A Backpacking Adventure: Fawn Lake

Today, Caitlin and I returned from a three-day, two-night backpacking trip in the Adirondacks. It was my first trip since before we had children and her first trip ever. We decided to take it easy, keep the hiking to a minimum, and camp out on Fawn Lake in the Jessup River Wild Forest, in Lake Pleasant, NY. We were first introduced to Fawn Lake a couple of weeks ago when I took the other two girls on a long weekend. On our last day, we stopped at Fawn Lake to “check it out” and immediately fell in love. It’s close enough to be easily accessible but just far enough to limit the number of people you’d see there at any given time. It was on that first trip a couple of weeks ago that I knew I had to come back.

The drive was as uneventful as usual and followed the same direction as our camp. In fact, we passed our camp on the way, so we stopped to grab a few supplies—specifically Caitlin’s hiking shoes, a couple of trekking poles, and a second sleeping mat. We had already packed everything else into our packs or into my car, so it would only be a quick stop. Caitlin did a few turns on the zip line, I grabbed the supplies, and we headed on our way.

The short remainder of the drive was quite familiar, as it’s the same route we take to the Village of Speculator and our go-to grocery store, Charlie Johns. About halfway to Speculator, we turned north off NY Route 8 onto Tamarack Road in Lake Pleasant. A couple of miles and a few turns later, the road turned to gravel and we arrived in the Jessup River Wild Forest, where the only indicator is the small placards occasionally placed on trees dotting the road. We parked at the large, familiar parking area and started to unload our gear. We tried to keep things light since we’d be carrying it on our backs, but we also didn’t want to forget anything. We both had completely full packs—Caitlin’s at 40 liters and mine (borrowed from my dad) at around 60L—and we still didn’t have enough room.

We didn’t know the exact distance we’d be traveling, somewhere between a half and three-quarters of a mile, we thought. We decided to leave a few things behind, along with a day pack that we’d come back to grab later. We hoisted on our packs and started walking the 100 or so meters downhill toward the trail register. We dutifully signed in, and the first thing we noticed was a party of thirteen (!) had signed in before us. We knew there were at least half a dozen camping sites along the lake—some on the trail and others more easily accessible by boat. We headed off and hoped for the best.

The first three-tenths of a mile were familiar—gentle slopes with minimal mud and a horde of deer flies and mosquitoes. They actually weren’t that bad, if it weren’t for the fact that we were both traveling slower than usual, weighed down by our overpacked packs. We arrived at a fork in the trail at the 0.3-mile mark. To the left is where we went last time—the shorter route to the lake with a couple of campsites, marked as the hand-carried boat launch. We took the trail to the right, which wraps around the lake and heads to a larger number of campsites and the “beach.” I use quotations because it’s not a beach in the traditional sense—maybe only a few feet wide—but there is enough sand to make wading in the water enjoyable.

We continued down the trail, mostly downhill, with a few ups and downs along the way. I’m not sure when, but it looks like the trail was recently maintained, as there were a number of newer wooden structures to traverse the muddy sections. This, along with a few new stretches of tamped gravel and larger boulders for stepping stones, made the trail very nice to walk. I’m sure we would’ve enjoyed the scenery more without our overburdened packs.

We continued down the trail toward what we thought was the first campsite. Caitlin became immediately disappointed when she noticed the “No Camping” sign boldly posted on the tree. Fortunately for us, the smaller print before the no-camping text mentioned the DEC’s typical “within 150 feet of trails, water, or where no-camping discs are posted.” We were safe. We spotted the small branch trail—like a hidden passage—heading left off the main trail. Maybe 100 feet down the narrow trail, the view opened up and we were greeted by a nearly pristine campsite overlooking the water. The best part? It was unoccupied. There was a small bench, a few other logs surrounding the fireplace, a small grassy area perfect for a tent, and a large boulder at the edge of the water perfect for watching the distance. Caitlin exclaimed, “This is perfect!”

We took a well-deserved break, drank some water, and had a few snacks. We started to set up camp with our Amazon.com special two-person backpacking tent. The tent didn’t have any poles and made use of our trekking poles to lighten our load. It was okay—nothing special. You get what you pay for as far as backpacking gear is concerned, so we made do. We tossed the rest of the gear in the tent, grabbed our waters, and headed back to the car. We wanted to make sure we had both sleeping bags before it got dark, even though it was only around four o’clock. The trip back was much quicker, probably because we weren’t carrying anything except our waters. We made good time, grabbed the few remaining items of our gear, threw them in my daypack, and headed back to our campsite. Still no sign of the 13 people signed in at the trail register. We debated going into town to grab more food at Charlie Johns or the Mountain Market, but we decided we didn’t really need anything and just wanted to get back to our site and settle in for the night.

When we got back to the campsite, it was nearing five o’clock, so we decided to make dinner: ramen. Caitlin would have hers plain, and I would add dehydrated vegetables and a pouch of cooked chicken. It was much better than I expected, and I’d probably have it again given the opportunity. We ate our dessert—M&Ms—and cleaned up after dinner. Boiling the ramen depleted most of our water supply, so I got to try out the new fancy Sawyer water filter to refill our bottles. It was quick, easy, and relatively painless. I hadn’t used any kind of water filtration since SERE school back in 2009, so the modern advances in water purification were quite outstanding.

After dinner, we decided to go for a quick walk and check out the rest of the campsites along the lake. We left the short trail from our site back to the main trail and took a left, heading north along Fawn Lake. Not too far down the trail, we ran into what looked like a large, open campsite directly on the trail. There was a no-camping disc posted, so this ended up being the “beach.” It was a nice day-use area where camping was prohibited. A wide access area and nice sandy shore made it a great place to dip your toes in the water or head out further if that’s your thing. We hung around the site for a few minutes, checking everything out. We noticed a relatively new outhouse across the trail from the beach. As far as outhouses go, it was stink-free and clean. It wasn’t even infested with spiders—yet. Caitlin still refused to use it, preferring instead to use the woodbine.

We continued down the trail until we ended up at the last campsite on this end of the lake. There were a few more further north, but they were well off the trail and we had no desire to bushwhack to check them out. The last site was just as big as the beach area and also directly on the trail. It would be nice for a bigger group and is where we expected to see the group of 13—of which we still had no sign. We hung out for a little bit, stayed at the sandy beach for a little while longer, and finally headed back to our site for the night.

We made it back to our campsite with no sign of anyone else—no larger groups, no small groups. No one. We sat around the rock for a while until the sun went down. When the sun went down, the breeze stopped. When the breeze stopped, the mosquitoes came out. We knew it was time to go to bed soon. We just had to clean up our camp and head to the tent.

We didn’t have a bear bag and weren’t sure how aggressive the mammals were in the area. We decided to take the daypack, load up our food and garbage, and hoist it into a tree with enough paracord to keep it out of reach of any curious animals. We hopped in the tent, got in our sleeping bags, and went to sleep.

The next day, we were awakened around 5:30 a.m. by the call of the loons. Caitlin was startled, as she had never heard them before, but once she became familiar with the sound, we managed to get a couple more hours of sleep. We woke up and had a quick breakfast before deciding what to do for the day. I tossed and turned all night, not having slept on a backpacking pad in years, while Caitlin slept comfortably most of the night. We hadn’t yet decided whether we were going to stay for one night or two, but Caitlin was sold on a second night before we even had a chance to discuss it. I obliged, seeing as we don’t get to do this very often, and we then forged our plan for the day. We cleaned up our camp, visited the beach, and decided to head into town.

This time, I decided to use my watch to see exactly how far we would go. We set off with one daypack and our water. We crossed paths with a large group of what looked like summer campers heading out as we were heading in. Caitlin was concerned they would steal our site, but I promised her they would share it at worst. We checked the register on the way out and noticed the group of 13 had left—without us ever bumping into them. When we got to the car, the trip came out to be 1.2 miles exactly. Considering this was our fifth trip back and forth, we had already clocked over five miles. We hopped in the car and headed off to Speculator.

Our first stop was the Lake Pleasant Public Library. We like to take every opportunity to visit public libraries when we can, and this was the first time the LPPL was open when we had time. It’s a neat little library with a rather nice kids’ area and the largest selection of Adirondack books I’ve ever seen—three full floor-to-ceiling bookcases. Caitlin took an obligatory coloring page and found a hidden duck on the shelves, earning her a trip to the prize bin. Her choice? A fake $100 bill to prank her sisters.

After the library, we started to get hungry, so we went to our go-to Speculator pizza place, Mountain Market, for a small pizza—half cheese and half pepperoni. We sat while we waited and ate the scalding pizza in their small dining area. After lunch, we headed over to the Speculator public beach on Lake Pleasant. We’ve never been there before with lifeguards present, so we took the opportunity to check out the water. It was a small beach, as far as public beaches go, with clean sand and warm water. The water did have a large amount of aquatic plant life, but it didn’t really dissuade either of us from enjoying it.

We needed to dry off before our next stop, and neither of us had towels, so we took some time to check our “phones” and dry off in the sun. The full sun and 80+ degree temperatures made for a quick dry, and we headed back to the car and off to Charlie Johns, our go-to grocer in the area. Charlie Johns always has what we need—and more. We decided to get an early dinner so we could avoid ramen at camp. Caitlin went with her go-to: a turkey Lunchable. I picked a turkey sandwich from their premade section. We checked out and quickly ate in the car on our way back to the trailhead, stopping at Moffitt Beach Campground and Day Use Area on the way. As a veteran, I recently received the New York Lifetime Liberty Pass, allowing free access to state parks and day-use areas, so we check them out pretty much every chance we get. We drove past the nearly 200 campsites along Sacandaga Lake and headed back toward Fawn Lake.

We grabbed the daypack—now heavy with a couple of bottles of Gatorade and a box of cookies for dessert—and headed back toward camp. We checked the register one last time and noticed another group of eight had signed in for overnight camping at Fawn Lake. We thought we’d be sharing camp with someone for sure!

Another uneventful hike back followed a couple who, according to the trail register, were from Bethesda, MD. Besides the couple, we didn’t see anyone else on the trail. We made it back to camp, cracked open the chocolate Dutch cookies, and decided what to do next. Since the temperature was in the mid-80s and we had to leave the next day, we decided to go back into the water. Despite not having a beach at our site, the water was quite usable. We went in for at least the next hour, enjoying the cool waves and lake breeze. We could hear a group down toward the beach, but didn’t see them from our site. The only other people we saw were on a small boat shuttling people from the boat launch to their campsite across the lake.

Shortly after we got out of the water, the sun began to set, the breeze ended, and the bugs came out. We went to bed.

The next morning, Caitlin felt sick, as she so often does before a long car ride. We packed up camp and hiked to the trailhead, joined by a number of toads clearing the path as we walked. Caitlin’s condition improved as we hiked back. No other time in the past three days did I notice the deer flies and mosquitoes as much as I did on the way back. We hiked as quickly as we could, carrying our overburdened packs—mine with another daypack attached—and signed out of the trail register as quickly as possible, jumped in the car, and headed home.

Some notable things that didn’t make it above but should be mentioned: We spent about 15 minutes watching a loon presumably hunt for food, diving underwater and surfacing approximately 50 feet away in any direction. We watched the loon do this half a dozen times until we lost track of where it had gone. We also noticed a frog one time in the water. We thought for a moment he might have been dead until Caitlin nearly stepped on him and he hopped in. We heard the song of a Black-capped Chickadee. As usual, we saw a few turkeys along Route 8.