This weekend we packed up the truck and are heading south into the central Adirondacks. I heard great things about the wilderness camping at Forked Lake, so back in December booked a site for three days, unfortunately we could not get one of the few island sites – will have to settle with being mainlanders for a weekend.

We did not follow the planned route, as we decided to make a quick shopping trip at the Salmon run Mall in Watertown (Sometimes even with the Canadian Dollar doing so poorly – Thanks Justin T – We can find good deals) our route took us further South through the very touristy town of Old Forge.

We are going to return to Old Forge, once I retire (That way we can visit during the week – Less tourists) They have a massive water park  – very suitable for grand sons (Once they get a little taller) While at Old Forge we stopped at a wine store and managed to pick up two bottles of one of my favourite Ports (Grahams six grape reserve – This trip is really looking up)

 

Forked Lake campground offers primitive camping, there are 80 campsites available, most can be accessed by a trail system, and some only by boat. The site was chosen as the campground with the most courteous staff of all medium sized campgrounds. We were quickly corrected on the pronunciation of this lake…They pronounce it “Four – Ked Lake” (Apparently it was getting confused by a nearby “Fourth Lake..Hmmm)  Canoeing the first 500 metres was a bit tricky, there are a lot of rocks just below the surface. After a very short paddle (less than 2 Km) we arrived at our  site 36.

Most sites do not appear to have a dock, I’m glad ours did otherwise off loading would have been interesting. Its always daunting when you first see your site – will it fit your tents, is it flat enough – This site was superb, very roomy and with spectacular views across the Lake. There are many sites at this campground that would be impossible to pitch even the smallest of tents.

Another advantage to this site, is that it gets full morning sun, but is shaded in the evening. Considering how cool it was in the mornings, getting that early warmth was very much appreciated.

On the first morning, I took off for a short paddle before Karen was up, amazingly calm waters, was hoping to see some wildlife, but nothing was around. On paddling back to camp I noticed Marcus sitting on the rock wondering where I had been…guess its time for his breakfast.

Got up at about 0430 hoping to get some sunrise shots, with the cold there was a lot of mist on the Lake.

Each of the campsites here have a bear box in order to safely sore your food from marauding bear and racoons, and also very decent out houses, better than we have been used to. That being said, as we explored other sites, some of the outhouses are in very bad shape with rotting floors. Because we always camp with our Bear barrel, we just used the bear box to hold our garbage bag.

During the day we decided to Canoe back to the launch site and explore the local area, our first stop was a short hike to Buttermilk falls on the Raquette river, Marcus really enjoyed himself (He is fully recovered from what ailed him last week)

I was told by the ranger at the campsite, that it was not possible to portage around the falls…hmm either he did not understand what we mean by portage or he is full of it..this has to be one of the shortest easiest portages I have seen.

After a visit to the Falls, we headed into the town / village of Long Lake a short five minute drive away. Had a great lunch and cider at the Adirondack Growl and Grub  very tasty and saved us from cooking something up at the campsite. Karen treated me to an ice cream before heading back to Four-Ked Lake.

Modern technology needs its power, we carry portable power packs and solar chargers, this was a great day to use solar!

We like to bring frozen food when we camp, this trip we had (again) spaghetti Bolognese (Apparently this is Erica’s recipe – not my Mums, I will let them duke it out) we also froze some chicken and broccoli to make my version of Pad Thai. We used to have a bulky traditional cooler, but thanks to my incredible insight I discovered the icemule, I usually freeze a couple of coors light cans of beer (Not endorsing coors light as a quality beer, but due to its water like qualities they are the only cans of beer that survive being frozen solid without busting. They work great at keeping the contents of the icemule frozen for two days, and cold for around four…with the added advantage of converting from ice packs to reasonably drinkable beverage.

We also decided to explore a small stream just north of our site. Surprisingly we were able to travel several Km before beaver dams and low water forced us to return.

We hiked and paddled to almost all campsites on Forked Lake, we think that the best three sites are 35, this one was the only site that had its own private small beach – another great spot for Grandkids – The other site we really liked (But I cannot seem to find the picture I took of it – perhaps I never did ..) is site 50 which is an island site. The last site we highly recommend is the site we were on site 36.

All in all a very enjoyable three days, we would return here (probably to site 35 for the beach) the weather was perfect. Back to work for a few days, then off to Saranac Lake island for four nights – if the weather cooperates (Looks like we are in for a nasty stretch of rain and thunder storms next week)