The Friday -Sunday weekend of 22-24 August Skip, Bob & I took a camping trip to Long Lake with the objective of spending a day/night on Long Lake, exiting downstream the Racquette River, turning up the Cold River to the Cold River lean-to spend Saturday night. Sunday we planned to return to the village of Long Lake after exploring the new State Land near Cedarlands Scout Camp.
The weather forecast for the three days was clear and sunny with temperatures in the 80s. We left at 9am and were in Long Lake and paddling about 11am. After 90 minutes of paddling we began looking for a place to pull out and stretch. We found a nice campsite with a large rock that jutted out into Long Lake with Kempshall Mountain rising in back of us and a nice sunset view to the west. Our rest stop turned into a decision to stay for the night. The site was small and just tolerated our two tents, but a nearby stream with fresh clean water and the large rock sold us. We were concerned about mosquitos, but we sat on the rock and caught the breeze out on the lake. The panorama picture below was our view looking north up Long Lake from our rock.
We watched a gorgous sunset and were surprised by a display of fireworks at the north end. Judging by the timing and presentation we surmised it was a private exhibit. I took a number of pictures, but the distance and timing made it hard to capture the fireworks and reflections.
The next morning I captured a picture from my solo tent as Skip prepared coffee out on the rock.
We had a leisurely breakfast and decided to leave our campsite in place and headed out for Cold River on a day trip across a dead calm Long Lake. Bob & Skip made nice ripples on a windless Long Lake.
Turning up Cold River we had a short paddle to the Cold River Lean-to. It was a short distance up a pretty stream. This panoramic makes the river look wider than it truly is.
The Cold River Lean-to was buggy and we were glad we decided to stay another night on Long Lake. We continued up Cold River for a short distance until it required too many exits and lining of the canoes.
We returned to camp and enjoyed burgers and beans for dinner, sat out on the rock and once again saw a beautiful sunset and were entertained by fireworks.
Sunday we had an early breakfast, broke camp and were paddling out at 8am across a once again dead calm Long Lake. We explored the new State Land and DEC’s roadside lean-to before packing up.