How about Little Tupper Lake in the central Adirondacks? Many designated primitive campsites separated by at least 1/4 mile each, no motorized equipment allowed, no reservation or permits required, no carries (other than from the parking lot to the put in, 100 ft)
Little Tupper Lake is also directly connected to Round Lake. Round Lake has a dozen or so designated primitive campsites. Most campsites at both spots have thunder boxes too!
Both have many natural beaches and some inlets and outlets that can be explored. To poke around everywhere would take several days.
I would second Little Tupper/Round Lake. Lots of sites to chose from, 20+ on Tupper, 11 on Round, no motorboats, no permits required (unless you want to spend more than 3 nights on a site).
I’ve been to Little Tupper a dozen times since it was acquired in 1997 and it remains one of my favorite easy-access places to paddle and camp. Plus from south-central PA you can easily drive north at dawn and be paddling in that afternoon.
A few cautions: Little Tupper is, well, kinda little. It is only 6 miles long and maybe a mile across at the widest. None the less because of the orientation it can get challengingly choppy in the wind. It can also be very popular, especially for day paddlers in season. I’ve seen the parking area overflow full on summer weekends and try to time my visits so that I’m not at the HQ landing on Fri/Sat/Sun.
If the log-in book shows few other parties camped take the time to paddle around the lake a bit before selecting a site. I’ve been to every site on Little Tupper, Rock Pond and Round Lake, camped on a half-dozen best of the lot and stopped to investigate the rest.
Well, more than that, we have graded every site during family trips on a seven point scale of: tent capacity, landing ease, view & water proximity, buggieness, swimming potential, site wanderability and combination of sun/shade. Think between 5 and 15 points awarded for each criteria.
My favorite sites are a couple in the 90 percentile range. On the other hand there are a half dozen that score 50% or less. With the lowest possible score being 35 that ain’t good, and there are a couple of 35’s.
My favorite sites on Little Tupper are all along the NW shoreline. And on Round Lake the east side.
He may be able to walk 100 meters or so without gear and I can carry a lot, plus we'll be with another couple)
Don’t overlook moving camp to Rock Pond. The carry is short and not steep and a couple of the sites on Rock Pond are in our 80-90 percent scoring range. Even that short carry will reward with a more wildernessy feel.
Between Lil Tupper, Round and Rock I can easily spend a lazy week there moving camp every few days. And the Ranger staff is top notch; it must be a sought after post.
