St Regis 2019

We got back yesterday from five nights at campsite #4 on St Regis Pond. Number four is the one down near the take-out for Ochre Pond and is the one Jeni and I stayed at just before she started grad school at Temple about 5 years ago. It really is a great spot. Sunrise is very visible there and, while you can't actually watch the sun go down, sunset is very beautiful there too because of what it does to everything that can be seen: the water gets very flat and calm (usually), the trees go through color changes then become gray and finally black, and there is kind of a light show through the pines to the west, from a small swampy bay that runs down to a dam and into a stream (that goes to Fish Pond, I think). This only captures a small part of what makes #4 great, but I'm making a note here mainly to say this is the one I think is best on St Regis Pond. If #4 is not available then I'd go for #12 which is the one we had last year: on the point across the "bay" from the lean-to site.

Other practical points:

• when you go here you need a raincoat that is actually waterproof!
• dried foods like beans and rice are good
• couscous is maybe even better: you don't have to simmer it
• by mid August you need at least one warm thing like a sweater or a hoody
• it is nice if all the food can fit in the waterproof blue bag so it can be hung at night
• five nights' food is probably not all going to fit in the blue bag -- we hung two bags for the first few nights

Jeni's warmest thing was a flannel shirt and that was a little light, and also not useful if wet. Wool or fleece is better.

Five nights was great. More might be too much unless you do some hiking or carries. We paddled to Paul Smiths on a day of constant rain. The temp was probably 55 or 65 -- not real cold -- and it got to be a drag by the end. We arrived at Paul Smiths soaked through and cold. I had blueish hands in the bathroom when I got there, and my hands shook uncontrollably when I got a cup of coffee into them. Luckily (very!) the cafeteria was just closing and we could get soup and coffee which warmed us up enough for the return. We got back at the tent in late afternoon, zipped our bags together, and got really warm and dry. All was fine but it felt just this side of risky.

To stay more than 3 (2?) nights at one site you are supposed to get a permit. Jeni called ahead a night or two before we went and they gave her the permit over the phone, by email. Very convenient, and handy if you decide as we did that you'd rather not move.

We went on a Sunday and could have taken the site on the island, one a bit south of the put-in, #4 or #5. Over the next few nights we could have taken almost any of them as people came & went. We had wanted to check out #12 to remind ourselves what last year was like but it kept being occupied -- maybe by the same group or maybe not.

-- BenDugan - 31 Aug 2019