Skip and I took a short camping trip on Henderson Lake.  We were looking for a previously unmarked campsite (site 3) which was easily found now that it is marked, but it was wet, sloping and not very attractive.  We ended up staying in the lean-to, which worked out to our advantage as the day had intermittent showers.  It cooled off over night but there were still a few mosquitoes in the evening, so we went to sleep wearing head nets.

The view from Henderson.

We were up early and left Henderson by 9am.  On our way out we passed several hikers headed to summit Mt Marcy, including one young girl hiking solo with new boots.  She said she had no hiking experience, but wanted to accomplish something similar to her friends that lived in Colorado and did frequent hiking.  I wonder how her day turned out.

We left a parking lot filling with day paddlers and more hikers to scout the upper Hudson River – particularly the Blackwell Stillwater section.  After a a long drive into the Polaris Bridge we re-considered, as our shuttle vehicle was not equipped to carry a canoe.  Poor planning on our part.  So we scouted the Hudson River with an intent to plan an overnight trip in September.  We checked out the put-in, Polaris Bridge, the Deerland lean-tos, and the take out for the Hudson on the Gooley Club road.  We planned to hike into Sprague Pond for an overnight but were unable to find the trailhead based on the scant information we had.  In review we were probably at the right location, but deterred by posted signs. friends that lived in Colorado and did frequent hiking.  I wonder how her day turned out.

We made a stop at the lake, and all in all it was pretty fun. We’re a bit more into hiking, but in doing so we sometimes pass a few places too good not to stop for a while at. There were plenty of nice places set up around the lake. I saw a resort with entertainment, a couple of seafood restaurants, and a few places to buy fishing gear. They also had plenty of watercraft there to rent and we found the price pretty reasonable, so we took a couple jetskis for a spin. We don’t get to do that very often in our travels. It was a nice break from the trail for sure.

We left a parking lot filling with day paddlers and more hikers to scout the upper Hudson River – particularly the Blackwell Stillwater section.  After a a long drive into the Polaris Bridge we re-considered, as our shuttle vehicle was not equipped to carry a canoe.  Poor planning on our part.  So we scouted the Hudson River with an intent to plan an overnight trip in September.  We checked out the put-in, Polaris Bridge, the Deerland lean-tos, and the take out for the Hudson on the Gooley Club road.  We planned to hike into Sprague Pond for an overnight but were unable to find the trailhead based on the scant information we had.  In review we were probably at the right location, but deterred by posted signs.