kwc
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- Mar 31, 2016
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Three days, two nights in the Whitney Wilderness in the northern Adirondacks on Little Tupper Lake. Hard to imagine that this entire area was once a wealthy family's "playground" (the Whitneys still own property on a small portion of the lake). Awesome weather, calm waters, eagles, beavers, & loons. Black flies have pretty much disappeared but the mosquitoes have filled the void quite nicely.
Heading down the lake ...
Campsite #12 ... at the far end of the lake. Yup, I used an old cheap WalMart tent rather than my backpacking tent.
This is one of the views from the campsite
After setting up camp & having some lunch I headed out for some exploration. This is the outlet from Rock Pond ... there are more campsites on Rock Pond but getting there involves a short portage (and a beaver dam crossing) ... saving that for another time
And here is the beaver dam ... the skies were slowly brightening up too
Heading back down the outlet ... almost back to Little Tupper Lake at this point
Found another stream and followed it along and found this loon on his/her nest ... I had never seen a loon nesting before.
I slowly paddled a bit further and took a zoomed in shot from a distance of the loon on the nest
And evening shot from the campsite
the sun setting as seen from the campsite
early morning mist on the water
Kinda spooky close-up of the clump of trees in the photo above
exploring the lake ... there are some sandy beaches on the northern side of the lake but most of the shoreline is rocky
More exploring ... and much to my surprise a bald eagle took off from that white pine bending out over the water ... I just wasn't quick enough to capture a photo of him/her.
there are several islands on the lake ... one is fairly large and has a couple campsites on it
it was a great day to catch the reflections in the lake ... here is one of the sandy beaches. There is a campsite in the trees in the right hand side of the photo. It's a nice campsite that would catch the breezes nicely to keep the bugs away & you'd be able to see the sunrise from there as well.
this loon popped up near me as I was paddling along
one of the sandy beaches ... I landed here to check out another one of the campsites (it was a fair campsite)
After dinner I went back out and headed down the outlet of Rock Pond again ...
And saw this guy swimming across the water ... soon after snapping this photo he/she slapped his/her tail and dove under. I passed by several other beavers and they all showed their displeasure at my appearance by slapping their tails and diving.
exploring a side channel through the lily pads
another sunset from the campsite
Heading back out in the morning ... passing by one of the campsites. It's in the trees behind the rock outcrop (the red & blue on the rocks are some campers' clothing ... probably drying out in the sun)
another campsite is in the trees to the left of the rocks ... you can see a camper's water bottle on top of the one large rock
reflections of the distant mountains as I paddled out
this is how the DEC marks the designated campsites along the lake (this was my site). Sites are first come, first served. Staying at one campsite for more than three nights requires a free permit from the DEC ranger. There are 22 well dispersed campsites on Little Tupper Lake, 2 sites on the Rock Pond outlet, & 8 sites on Rock Pond.
When I paddled in on Monday morning it was in the mid-60s, down into the mid-40s that night. Tuesday was in the upper 70s during the day, mid-50s at night. It was definitely much warmer Wednesday morning and was about 80 degrees when I arrived at the canoe launch around noon. This lake is notorious for windy/wavy conditions so I was very fortunate to experience calm waters during my entire stay. I saw only two people (father and daughter out fishing from their canoe) during my stay until I got closer to the canoe launch Wednesday where I saw several other canoes and kayaks out for day paddling (I know this because of how they signed in on the canoe launch register). Overall a great visit and I plan to return sometime soon. Perhaps this fall when the colors are changing & the bugs have disappeared.
Heading down the lake ...
Campsite #12 ... at the far end of the lake. Yup, I used an old cheap WalMart tent rather than my backpacking tent.
This is one of the views from the campsite
After setting up camp & having some lunch I headed out for some exploration. This is the outlet from Rock Pond ... there are more campsites on Rock Pond but getting there involves a short portage (and a beaver dam crossing) ... saving that for another time
And here is the beaver dam ... the skies were slowly brightening up too
Heading back down the outlet ... almost back to Little Tupper Lake at this point
Found another stream and followed it along and found this loon on his/her nest ... I had never seen a loon nesting before.
I slowly paddled a bit further and took a zoomed in shot from a distance of the loon on the nest
And evening shot from the campsite
the sun setting as seen from the campsite
early morning mist on the water
Kinda spooky close-up of the clump of trees in the photo above
exploring the lake ... there are some sandy beaches on the northern side of the lake but most of the shoreline is rocky
More exploring ... and much to my surprise a bald eagle took off from that white pine bending out over the water ... I just wasn't quick enough to capture a photo of him/her.
there are several islands on the lake ... one is fairly large and has a couple campsites on it
it was a great day to catch the reflections in the lake ... here is one of the sandy beaches. There is a campsite in the trees in the right hand side of the photo. It's a nice campsite that would catch the breezes nicely to keep the bugs away & you'd be able to see the sunrise from there as well.
this loon popped up near me as I was paddling along
one of the sandy beaches ... I landed here to check out another one of the campsites (it was a fair campsite)
After dinner I went back out and headed down the outlet of Rock Pond again ...
And saw this guy swimming across the water ... soon after snapping this photo he/she slapped his/her tail and dove under. I passed by several other beavers and they all showed their displeasure at my appearance by slapping their tails and diving.
exploring a side channel through the lily pads
another sunset from the campsite
Heading back out in the morning ... passing by one of the campsites. It's in the trees behind the rock outcrop (the red & blue on the rocks are some campers' clothing ... probably drying out in the sun)
another campsite is in the trees to the left of the rocks ... you can see a camper's water bottle on top of the one large rock
reflections of the distant mountains as I paddled out
this is how the DEC marks the designated campsites along the lake (this was my site). Sites are first come, first served. Staying at one campsite for more than three nights requires a free permit from the DEC ranger. There are 22 well dispersed campsites on Little Tupper Lake, 2 sites on the Rock Pond outlet, & 8 sites on Rock Pond.
When I paddled in on Monday morning it was in the mid-60s, down into the mid-40s that night. Tuesday was in the upper 70s during the day, mid-50s at night. It was definitely much warmer Wednesday morning and was about 80 degrees when I arrived at the canoe launch around noon. This lake is notorious for windy/wavy conditions so I was very fortunate to experience calm waters during my entire stay. I saw only two people (father and daughter out fishing from their canoe) during my stay until I got closer to the canoe launch Wednesday where I saw several other canoes and kayaks out for day paddling (I know this because of how they signed in on the canoe launch register). Overall a great visit and I plan to return sometime soon. Perhaps this fall when the colors are changing & the bugs have disappeared.
