Voyage of the Black Snake, Day 5

Ship's Log, Monday 10/12/15

~15 miles (and a walk)

Split rock-->Burlington-->North Burlington Beach campground...36$ for a tent for a night!!!

Strong south wind, clear, warm, sunburned. The wind and swell gathering along the lake made for exciting paddling. Rather more excitement than necessary. Took on more water than is ideal.

Made landfall in "civilisation" early enough to go out for lunch and do some people watching in the town of Burlington. Mixed feelings about the fact that pub food is not any better than trail food:/

Charged our devices while eating, which can't be done so easily on trail.

On the way back to the boat B ran into a classmate from midwifery school, Molly, at a coffee shop and had a delightful little visit and catch up. Walking down to the water with Molly we then ran into another friend, Amelia. What are the odds of bumping into the only 2 people in Burlington that we know?!

Meals:

-Kasha and onions with pemmican

-Trailmix and the last of the apples from Fort Ti

-Shore lunch

-Leftover biscuit and hard sausage

-"brownie in bed" crepe (a brownie wrapped in a crepe covered in monstrous deliciousness), in town, which was only a mile or so walk away....!

...Today was an eating day.

This is our pebble beach campsite, by split rock.

This is our 36$ campsite in town. not nearly so nice as pebble beach, but I don't object to pooping in a toilet. 

Sneak preview: tomorrow's breakfast- Oatmeal and apples. And butter.

We hugged the shore more than this map suggests- the waves were big enough and the shores far enough apart that 'down the middle' was scary!

Day 4 Ship's Log Supplemental

I forgot to tell you all about the Maritime museum!

Highlights included:

- a boat very much like the "bootle bumtrinket" from "My Family and Other Animals" by Gerald Durrell- A little brightly painted flat bottomed 'child's first boat'.

-sailboats designed for ice sailing, which are perfect for the long wind-tunnel of lake Champlain. An ice sailer is like an enormous skate with a sail, and incredibly fast. For a long time the fastest recorded land speed was on an ice sailer.

-cannon demonstrations off their 18th century gunboat- a flat bottomed sail boat designed to rotate in the water such that, at anchor, the canon on one side can fire, and then reload while the guns on the other side come round into range and fire etc etc etc, I wonder if the men on board got dizzy?

-18th century reenactors who told us all about the soldier-sailors of the day's sleeping habits. The slept sitting up in the fetal position, each wrapped in his own blanket and stacked against the shins of the man behind. You can fit a lot more people in a small space sleeping that way, you stay warmer, and getting up every few hours for night watch is actually a welcome opportunity to stretch!

This boat was manned by upwards of 40 men!

Voyage of the Black Snake day 4

Sunday 10/11/15

~8 miles

Button Bay-->Champlain Maritime Museum-->A rocky beach just north of Split Rock, in Whallon Bay

South wind, quite choppy, with some larger waves that washed up on our not-quite-waterproof hatches.

Cloudy in am, clear by evening. Warmest day since day 1- B's first day taking off life-jacket because it was finally warm enough to do so!

Ate Oatmeal and apples cooked on the beach at the maritime museum for breakfast

Had home made beef jerky and trailmix for "lunch". Mourned the loss of meat sticks from Common Ground Fair to mold :(

Soupy stew of dried vegetables and home made pemmican for dinner.
Pemmican is: ground up dried meat and ground up dried cranberries stuck together with tallow. Ours was spiced to make slightly more palatable. We fantasized about producing a cranberry and curry steak rub- tangy, spicy and very gourmet!

"swam" (washed) at evening camp. First wash since last thursday morning!

Best camp of the whole trip- smooth round pebble beach, totally secluded, sheltered from wind, lots of firewood, beautiful views- wish I'd taken pictures!

A stop along the way- guess I hadn't taken off my jacket yet! No fish were caught on this trip, but not from lack of wanting.

Voyage of the black snake, Day 3

Ship's Log Saturday 10/10/15

~20 miles

Shale Beach-->Crown Point-->Button Bay campground.

North (head) wind in the morning- some whitecaps, but manageable. Very light tailwind in the afternoon. Calm, sunny, beautiful.
The lake gets deeper, wider, clearer as we continue north. Fewer herons, nicer summer homes...

Long day. Aching bodies. (in retrospect, this is the day I gave myself the carpal tunnel symptoms that stayed with me the rest of the trip). Eliot made up songs for the last 2 hours, to keep us alive.

Arrived in camp about 6 pm, as night was falling. Very cold. Lots of people. Very shallow muddy "beach" meant mud on everything.

Breakfast: Kasha and onions.
Lunch: Tortillas, sunbutter, apples, trailmix.
Dinner: the last of the hotdogs toasted on sticks in the dark, tortillas, mustard, marshmallows!

Eliot eats kasha

The road ahead

Voyage of the Black Snake: Day 2

Ship's Log Friday 10/9/15

~5 miles

Rain, clearing towards evening. Warm. Breeze SSW.

Paddled from East Creek to Fort Ticonderoga, then up to Shale Beach (around the corner from 5 Mile Point, across the lake from the big paper mill)

Got a late start due to rain: woke up and said "not leaving the tent today!" but rain slowed to a drizzle and we emerged in our rain gear to make dried apple and oatmeal porridge.

Morning tourism stop at Ft Ticonderoga, raided the apple orchard and hobnobbed with the reenactor staff. Lunch was apples, boiled eggs, tortillas, trailmix.

Shale beached proved beautiful, with great skipping stones and a privy stocked with dry toilet paper in an oatmeal tin
.
Fire lighting difficult due to wet wood. Hot dogs and mustard for dinner. Wind picked up toward evening. Plenty mosquitos.

Tomorrow: long paddling day?

Wet morning

Fog on the lens!