. I also want to setup the hot tent wood stove to see how it fits in the tent (with the hammock). I will also do some preparation for tomorrow's departure. I also made some modifications to the Rhombus tent to compensate for the wind. The metal stakes that come with it are virtually uselesss. The triangular Wise Owl stakes I had with me worked better, but still needed me to change how they were attached to the tent (with shockcord). I determined that I really needed to get some heavy duty stakes to properly secure the tent in windy conditions. That's not a problem, as the weight of these kinds of stakes doesn't matter since I am not carrying them any great distances.

It turned out to be very windy all day. The anemometer readings showed a constant wind of nearly 17mph. That's enough to cause sizeable waves and whitecaps on Little Tupper, which is quite shallow. In the evening, the wind is supposed to drop down to 4-7 mph, but the forecasts are not always that accurate, so I always have a contingency plan for any day I am doing a lot of paddling, especially on lakes like Little Tupper, which has some large bays that have to be crossed and the waves could be coming from the side. Of course, one could just paddle along the shoreline when getting to these bays (rather going straight across them), but that would add significantly more distance and time to the trip.

My plan was to get up as early as possible for the paddle out, maybe even breaking camp and launching before sunrise and paddling out by headlamp. I had done several times in the past and actually enjoyed the different experience that it is. So my plan was to launch early if it was calm; if not I would wait for daylight, be ready to leave at an opportune time or if absolutely necessary, paddle the shoreline. Being solo, I tend to be overly cautious so as to try to avoid getting myself into a potentially dangerous situation. 

As it turned out, when I awoke before dawn, Little Tupper was still and calm. After getting dressed, I broke camp by headlamp, assembled all the gear near the edge of the campsite, did one final check and began taking the gear down to the canoe and loading it. When all was ready, it was still dark, so I would be paddling by headlamp (at least some of the way). I was okay with this, as the lake was calm, so I could stay offshore to avoid any trees or rocks near shore. 

Paddling out, it was almost as if I was paddling in a tunnel. I couldn't see far ahead with the headlamp; just enough to paddle safely at a leisurely pace. As I did so, I enjoyed the still dark sky and stars that were out. At one point I surprised some ducks that I didn't even see that were out nearby on the water. They made a lot of noise and splashed as they moved away from me. In the distance I could see the light from a camp that was near the DEC headquarters at the put-in for Little Tupper, so I used that as a navigation point. Part of the way down the lake, the sky lightened as it was getting close to sunrise. 

The paddle presented no problems and I arrived at the deserted put-in before the sun came up. I noted that my car was the only one in the lot. I pulled up to the beach, got out of the canoe and began unloading it. I made a trip up to the car with some gear, unlocked it, placing the gear in the car. I then grabbed a granola bar and a bottle of water, returned to the beach, sat on the bench (which faces due east) and watched the sun rise behind the mountains directly across the lake from me. After enjoying the sunrise while having something to eat and drink, I proceeded to unload the rest of the gear from the canoe and carry it (and the canoe up to the car). After loading everything, I began the long drive back home, making a stop in Long Lake to get a breakfast sandwhich and some coffee. While doing so, I reflected on what a memorable trip it had been and appreciating that I had the opportunity to do it.