For years even decades I thought backpacking looked like a lot of fun, but never thought I was strong enough to be able to actually do it. In truth the tendons in my knees are shaped like the letter C so they have caused me a lot of grief over the years and weight lifting with my legs has always been a big no no! However for the past three or four years I've been carrying my son around in a pack on my back. At 38 lbs last year I had to make him do more on his own to feet and refer him to Daddy when he got too tired to walk. So realizing this I can carry up to 30 lbs on my back after all I've been doing it for the past few year anyways only now my load won't be bashing me on the head or pulling my hair out! Being that I am not in great shape and a four year old does have limits we started out with two overnight trips at less than a mile each. I even made our son carry his own pack! It only contained extra clothes to change into if he had a potty accident or got into water, his water bottle, and the bug spray. My husband has been backpacking before (long before we met) but this was our first time hiking in and setting up camp! I loved it! Our first destination was Rock Lake at just under a mile! To prepare for backpacking and learning how to I've been watching a ton of youtube videos like Outdoor Adventures, David Gray, Adventure Archives, Sintax77 and Shugemery! I packed the little two man tent in my husbands pack and our Chill Gorilla hammock in mine along with all three sleeping pads, first aid kit ect... We arrived at the trail head to Rock Lake at about 8 pm. Yes we were racing the light to our site. My husband was starting to get upset and thought that there were no campsites there (even though he saw them there last year) when I pointed out the tiny camp here with an arrow sign. The sun was painting the sky around Blue Mountain and over the lake brilliant pinks and oranges. I took a few photos really quick and then got on to the task of setting up camp with minimal help while the darkness fell. By the time I was done I had to get out the lanterns and the color in the sky was gone replaced by the big dipper! Maybe I could get some night sky photography in after I put someone to bed. Well, it seemed to take forever to get our son to go to sleep. Clouds were beginning to roll in and the moon was brightening the sky! I rushed to take a few shots and managed to capture this one with just a few faint sparkling stars. I did incur a problem when setting up camp. You can't fit three air mats in a two man tent. Not wanting to sleep on the directly on the ground I opted to sleep under the moonlight in the hammock. I put my air mat in the hammock and deflated it slightly to insulate my back. and wrapped up in the 30 degree sleeping bag as best I could to hide from the pesky bugs. I didn't sleep much due to the heat and bugs, when I was finally beginning to drift to sleep I heard a really eerie sound in camp. I thought maybe we had a four legged visitor like a fox so I grabbed my light to look around and caught the culprit fly from its perch over me to another tree! Laugh out loud it was just an owl! At 3 am I am I called it and crawled into the tent. To my shameful delight our son had rolled off his mat and was sleeping peacefully on the ground. I caught a couple hours of sleep slipped our son back onto his mat, grabbed my camera and headed down to the lake. I love it when I can enjoy a few minutes in nature all to myself. The chorus of frogs had subsided and a choir of birds took over. It was blue hour in the morning and although I couldn't see it a loon called out in the distance. As I took a few shots with my wide angle lens I heard a slap and then saw a small brown head swim past . After a bit there was another slap and I could see a big beaver working in some grassy area. I switched to a longer lens and the beaver disappeared! I looked to my right and saw the sun rising ( switched lenses again) which seemed odd considering how light out already was. My husband woke and joined me for a bit before wandering off to see if there were any other campsites in the vicinity. Our son woke and it was time for a breakfast of cliff bars, tear down camp, re-pack and head off for what we thought would be an adventure on Little Tupper Lake. The rest of the weekend did not go well we should have just stayed put there on the awesome Rock Lake! Backpacking trek number two was short and sweet. We left the apartment super early on a Saturday morning. We climbed Mount Severance for some great views of Paradox and Schroon Lakes. We had a picnic and some playground time at Schroon Lake then journeyed up the Northway a couple of exits to Belfry Mountain Fire Tower where I won over my fear of (unstable) heights. After a full day of hiking we drove back passed Mt. Severance to the trail head for Gull Pond in the Pharoh Lakes Wilderness! When we arrived at Gull Pond there were a few other cars parked there so we weren't sure if the campsite was already taken. I suggested checking out the next spot that was 1.7 miles to hike in but my husband said lets walk in and see if it is taken first (only 0.6 to the pond). Yes Gull pond had visitors but no campers so we hiked back out after locating the only campsite to grab our camping and camera gear. My husband was first out to the car to grab his gear I had a few thing to pack yet so I put our son's pack on him and sent him off with his Dad back to camp. I refilled all of our water bottles and added them to my pack. This time I brought my yoga mat to sleep on though thin it was better than nothing. I have since bought a bug net and tarp for our hammock! I grabbed the sack of beach toys and attached them to my pack, sat on the back of the car and wiggled into my pack. Locked the car and prayed to find the tent already set-up when I arrived! Hoooray it was! I finished setting up things on the interior of the tent while the men folk gathered firewood for Smore's and to help fend off the bugs. Our on played with his toys while we boiled water on the BRS Stove which works really well! My husband had Noodle soup,I some cheesy rice thing, and our picky son had peanut butter on saltines and some veggie straws. After hanging the food and trash we walked around to the other side of the pond. The sun lit the cliff face beautifully but we couldn't see any real sunset. Back at camp we roasted marshmallows and enjoyed a nice campfire and the hammock. I used my head lamp to put the leftovers and trash in our hanging food bag. When I came back our son was dragging Daddy into the tent for bed. I set my camera equipment by the pond and waited for the stars. Little man must have been really tired because he out within ten minutes. According to my husbands phone we had walked about eight miles that day (which I don't believe)! We were serenaded by a chorus of professional singing frogs all night long. The Milky way came out to play and I do believe we saw Mars too! It was a fantastic evening which I was sad to have end. I'm saving the best shot for last although I think I still need a ton more practice when it comes to Night Sky Photography! Don't forget to look up Naturally Adrift Photo on Facebook and like the page to get all of the up dates and weekly photo shares! Til' next time happy adventures!
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Julie MetottNature Photographer, wife, mother, lover of outdoor adventure! Archives
November 2022
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