Earlier this month I was canoe camping with a friend in the Adirondacks on a lake 30 miles northwest of Lake George. Despite a few day paddlers we had the whole lake to ourselves. The northern end of the lake has a few homes and camps along its shoreline. In the early evening hours we could hear across the lake someone playing a trumpet and as dusk turned to night the milky way painted the sky. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that many stars!
The next morning fog rolled across the water while temperatures dipped to around 45 degree, I was cold. Quickly I restarted the campfire for some warmth along with my twig stove in order to boil water for coffee and oatmeal.
The mornings sunrise slowly toasted the dollops of fog lingering like marshmallows over a campfire as I made my way to church. Yes, the church of the single blade is where I find my peace.
On Thursday May 16th I picked up my new to me Subaru Outback from our local Subaru dealer. This one owner car has super low mileage and is loaded.. On Saturday the 18th my wife and I strapped our boats to the roof and headed north to Old Forge, NY for the annual Adirondack Paddlefest. The car performed flawlessly as did my canoe!
Arriving in Old Forge we could have not asked for better weather. We made the rounds, met up with friends and sat on the deck of Matt’s Draft House “Screaming Eagle” for some sunshine, beers and wings. Peanut butter panic wings to be exact! Later on in the afternoon Julie and I would make our way a few miles north to 7th lake to canoe/kayak for a bit.
Not too far out into the lake from the boat launch is a wonderful island with a sandy beach. This is one of my favorite spots and rightfully so is also very popular. Tucked on the other side of the island there is now a lean t0 as well. Since technically it is “Out of Season” we basically had it all to ourselves, minus the guy camping at said lean to…
As our day drew to a close we finished with more beer and food at Fulton Chain Craft Brewing. We woke the next morning packed up and headed for home. Another successful Adirondack Paddlefest!
If you have any questions about my canoe or the Adirondack Canoe Company please feel free to message me. This 12′ Skylight is super comfortable with amazing secondary stability and is so light it is finger lifting good!
My Subaru Outback loaded with an Adirondack Canoe Company Skylight canoe. The Skylight is 12′ long and weighs only 20 pounds. Extremely sweet boat!The beach life on 7th lake Inlet, NY.Buried Acorn Brewing “Hot Whip” IPA chilling on the deck of Matt’s Draft House “Screaming Eagle” Inlet, NY.The sun struggles to set through the clouds in Old Forge, NY.And last but not least Fulton Chain Craft Brewing’s “Bear Road Coffee Stout”. I’m not a stout fan by any means but this is one of my favorites!
Last week I posted about my first attempt at dehydrating meals for backpacking and canoe camping. I went out this afternoon in order to test the meal. I wanted to see if I could gauge how much water and time I would need to properly rehydrate the 6 ounces of sausage vegetable stew.
You can check out the results in a short video below! Give my blog a follow, you can also find me “Adirondack Joe” on Facebook & Instagram as well.
One of my favorite local places to canoe is the small Nanticoke lake. I simply love the fact that you have to walk/carry your canoe a quarter mile even before laying eyes on it. It gives you that extra sense of adventure and tranquility. Here is a short video I shot of sunrise back in October 2017, please feel free to share.
It is no secret that I love gear, so when I came across this Uberleben Stoker flatpack stove I knew I had to give it a try. I already own a Solostove Lite which I love. In my opinion you can’t have too many twig stoves.
This afternoon I headed to my local State Park to get it’s fire burning and have some food. Conditions out on the trail aren’t always perfect and today’s weather I feel was a good representative of that. The temperature a balmy 38 degrees in addition to 15-17MPH winds and snow flurries thrown in for good measure. It has been very damp and wet here lately so in order to get the fire going I decided to bring some dryer lint and two small pieces of fat wood and in no time the belly of this beast had come alive.
I filled my pot with 12 ounces of cold water and placed it on top. I continued to feed the fire a steady diet of leaves, twigs and sticks. The one thing I have noticed with these twigs stoves is they are constantly hungry. In these conditions it took 15 minutes for the 12 ounces of water to boil which I felt was reasonable. On a warm day with light wind I’m confident boiling time would be around 8-9 minutes.
I poured the water into a Goodto-Go single serve dehydrated meal (Chicken Gumbo) stirred and sealed and let rehydrate for 15 minutes. I put another 12 ounces of water back into my pot in order to boil for coffee.
The Stove: A little on the heavy side (14.5 ounces with canvas sleeve), this extremely compact and simple 5 panel stove assembles in about a minute or so. The first time I put it together it felt a little clumsy to me and I was skeptical that it would be as sturdy as I have read. All the pieces fit snug together giving it a solid base. This stove is made from heavy duty 304 grade stainless steel which is anti-corrosive. After I had it assembled I truly liked its feel, solid as a tank. You will have no issue what so ever placing a heavy cast iron skillet or pot on this stove. Another great feature about this product was the large opening to feed the fire and the nicely placed holes for consistent airflow.
What I Liked:
Ease of assembly, compact, large opening to feed the fire, Sturdiness, airflow and lastly the price.
What I Didn’t Like:
A little heavier than I would like and extremely sooty during disassembly.
I believe that the positives outweigh the negatives and highly recommend this compact, affordable twig stove. I hope this review of the Uberleben Stoker Flatpack Stove was helpful and if you have a product that you would like me to review please feel free to contact me.
I was scheduled to photograph the Palio “Half Marathon & 5K” on Sunday September 16th in Saratoga Springs, NY. Looking at the weather forecast for the weekend not only did I notice it was going to be great weather wise but there was little to no wind forecast as well. I made plans to meet up with a friend on the 15th to paddle in the eastern Adirondacks. I have not spent much time in this side of the park so this would be exciting for me.
September 15th 2018: I pulled out of the Dunking Donuts drive thru here in Endwell at 0530 with 179 miles of driving ahead of me in order to reach Lewey Lake which lies between Speculator and Indian Lake, NY. Once I got off I-88 and went over the hills and through the woods the fog was pretty dense, the curves sharp. And then the Grim Reaper himself loomed in the distance. An 18 wheeler lumbering up, down and around for the next 40 miles with no place to pass. I finally arrived at the Lewey Lake campground at 0845 as the sun had begun to burn off a good portion of the fog. Shortly after my friend Linda would arrive from Saratoga Springs. As fate would have it the boys and I had camping reservations at Lewey Lake this past August. However we had to cancel due to their working schedule.
By this time most of the fog had burned off and the skies were a brilliant blue complimented by marshmallow clouds. Linda and I were paddling along the shoreline of the lake making our way to the south end and the entrance to the Miami river. Once onto the river we encountered two low beaver dams that were easily paddled over. I loved how the Miami twisted and turned. We made it just over a mile before encountering a very large beaver dam. It spanned the entire river I’d say about 30-40 feet and at least 4 foot tall as well. Linda and I decided not to attempt to get around it and slowly made our way back into Lewey lake continuing to navigate its entire shoreline.
This was a fun day paddle and to be honest if I was a little more prepared I would have thought to hit Thirteenth lake as I made my way across the Park towards Warrensburg. However it was getting close to Beer O’ Clock and the Northway Brewery in Queensbury was calling our names. As luck would have it the brewery was literally right next door to my hotel for the evening.
As the nights and days slowly turn cooler and the leaves begin to shed their greens for the reds, oranges and yellows of Autumn I hope to return at least once this season.
