It seems hard to believe it’s been a week now in the wilderness – starting out in Perkins Clearing for three nights, then Horseshoe Lake for three nights, and now Floodwood Road in the St. Regis Canoe Area. It’s funny, while Polywog Pond has a big group of campsites around it, this campsite on East Pine Pond is pretty quiet and isolated, though there is another campsite some 1/4 mile down the road.
Hell of it is, I doubt I’ve driven 150 miles so far on this trip, and that there is a good chance that I’ll make it home on Sunday on one tank of gas. It’s been a very direct trip, first Perkins Clearing (via Mason Pond as I was hoping for campsite there), then a b-line to Horseshoe Pond, then it was pretty much straight up to Floodwood Road, with a brief stop at the the Village Park in Tupper Lake, but that was maybe 2 miles out of the way, along with the local IGA grocer. Most of my travel has been via bike, as once I’ve set up camp I’ve not driven Red at all, though a few nights due to the cold and lack of sunlight I’ve idled the truck to keep especially the starting battery fully charged.
Today was no different. I rode down to Tupper Lake via the new Adirondack Rail Trail, having to stop a few times, because I got a flat tire, but I was able to pump it up and then eventually the fix-a-flat did it’s magic and I rode the rest of the day. Rode down to the Tupper Village Park, it was much nicer then the previous day. Then I rode through the village, and down NY 30 to Raquette Pond and took in the view. Then I decided to ride to Arab Mountain Trailhead in Piercefield. I tell you that Faust Hill outside of Tupper Lake, especially heading west bound on NY 3 is a bitch to climb, though it was fun riding back down. St. Lawrence County Highway 67 was another pretty good hill, as was the road over to Mount Arab. Made the mile trail up to the firetower seem relatively easy. A beautiful day, and not so cold. Still some nice color up at Arab Mountain, though not so much on some of the other peaks.
Riding down from Arab Mountain back to Tupper Lake was much more fun, though still you have to climb over Faust Hill, though it’s not as steep of a grade heading east bound on NY 3. The nice thing is NY 3 has very wide shoulders, as it was likely originally a 3-lane highway with a shared passing lane, removed some time later when that seen as unsafe. Then I spent some time at Tupper Lake Park for a while, uploading photos and thinking, replying to some work emails. Then I stopped at Save-a-Lot, which I didn’t realize is much like an Aldis, and got some more olive oil, as I was out of fats to lubricate pans with as I don’t have any bacon from For the Love of Bacon, and I was out of olive oil. I don’t use vegatables oil anymore, though I thought about that as a fall back as it would be better while camping, as it won’t solidify like olive oil does in cold.
Tomorrow I am planning on hiking Floodwood Mountain. I was surprised to hear what appeared to be cows mooing up here in the wilderness – but I was studying the maps and there is an in holding on West Pine Pond, and somebody must have a cows on their off-grid homestead, as there is no electric on most of St. Regis Canoe Area. But I can’t imagine having cows up here, with the demands of hay and grain, with no farms nearby, seems like an expensive proposition but some people like fresh milk and meat. Watched the sun set on East Pine Pond and cooked up btoen rice, canned chicken meat, onions, and carrots into a delicious soup. Always a filling meal after a busy day out on the trail, as I don’t do processed foods anymore and rarely eat meat, with the exception of bacon. It’s like saying I’m not smoker, despite liking an occasional Marlboro Red in the woods with a cold beer or a toke up in wilderness. But its’ so much better then the food most people eat dripping in saturated fats from cheese and meat.
I’ve been listening to more of Eva Shaub’s The Year Without Garbage. While there have been many years when I’ve only gone to transfer station once a year with accumulated milk bottles and all of the tin cans and glass bottles from the past year, I have to admit I don’t think nearly enough about all those plastic wrappers and coatings I’ve tossed in the fire over the years. While I don’t think I would ever have a smoldering burn barrel when I have my own land, I don’t really see the harm of burning the occasional wrapper in s hot fire when you have no neighbors nearby. A big part of my garbage these days is compost, being that I eat healthy, so I have a lot of apple cores and banana and onion peels. Those flour bags, frozen fruit bags, and dried bean wrappers pretty much disappear into the flames almost instantly with very little stink or smoke. Speaking of which, I think I want to have a fire tonight. I’m sitting by the heater, but a fire is nice, especially with the nights as long as they are this time of year. Plus I don’t know how long until the low voltage shuts off the electric lights as there was not too much solar for a charge today.
After dark, the curiosity got the best of me, and I wanted to find out more about the cows I was hearing. So I went for a night time ride up Floodwood Road. I was surprised beyond the state land there is several hunting cabins and off-grid homesteads including a farm with cattle and other animals that I couldn’t see well in the dark. I rode to gate at the end of road in St. Lawrence County. It was neat looking at the off-grid cabins and homesteads after dark, mostly dark except for the lanterns and lights indoors, mostly not lit up outdoors. Then I decided I had a lot of energy, so I went for a ride on the Adirondack Rail Trail in the dark, some 5 miles from Floodwood north to Hoel Pond then Little Rainbow Pond. While part of Hoel Pond has grid-tied houses, much of the rest of the trail up through the St. Regis Canoe Area is completely dark and star filled. I probably would have ridden further but after checking the battery level on my bike light, and realizing I haven’t charged it in weeks despite a fair bit of night riding, it would be best to head back to camp. I had a small fire for a while, a beer and soon I’m heading to bed.
And so that was the day that was. It was a good day.