Extended Columbus Day weekend paddle camping in the ADKs

[BrianSnat]

A solo, four day and three night paddle camping trip at Round Lake in the Adirondacks. I had been to Round Lake before and was hoping to bag what I thought was the nicest the campsite on the lake, but knowing this was prime fall season and a holiday weekend for some, I was worried that I would need to find another site.

When signing into the register I noticed to my surprise that there was not another person camped there. The put in there is an easy one. Only a few feet to the water. When canoe camping, I don't travel lightly, so it took me a while to load my canoe. As I was abut to launch another solo camper pulled up.

As it turned out, the two of us were the only campers on the lake the entire time and he camped on the far side so I never saw him until he was paddling back on the final morning. I bagged the site I wanted and spent the most of the afternoon setting up my site. I hung my hammock and tarp in a few minutes, then decided to pitch my 16' Noah's Tarp in case of rain. That came in handy the next day.

Overnight temps dipped into the mid 30's each night, but my new UGQ top quilt and my combo of a Kammok sleeping pad and my cheap, summer weight UQ kept me toasty and made it hard to get out of the hammock in the morning

The next day started out beautiful so I explored the spiderweb of trails leading from the campsite, most of which led basically nowhere special. I sat down to read and promptly falling asleep and waking up in time to make lunch. About 2 in the afternoon I was about to take the canoe out for some fishing when I noticed dark clouds approaching. I checked the weather app on my phone and it said heavy rain in 15 minutes. Exactly 15 minutes later the skies opened up accompanied by some major wind gusts. Glad that I pitched the Noahs Tarp, I retreated under it and grabbed a book and some Bushmills and settled in.

The final day I did some paddling and fishing. I didn't catch any of the trout the lake is famous for, but landed a couple of small bass.

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[TrailBlaser]

I camped at Round Lake this summer. Granted, it was mid-week, but I didn't see anyone camped there. I checked out all the sites and ended up splitting my stay between the two nicest sites on the lake. It was interesting to see the DEC policy of setting campsites back in the woods out of sight from the lake in effect. Two parties were going in when I came out on Saturday. I had a great time too.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/zicUCZLjuM4jUcADA

[BrianSnat]

My second time here and both times there was only one other camper. I liked my site because it had a flat area next to the water with a great view. I've camped on a few sites on adjacent, Little Tupper Lake and they are similarly back from the water.