Camp 2018 - Our Traditions

2018 was our turn to go up to Camp in the Adirondacks of New York. This is definitely our favorite place in the world to visit an look forward to it for so long when we aren't there!

At Camp, we have many traditions, some old and some new. One that we started 3 visits ago was a paddle around the whole lake. When we started this tradition, we could all fit in one canoe, with some kiddos on my and Rebecca's backs. This year, we borrowed a kayak from friends so that we could split up the load. 

I should note here that Olivia, for her AHG Canoeing Badge, had to plan a 4-hour canoe trip with waypoints and directions, so we let her mark the waypoints as we went and she directed the crew as we went along.

Along the way, we passed our resident family of ducks. I don't know enough about ducks to say whether it's the same family that we encounter here every year, but there is one every year that comes around the dock, looking for handouts. We NEVER feed them, though.

There were a few fairly adventurous dragonflies that kept hovering around the kayak. Gabe managed to get on on his paddle.

We saw lots of water lilies, both white,

and yellow.

Of course, at a couple of points, we got out of the canoes and took a little time to cool off and swim around and explore.

The boys always manage to find freshwater mussels in the sand.

On our way around, we managed to stop a this outcrop of rocks near the far side of the lake. They are a couple hundred feet off shore and a cool area to stop and climb around on.

Another tradition that's been around as long as I can remember is puzzles. In a world with no TV, no phones, no internet, etc, the only entertainment is that which you can make for yourself. Puzzles have always been a pastime at Camp. This year we brought a series of them with us. We found this set of 5 by the same artist that really feel like Camp.

The log cabins, pine trees, lakes and animals in the paintings really give a Camp feeling to them.

A new thing the kids have really gotten into now that they are all of ages that they can play together is board games. Camp had a few up there that the kids just fell in love with like Monopoly and Life.

Another newer tradition we started last time we were up was floating below Buttermilk Falls in Long Lake.

The creek below the falls is deep enough to float for a few hundred feet downstream and then walk back up and do it again.

Of course, the water is freezing cold, but you get over that pretty quickly.

Camp 2015 - Paddling Around the Lake

Last time we went to Camp, we loaded the kiddos into the canoe and paddled our way around the whole thing. We decided to try it again this year, despite having 2 more kids and the prior ones being considerable bigger. 

Let me just say that I'm impressed with the ancient Grumman canoe. Though it was a bit like trying to turn the Titanic at times with all the weight in it. Thank goodness there weren't any icebergs... And just in case you're wondering, Irene's pointing at this:

There were 5 loons on the lake this year, which is more than I remember being around at any one time. They were rather noisy at sunrise and sunset, but it's a beautifully haunting call, especially when it echoes off the mountains.

 Back to our trip... The scenery was gorgeous, with lots of wildflowers in bloom. 

 Not to mention water lilies. (I actually had to look up what the plural of "lily" was because I as convinced it had two "L"s in the middle.)

 Our first big stop was over at the old beaver pond in the North cove. There haven't been beavers there for many years, but you can still find the gnawed-on sticks lying around, We managed to find a stick that almost perfectly matched an old sapling stump, so the kids got an idea of how the beavers used to cut them down. Then they ran around finding more stumps that were clearly beaver-cut. it was surprising how large some of them were. 

 From there, we went continued around to where the original owners of the lake, the Eaton family, had their cabin.

 The cabin is long gone, but the remains of the outdoor fireplace and the old stone foundation of the house are still there.

As we moved around the lake, we spotted a family of Merganser Ducks. According to a film we saw later that week at the Wild Center, these ducks are fairly rare nowadays because they are very reclusive and so encroachment upon nesting areas has pushed them out. Conservation efforts seem to be making a difference, though, and they are starting to make more appearances.

 When we got a little more than halfway around, we went way into the South cove where there is a big sandy-bottomed area for the kids to get out and swim, splash and play.

 We found a fresh-water mussel in the mud on the bottom.

 We started back after a refreshing break in the water and everyone was getting tired.

 We found some more lily pads. It was really cool to see how long the stems were. The water here was about 2 feet deep. 

 Besides the regular while lilies, there were some of these big, yellow flowers.

 Look! A touch of Fall color! 

Let me tell you how hard it was to get this picture:

• Step 1: Set the camera on the dock.
• Step 2: Set the timer and guess at the zoom width. 
• Step 3: Hope that the focus is right.
• Step 4: Push the button and start freaking as the beeping starts.
• Step 5: Try to push away from the dock evenly so that you get everyone into the picture.
• Step 6: Paddle back in to check the results.
• Step 7: Go to Step 1 as many times as it takes to get one that works.

It's a wonder the kids didn't just bail out after the first couple of times. They'd been in the boat for 4 hours at that point and were quite finished. 

It was quite a beautiful day and, while it did take a long time, everyone really loved the journey. 

Adirondack Adventures, Part 6 - Canoeing Lake Eaton and Blueberries

On our last full day at Camp, Rebecca suggested we take a canoe ride...around the whole lake. All 4+ miles of shoreline. In gale-force winds. And blazing hot sunshine. Actually, I readily agreed and we were on our way. We planned it so that we would stop 2 or 3 times as we went around the lake and swim for a little bit to cool off. While it was windy, that just helped offset the hot sunshine. The kids had fun riding in the middle of the canoe and seeing the different places around the lake. We found the spring running into the lake, looked at the inlets and the outlet, and stopped at several places to swim as we made out way around the lake.

Swim break halfway around the lake

The water was slightly chilly, but it did feel good to get in after all that paddling.

The water in Lake Eaton is so clear, you can see the bottom in nearly 20 feet of water.

Around in the inlet, there were bunches of beautiful water lilies. we learned the previous day that water lilies are like nature's clock: they slowly open throughout the moring, are fully open at noon and slowly close through the afternoon. We guessed (rightly!) that it was right around noon.

We stopped about 3/4 of the way around to pick wild blueberries. The kids grabbed about two large handfuls of them and promptly scarfed them down!

there were enough that it was fairly easy for the kids to find them on their own. Wild blueberries are considerably smaller than farm-grown and aren't nearly so plentiful on the bushes, so unless you time the season right, you can be hard-pressed to find many ripe berries.

On the home stretch. Wow, what a trip.

After a bath in the lake and a short rest, Rebecca showed Olivia where there were blueberries growing right next to Camp.

She spent about an hour out there picking and eating more berries. The amazing thing was that there were still lots of green berries on the bushes, so whoever is up there now should be finding quite a few themselves!