I just got back from a 6 day 5 night trip up the Oswegatchie River to High Falls and back with a small group of scouts and leaders. We started with a 6.5 hour drive from PA to Star Lake NY and an area known as Inlet (the starting point of our paddle). The river was flowing very well since they had had heavy rain a few days prior to our arrival.
The first day we made it to the High Rock area, site 41, and set up camp. I had to go a little ways into the woods to find some suitable trees, since my son and one of the other boys hanging took the closer trees that were hammockable.
The second day we paddled up to a cluster of sites that have access to the Five Ponds Trail. When we got there 2 of the four sites were taken, and one of the remaining was very small (and had no pairs of trees), but the site we took, site 25, was very nice...especially the site I found for my hammock. We stayed there 2 nights so we could hike and swim for a day. It rained both nights, but the sil-argon tarp kept me and my gear nice and dry.
The fourth day we went to the cluster of sites at High Falls. This was really nice since we got a site on the river that had a great breeze that kept the mosquitoes and flies away. It was a bit noisy being that close to the falls, but well worth it. We had a front blow through while we were there and it sprinkled on us twice, but the thunderheads kept on blowing by without really raining on our camp.
The fifth day we paddled downstream to the last site before our take out point (actually they added a site since my map was made, so I guess it was the second to last). This was an interesting setup since the other two hammocks (scouts) took the prime trees and left me to figure out how to span close to a 20 foot gap with one approximately 3 foot diameter tree. Fortunately I had 2 strap extenders (for leashing gear to the canoe) and some paracord that allowed me to pitch in an awesome spot.
While I was lounging here and enjoying a snack, a canoe went by and by their knowledge of my setup I knew that I had a hammock forums member. It was nice to briefly meet you Brooklynkayak.
Final day we paddled out and drove home.
Bookmarks