TP Trails

We started the trip on a known high note – Saranac Lake in the Adirondacks. Patrick has been coming to this lake with some of his friends for years now and wanted to share its beauty with me. All of the campsites at Saranac Lake are accessible by canoe/boat only, creating a secluded, majestic camping experience. With the car packed, we headed out from Philadelphia to the Adirondacks. Since the drive was relatively long (roughly 6 hours), we planned to stay the first night at Wilmington Notch Campground, which is about a 40-minute drive from the launch point for Saranac Lake. While this campground is nothing special compared to Saranac Lake, it is convenient, clean, offers running bathroom/shower facilities with running water, and campfire rings with cooking grates at each campsite. We camped at site #48, which was on the outer ring, facing towards the river/waterfall. The site was situated near the edge of the fence, which helped us feel more “in the woods”. We could also easily hike down to the waterfall (less than 5-minute walk).

We woke early the next morning as Patrick had a nice morning hike in mind for us to do before heading to the Saranac Lake campgrounds. The Catamount hike is roughly 4 miles round trip to the summit of Catamount with roughly 1,500 feet of elevation gain. The hike starts out relatively flat and then quickly steepens in the woods/forest area. As you move above the treeline, the hike includes some minor rock scrambling. We started the hike around 9:45 am, made it to the peak around 11:55 am, and finished around 1:15 pm. And we stopped at the summit for a bit and were by no means were moving that quickly. On our way up, we passed a group that was hiking down with a small corgi dog – they would hand him from one person to the next down the steeper rock passages. Note that there is a false summit, which has great views in and of itself, but we would recommend continuing on to the real summit as it is not much further (20 minutes or so). The hike offers great views with not too much elevation gain or distance, and we would highly recommend it. The trailhead was easy to find on google maps, but make sure to plug in your destination before you head out since there is no service at the trailhead.

Once we finished the hike, we headed out to Saranac Lake. Again, a reminder that you will likely not have cell service at the trailhead, so prepare your driving routes in advance. There is an ALDI in the town of Saranac Lake that we stopped in to pick up groceries for the next couple of days. We called ahead about a week or so out to rent our canoe from Adirondacks Lakes and Trails. They will drop the canoe off at the lake and shuttle you for a fee or you can strap it to your car if you have a car rack on top, which is what we elected to do. Patrick had continually assured me that the canoes would be large enough to hold all of our stuff (large cooler, tent, sleeping bags/pads, pillows, firewood for two nights, clothes, cooking stove, fishing poles, water, other miscellaneous gear) and lo and behold, he was right (typical). We selected campsite #55 in advance for two nights. Unfortunately, Patrick’s first choice of campsite is walk-in only and had been snagged earlier in the day (Goose Island, #27). This site was thankfully not too far from the launch site (probably about a 20-minute canoe ride). I will give most of the credit to Patrick for paddling us there with all of the gear. Once we arrived, we unloaded and set up camp. There were plenty of well-situated trees for our hammock and the campsite was very spacious. Each site has its own outhouse – usable, but certainly not one of the cleaner/nicer camping latrines. Our first night sunset was absolutely stunning – full of oranges and pinks as we looked out over the lake. At nightfall, be sure to listen for the song of the loons. We learned that there are four different types of “songs”/sounds that they use to communicate with one another. They are also out during the day, and we saw them fishing (i.e., diving) around dusk.

The next morning, we took our time starting the day. It was very peaceful and relaxing lying in the tent – no rain was anticipated so we left the fly off and could stare up at the trees. We use our camping stove (vs. the fire) to cook most of our meals as it is easier, allows for a variety of meal types, and does not require firewood. So far, we have been using the small, 1-gallon propane tanks with our camping stove. We may eventually purchase a propane converter to use the larger, typical grill propane tanks as this is more economical. However, for the lake, the small tanks are necessary and work well. We typically get about 3-4 meals out of each small tank. After breakfast (bacon, egg, and cheese sandwiches), we headed back to the car since we realized we had forgotten an important ingredient for tonight’s chicken fajita meal – taco/fajita seasoning. It was also nice to canoe on the lake without the full, heavy canoe. We did one more canoe ride later in the day out to see Goose Island (Patrick’s favorite campsite) since I had never seen it before. The remainder of the day was spent fishing, relaxing in the hammock, playing cards, reading, and sitting by the fire. No complaints here.

After dinner, we packed up/consolidated the campsite a bit in preparation for potential rain early in the morning. Fortunately, it did not rain while we packed up in the morning, canoed back, and packed up the car. Overall, this campground is truly a gem and a great starting point for our trip (although now my expectations of future campsites to come are very high)!

Some things to note about campsite #55 at Saranac Lake:

• Shorter canoe ride than many of the campsites from Lower Saranac Lake First Pond launch point with relatively easy area to dock the canoe
• Can watch the boat traffic coming in and out all day (also note this could be viewed as a con)
• Large campsite on a peninsula with several lookout points onto the lake (many other sites are located on small islands)  
• Bathroom, although not clean, can be used with the door open since it faces away from a majority of the campsite
• Good tree cover/shade, with an open area in the middle to see the sky
• Can still hear the road/cars driving by
• One campsite is located across the small channel, but you cannot see the campsite through the trees.