My Adirondack Trip

 Let me tell you about my trip to the Adirondacks. It was amazing. We had all arranged to meet up at Jen's at dinnertime on Friday, and the first order of business was to bond over pizza. Take a look at this delicious slice of pizza!

Delicious pizza! (1)

The next morning it was time to pack up our boats and get ready to launch. Here's all the stuff I had to fit into my kayak, plus my boat on the dock at Low's Lower Dam, getting ready to launch.

Lots of camping gear has to go into the boat (2)

Getting ready to launch (3)

Off we went, through the Bog River and onto Low's Lake. We got a later start than we expected, so it was dusk by the time we got to our campsite.

Getting to the campsite at dusk (4)

Boy, the Adirondacks are lovely. Look at this lovely scene from the water!

Lovely Adirondack scenery (5)

Our campsite was beautiful! And we could hike around and find some neat waterfalls and stuff!

Here I am, on a hike near the campsite (6)

There is nothing like the beauty of the Adirondacks! (7)

Another great shot of Adirondack beauty from a beach where we took a lunch break (8)

And of course, we saw some great Adirondack wildlife, including the famous loons.

The famous loons! (9)

Giant caterpillar! In the Adirondacks even the caterpillars are megafauna! You wouldn't find anything like that anywhere else! (10)

Tuesday night it was my turn to make dinner. My three bean chicken chili was a big hit!

Chicken chili (11)

Boy, after a week in the wild it was good to stop off at a motel and get a shower.

Getting cleaned up (12)

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Ahh, who am I trying to kid? I didn't go on the trip. Three days before I was supposed to have left I started feeling sick, and sure enough, it was COVID. I had outrun the dreaded virus for over two years, but it finally caught up with me. The test I took the morning after I started feeling sick came up super positive - no need to wait 15 minutes; the COVID line came up nice and bold right away. So I dropped out of the first part of the trip, but maintained hope that I might make it to the second part. Except Valerie got sick too, a couple of days later. When it came time to have left to meet up with the group for the second half of the trip I was still feeling a little wobbly (not necessarily up to a long drive and the rigors of camping), and Valerie was still too sick for me to leave her alone. So with great sadness I bailed on the trip - but after my five days of COVID isolation I did get out and enjoy some beautiful late summer weather locally with some hikes, paddles, and bike rides. 

Well, there's always next year.

The test which did me in

A few hours before starting to feel symptoms, we looked pretty good (if I must say so myself)

Footnotes

(1) Actually a slice of pizza I got at The Italian Store on Thursday after I finished the second phase of COVID jail. Honestly, do you think a pizza place in the Adirondacks would have Dr. Brown's soda?

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(2)This photo is from my basement - stuff I had gotten together for the trip before COVID ground everything to a halt.

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(3) This is actually Columbia Island Marina. Steve J and I paddled Thursday evening.

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(4) This is actually a picture of Steve J paddling on Thursday. I cropped it so you can't see Key Bridge right behind him.

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(5) Actually Columbia Island, looking north from the car-top boat launch.

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(6) Actually at Scott's Run in Great Falls where I went for a solo hike during my COVID jail time.

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(7) Scott's Run again.

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(8) Still Scott's Run

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(9) Actually a duck at the Boundary Channel impersonating a loon.

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(10) Scott's Run yet again

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(11) Tuesday, the night I would have prepared dinner at the campsite, I actually did make the dinner I had planned - well, a single portion of it, and made with shredded chicken left over from the previous night's dinner rather than chicken from a pouch. It wasn't bad!

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(12) Actually taken in my basement 

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