Fish Pond, St Regis canoe wilderness area

[stripperguy]

This is the way it ended

Along the way there were two broken legs, a broken jaw, a 26 degree night, and sustained high winds. But it was all just fine.

This was my first trip with my carbon copy Kite, and even at 28 lbs, I wished the boat was lighter yet!!

We started out at Little Clear Pond on a postcard perfect Friday morning.

 

[stripperguy]

The mile and a half paddle across Little Clear went by quickly.
As did the .4 mile carry. Soon enough, we were at the familiar boardwalk on St Regis Pond.

We headed out on St Regis Pond, towards the western arm. The view towards the pond from the boardwalk took me back to 1978, when MDB and I celebrated our first anniversary with a trip there!

 

[stripperguy]

We did meet two dudes with a 16 foot plastic bruisewater...they were dragging it fully loaded along the carry. One of them commented that it was so much easier to drag than to carry. I asked if it was also easier going uphill!

We got to the fish barrier dam is short order. By now the winds had picked up quite a bit, but we were sheltered in the W. arm.

Knowing that the outlet was fully navigable, we scooted around the dam.

Soon enough, we were paddling down the outlet, in what I thought would be the highlight of the trip. We counted five beaver dams, only two of which had an actual drop to them. All were easily and enjoyably run.

 

[stripperguy]

Now, where were we????

Oh yeah, we paddled the outlet of St Regis non stop (almost) to Ochre Pond.
Once on Ochre, we looked for the spur trail to the Fish Pond Truck Trail. Try as we might, from the water, there was nary a sign of it. Even with bare trees, we couldn't make out any semblance of a trail. So, we paddled to the other side of Ochre to the Mud Pond carry, hickoryskier promptly sunk to his knee, and nearly lost a boot!
OK, the carry to Mud would be out, we decided to look a little harder for the spur trail. I knew it would be going up a minor drainage, so we landed our boats and searched, expecting to just bushwhack the .2 miles. Soon enough we spotted some slashed trees, and evidence of chainsaw cut deadfalls. And then, nearly to the truck trail, we spotted a single lonely marker.

Here's the start of the official carry trail

And here's the other, clearly marked end

From the spur trail junction to Fish Pond was another 1.3 mile carry, with enough ups and downs to remind you of your load. By now it was plenty warm out, and we worked up quite a lather.

The wind was howling by now, and Fish Pond was whipped into a frenzy. Who would have thought that such a tiny pond could have whitecaps! Anyway, both lean to's were taken. We checked out a few other sites before deciding to take the site along the carry to Little Fish Pond. This was the same site that we stayed at 15 years ago. My son and nephew were adamant that we stay on that same site.

On the way to that site, we paddled by those impressive cliffs at the far end, we would definitely have to check those out.
Hmmm, what else? Oh yeah, the broken legs and broken jaw...

 

[stripperguy]

OK, broken legs, that's right, plural, meaning two.

But before I go into that, I want to mention my new chair. After studying Old Coach's Helinox, and realizing it would cost too much to build one, I bought a Helinox Chair One for what I thought was a decent price, $80, no tax, no shipping. Well, as I'm setting it up to endless ridicule, our South African buddy (coolest accent ever) pulls out his Helinox knock off, $27 on Amazon!!
We place the chairs side by side, they sure look identical. Of course this leads to more ridicule.

Well, as the evening progressed past dinner, we sat around a warm campfire and our buddy on the fake Helinox seemed to be sinking lower and lower.
He stands up and inspects his chair to find one leg bent at an awkward angle. His attempt to straighten the leg resulted in the first fracture!

To avoid cutting the elastic cord that holds all the legs together, he borrows my nephews brand new Gerber multi tool. The plan is to use the pliers to fracture the short piece of broken leg and remove it. This resulted in the broken jaw...on the pliers.

At least now it was easier to tell the chairs apart!

Sometime later that evening, you just know what's gonna happen. Sure enough, buddy bends, then fractures the other leg! At least he's not sitting crooked any more.

I have to back up for a moment, dinner was provided courtesy of Kelly, Kettle that is. Between the home dried meals and snacks, and the Kelly Kettle, it has become just too easy. These things boil water faster than any other fuel stove I have ever used!

 

[stripperguy]

Saturday night was fairly cold, I thought. One of the guys mistakenly thought it would have been in the high 40's at night. He slept under a tarp, and had only a fleece bag liner for warmth. Later, I found out it had been 26 F in Saranac Lake, probably the same for us. Needless to say, the fleece liner didn't work out so well, even with hot rocks from the fire for additional warmth.
While eating breakfast, we noticed a wind shift and marked drop in temperature. So we packed up quickly and headed towards home.

One last look before I tore down my tent.

And that was that! We packed up, bundled up and headed out.

Along the truck trail back to St Regis, we had heavy rain turning to sleet. It actually gets kind of loud under the canoe! We paused for a breather at the fish barrier dam, then continued through the rain towards the carry to Little Clear.

The rest of the way was too wet to take many photos, but my rain gear did its job.

All in all it was a great time, with some great laughs and tons of memories to add to the pile. The carbon copy Kite performed flawlessly, and there were no surprises with any other boats or gear (except for that fake Helinox and the broken jaw Gerber)
Everyone is now itching for another trip...me too!

 

[sailsman63]

Looks like fun... Thanks for sharing.

 

[sweeper]

And dueling Kelly Kettles

 

[deerfly]

that was awesome, beautiful country too.

 

[stripperguy]

And dueling Kelly Kettles

Actually, we had three of them...My nephew never needed to take his out of the bag. We kept one Kelly filled while the other boiled, then swapped Kelly's, keeping the fire pan stoked at all times. Made for a quick breakfast and coffee!

Interesting side note (to me, at least) I've had my Kelly for about 8 years. Last night I wire brushed nearly 1/16" of soot from the inside of it. That stuff was really stuck firmly to the inside. I imagine that soot was compromising the heat transfer, we'll see if my Kelly is even faster the next time out.

 

[sweeper]

It does, it's the same thing with our home pellet stove. You have to clean the soot off the baffles for a good heat exchange.

OT: Have you ever tried using an Alcohol Stove in a Kelly on a rainy day?

 

[flyingbison]

Nice pictures. Looks like a great trip.

 

[stripperguy]

It does, it's the same thing with our home pellet stove. You have to clean the soot off the baffles for a good heat exchange.

OT: Have you ever tried using an Alcohol Stove in a Kelly on a rainy day?

No, but I have not yet been unable to get a good fire under it, even on the wettest days...

 

[yellowcanoe]

I bet that Helinox knock off chair could make a good hanging chair with appropriate ropes!

 

[stripperguy]

I bet that Helinox knock off chair could make a good hanging chair with appropriate ropes!

I'd say that's probably the only way it might survive!!
I was surprised to see an identical (not really) chair for almost 1/3 of the price I paid. I remember you raving about your Helinox a few years ago...and after seeing one in person, I knew they were well made. Coming from a background of high tech, mechanical design and the world of R & D, I know you can make things good, and you can make them cheap, but usually not both! It was good to see (but too bad for Bruce) that my prejudices remain intact.
All white metals are not the same, despite both chairs being made of aluminum tubing. While similar in OD and ID, the knock off uses some cheaper, weaker aluminum. The Helinox uses something they call TH72M alloy...I assume it's a 7000 series aluminum. Most of those 7000's are known for their high strengths.

 

[stripperguy]

One of the guys on the trip had brought a fancy drone with him.
It went rogue over our heads as we paddled the outlet of St Regis Pond, spirally out of control into the wetlands around the stream.
But, before that irritaining (irritating or entertaining depending on whether it was your drone or not), he captured some pretty cool images and videos.
Here's a sample

 

[yknpdlr]

It does, it's the same thing with our home pellet stove. You have to clean the soot off the baffles for a good heat exchange.

OT: Have you ever tried using an Alcohol Stove in a Kelly on a rainy day?

I have used a Trangia burner in a KK. it works, but not nearly as well as wood and natural materials. I tried to make use of all the "waste" heat going up the chimney of KK by fabricating a platform to hold a small frying pan. The problem arises in that the water in the KK boils so fast that there is no time to cook anything on top.

MY KK does have a lot of soot build up, I'll have to try brushing it out.

 

[Jim Dodd]

One of the guys on the trip had brought a fancy drone with him.
It went rogue over our heads as we paddled the outlet of St Regis Pond, spirally out of control into the wetlands around the stream.
But, before that irritaining (irritating or entertaining depending on whether it was your drone or not), he captured some pretty cool images and videos.
Here's a sample

Oh I recognize the Carbon Copy Kite !
Looks like it has plenty volume !

Nice trip report ! Looked like the strippers were getting a workout !
Envious of that no sticker sided strippers ! they sure look nice !

Jim

 

[stripperguy]

MY KK does have a lot of soot build up, I'll have to try brushing it out.

I used a wire brush made for cleaning welds, very stiff bristles...it took a while, but Kelly is nearly new inside now. That should really help the heat transfer.

Thanks, Jim...did you see my son and his girlfriend in the overhead view of me and the Kite?? They're sneaking around the next bend, almost out of view.

 

[Jim Dodd]

Thanks, Jim...did you see my son and his girlfriend in the overhead view of me and the Kite?? They're sneaking around the next bend, almost out of view.

Yes ! Great resolution on that camera !

Jim