Curious about how to go off and do this on your own? Check it out on the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s website.
Day 1 – May 20, 2011
We first arrived to the lake when an overcast started to get even more gloomy. After unpacking our gear on the boat, Yuwi and Joseph made their way over to cancel two of the three campgrounds we reserved. Just a few minutes after they left, it began to rain, but the owner, Rich, of the marina called me over to huddle inside their shop. He offered me some wine and we started chatting. I soon found out he was in the Navy and stationed in Taipei and Vietnam. After a my first cup, Joseph and Yuwi found themselves back to the shop and Rich invited all of us to more wine.
Soon after that, TomF and Ellen drove up to the shop to enjoy more stories and drinks. It was getting really dark and he was really insistent on having us stay the night in his cottage – for free! The rain picked up quite a bit at it was way too dark to navigate our way to the island.
Day 2 – May 21, 2011
The morning was majestic. A foggy mist covered the trees off in the distance and the lake was completely still. We decided it was a good time to get packed up and head over to the campsite. As the sleepy heads, TomF and Ellen, stayed back, Yuwi, Joseph and I were off to find our island.
About half way, the sun started breaking through the clouds and that started to make the trees look like they were steaming off the moisture. Just for the record, I was the first to step on the island and we had a hell of a time trying to find a place to dock, but finally found a place that we had to row into. We unloaded the gear and Joseph made his was back to get the two lazy bums back in the cottage. Yuwi and I went on a birch bark hunt and roamed around the island for a bit.
Dew and spider webs make for a very interesting specimen for pictures. The light pushing through and reflecting off each little droplet looks so awesome. At another campsite, we found a Stargate. I just couldn’t find the dialing panel or enough power to transport all of us to Destiny. By this time, Yuwi had a whole stack of birch bark she found laying around the island.
Joseph, TomF and Ellen have arrived! Just take a look at the gentleman TomF is – he’s sitting there making sure everything is going well, while Joseph and Ellen are trying to get the boat up on the island, lol. We setup our tents, unpacked our gear and had lunch: hotdogs! As a snack, some us made s’mores, but I opted for some sliced deli meats warmed up on my trademarked FoilPan. For dinner, we upped the game a little and made ridonkulous burgers with bacon, cheese and eggs!
We did some more wandering around the island. There were three campsites on the island and we cancelled two of them. Yes, that means we had the ENTIRE island to ourselves! The rest of the gang went back to the marina for some reason, I forgot, but I stayed back to relax and wander around the island by myself.
They finally came back and we enjoyed the fire through the night. I even taught TomF and Joseph how to those Sprint commercials were shot, so they decided to play around (my settings: 10 second exposure, f/2.8, ISO 400). Joseph was good, but TomF had a HORRIBLE time figuring out what to do.
“I am the king of the world!” -me
Day 3 – May 22, 2011
Each time I welcome the morning, I’m stunned to see nature at it’s finest. The overcast enhanced the view since the reflection off the lake made the experience so much more magical.
After some lunch, we packed our gear for a hike. I definitely should have remembered to wear some decent shoes rather than my Converses! The view at the top was really nice to just sit, have our snacks specially made by Ellen! Back at our campsite, some of us slept, some of us wandered the island more. I wish I found Hobbits.
Our last campfire had to be epic, so we used all of our saved up birch and tossed it in at once. It was awesome! Late into the night, the fire got so hot, we got some blue flames!
Day 3 – May 22, 2011
Our last day, sigh…farewell island and campsite 21!
The End.