On Sunday 2 August Matt, Kathryn, Eric and I went to Lake Lila for a canoe camping trip. K & I used to go to Lake Lila in the late ’80s and early ’90s when it was considered a “remote” location. No one wanted to portage their canoes in the 3/10ths of a mile required to reach the water. Lighter canoes, the popularity of mass-market kayaks and more participants have increased the pressure on Adirondack waterside camping locations. As we drove in the Lake Lila access road we passed two outward bound vehicle with Vermont license plates and talked with another Vermont couple in the parking lot.

Our plan was to go into Lake Lila as weekend campers were exiting on Sunday afternoon. It rained on Saturday night and most of Sunday morning as we drove to Long Lake to rendezvous with Matt at Hoss’s Store at 2pm. We were on the water and paddling by 3pm.

Below Kathryn, Eric & Jim posed besides the loaded MN II canoe.

We found a nice campsite with a sandy beach perfect for Eric to play and swim and a prevailing westerly breeze.

We set up our tents and Matt cooked beef stroganoff on Sunday night. Monday morning I was awoken by an eagle chirping at 6am. I got up and read for an hour as the mist cleared off the lake. We saw several mature and immature eagles cruising between Lake Lila and Lows Lake.

We had a leisurely breakfast including scones baked in our backpacker oven. On Monday morning we paddled over to Mount Frederica for the short climb to an excellent view.

We had lunch on Mount Frederica and took scads of pictures.

In the afternoon we hung around camp, swam and played with the canoes. We let Eric jump off the canoe to go swimming and Kathryn took the solo Prism out for a little spin in afternoon.

Matt was stressed by the whole affair.