It’s Not Too Late For A Fall Adventure, Part One, Planning ©

 

Algonquin Provincial Park, between Welcome and Harry lakes, photograph by the author.

  

What with COVID, and the Canadian/U.S. border being closed for the duration, I’m not going to get to Algonquin Provincial Park this summer, bummer!  But it’s not too late for a fall adventure!  So, I’m starting to plan and outfit an adventure that is both closer to home and doesn’t cross international or state borders.

 

 

“I’ve never planned a wilderness adventure before?”, you say.  Okay, I’ll walk you through what I do to plan an adventure and later, in “It’s Not Too Late For A Fall Adventure, Part Two”, coming soon, I will talk about how to outfit your trip and gather your gear and food.

 

To plan a wilderness adventure, first you have to answer these four questions; do you want to hike or canoe, where do you want to go, how long you do want to stay and how many people are going, and lastly, when do you want to go.

 

 

Question one, do you want to canoe or hike?  Since my wife and I are planning on going on the adventure together, we decided to go canoeing, not a hiking, so...

 

 

The second step is deciding where you want to go on your wilderness adventure.  These days, with COVID closing the border between the United States and Canada for unnecessary travel and with some states quarantining other states, your choices of where to go are a little less than it might have been, if there wasn’t a pandemic.  If you live in in New York State, you could plan an adventure in New York’s Allegheny State Park or in the Allegheny National Forest, in Pennsylvania, or in New York State’s Adirondack Park, or in other areas of Vermont, Pennsylvania or New York¹.  When planning a canoe trip, in Pennsylvania or New York, you could plan a trip on the Allegheny River, either starting and ending within New York’s Allegheny State Park, or the Allegheny National Forest in Pennsylvania, or you could start in one and end in the other.  You could also plan your canoe trip in New York State’s Adirondack Park. 

 

My wife and I decided, since we have never canoed in the Adirondacks before, that we would go there.

 

Mead Run in the Allegheny National Forest, from Wikimedia, “Mead Run3”, found HERE.  To find information on Allegheny National Park, go HERE.

 

Long Pond, in the Saint Regis Canoe Area., from Wikimedia, “Long Pond - St Regis”, found HERE.

 

 

You could go for two days, three or four days, or maybe even a full week or more, it is all up to you. 

 

How many is going is also up to you, however, check with the area that you are going to as they might have restrictions on how many people can be in each camp site.  For example, in Algonquin Provincial Park you are allowed only nine people per site and the Adirondack allow only ten people per tent site and eight per lean-to.  Also, you should always go with a buddy or two, and never alone, since in the case of an accident, you are, well, alone and there is no one to help you!  For more on this see “The Buddy System ©”, HERE.

 

Fall is kind of hectic for us, what with back to school and all, so we decided to go for a three to four-day trip, over a long weekend.  Since we were going to the Adirondacks, we went to Raquette-River Outfitters’ website, which is excellent and full of route suggestions, HERE, and then to their three-day trip section, HERE, before we settled on Lake Lila.

 

An excerpt from Adirondack Atlas’, “Lake Lila” map found HERE.

 

 

Photograph by the author.

 

The last step in planning your trip, is to decide when you are going, and for this step you need to check your personal calendar and decide when you are free. 

 

After you have decided exactly when you are going, it is time to outfit your expedition and gather your gear and food.  For more on how to outfit an adventure, look for “It’s Not Too Late For A Fall Adventure, Part Two, Outfitting ©”, coming soon!

 

I hope that you continue to enjoy The Woodsman’s Journal Online and look for me on YouTube at Bandanaman Productions for other related videos, HERE.  Don’t forget to follow me on both The Woodsman’s Journal Online, HERE, and subscribe to BandanaMan Productions on YouTube.  If you have questions, as always, feel free to leave a comment on either site.  I announce new articles on Facebook at Eric Reynolds, on Instagram at bandanamanaproductions, and on VK at Eric Reynolds, so watch for me.

 

That is all for now, and as always, until next time, Happy Trails!

 

 

Notes

 

¹ Currently, as of August 21, 2020, New York State’s list of restricted states is:

 

Sources

 

Adirondack Atlas, “Lake Lila”, https://adirondackatlas.org/?token=71943e36e7f5dfe92bd4ce1f4ee83fff, accessed August 12, 2020

 

Collins, Joan; “Canoe Camping on Lovely Lake Lila”, Hamilton County Dept. of Economic Development & Tourism, https://www.adirondackexperience.com/blog/2014/10/the-lure-of-lovely-lake-lila, accessed August 12, 2020

 

Editorial Staff, “Featured Waters: Lake Lila in Long Lake”, The Adirondack Almanack, July 6, 2018, https://www.adirondackalmanack.com/2018/07/featured-waters-lake-lila-in-long-lake.html, accessed August 12, 2020

 

“Lake Lila”, New York State, Department of Environmental Conservation, https://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/76408.html, accessed August 12, 2020

 

Raquette River Outfitters, “Canoe & Kayak: Route Suggestions & Trip Planning”, https://raquetteriveroutfitters.com/routes-and-trips/, accessed August 12, 2020

 

Raquette River Outfitters, “Three Day Canoe & Kayak Trips”, https://raquetteriveroutfitters.com/routes-and-trips/three-day-trips/, accessed August 12, 2020

 

United States Department of Agriculture, Natural Resource Conservation Service, “Welcome to the Allegheny National Forest!”, https://www.fs.usda.gov/allegheny, accessed August 12, 2020

 

Wikimedia, “Long Pond - St Regis”, July 19, 2006, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Long_Pond_-_St_Regis.jpg, accessed August 12, 2020

 

Wikimedia, “Mead Run3”, May 28, 2006, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mead_Run3.JPG, accessed August 12, 2020