Forked Lake, Adirondacks

briansnat

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I spent an extended weekend at the Forked Lake state campground in the Adirondacks. It's a state run campground with 77 campsites. Several are traditional drive up sites. About 15 can be hiked to or are accessible via boat and the rest are boat access only.

I was there with a camping group from Meetup.com and through discussions on their website I corresponded with one camper who was going up a day early. I suggested that we meet at the put in and we could partner up and take my Mad River Explorer to the campsite and she offered to share her campsite.

When we met at the launch site Thursday afternoon, we took a look at our combined gear and realized that there was no way in heck that our combined gear would fit in my canoe. After many years of canoe camping with my ex wife I didn't consider the fact that we'd have two of everything, including coolers. Thankfully they rent canoes at the launch, so my new partner rented a canoe on the spot.

We made it to our reserved campsites (we had reserved sites 53-56 for the group) and chose the nicest of the bunch because we were early arrivers. I hung my hammock while my partner pitched her tent, after which we made dinner and relaxed in camp in front of the fire.

Friday morning we explored a stream at the north end of the lake and paddled about two miles before it got too shallow to proceed farther and turned around and paddles back to camp.

My partner is self-employed and had some business to conduct that required Internet access, so after lunch we padded back to the launch and within 15 minutes were sitting on the porch of the Adirondack Hotel in Long Lake, enjoying some local craft beers and wine while she used their wi-fi.

Her business completed we headed back to the launch where we ran into the rest of the group who had just arrived. We paddled back to the sites and enjoyed a nice combined dinner, and thanks to the fact that the campsite office sold bundles of wood, we had one heck of a bonfire.

Saturday the entire group paddled up a stream that would have led to Raquette Lake, had we continued, then turned around and explored much of the 4 mile long lake.

Back at camp I did a little unsuccessful fishing from the shore while the rest of the group relaxed in camp, then it was another dinner and bonfire.

I was up at 5 am Sunday and decided to take the canoe out to do some fishing on a glass flat lake. I took a few pics of the sun rising in the mist and hooked into a strong smallie bass that took my canoe on the Adirondack version of the "Nantucket Sleigh Ride". Alas that was the only fish of the morning. Back at camp about 9, my partner was just waking up. We made a hearty breakfast, then packed up and paddled back to the launch.

It was a very nice weekend on a beautiful lake. I'm generally not a fan of public campgrounds, but the Forked Lake campground was an exception. It's a worthwhile destination for those who dislike public campgrounds, but who still want amenities such as an outhouse (each site has one), picnic tables and a fireplace. About 1/4 of the sites have a floating dock. The rest have rocky landings.
 

Cappy

Well-Known Member
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South Louisiana
Sounds like a really nice trip man.I enjoy some camp grounds especially the ones around good fishing. Its nice to take advantage of campground conveniences like fish cleaning stations, and fishing peers etc. We plan to head to a park like that next week.
 

Simplify

Active Member
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Arizona
That sounds like a great weekend. When I lived in New England I went to the campground at Richardson lake, Maine, a few times. there you can either stay in the main camping area or rent a canoe and paddle to a remote campsite a few miles down the lake.
 
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