11 June (49.7 Miles)

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After waking and packing, I went to Friendly’s for breakfast. There was a light rain falling and it was in the 60s. I was trading sunscreen for rain gear. The temperature was alright because it would have been unbearably hot otherwise with the rain gear.

In the morning I had a big climb from Gloversville to Caroga Lake. I entered Adirondack Park about three miles out of Gloversville. The net altitude gain for the day was 1200 feet, with almost 1000 feet of that coming during the first 8.5 miles. The grade during the initial 5 miles was about 2% and increased to an average of 4% for the next 3.5 miles. After that the uphill grades were much shorter and generally not as steep.

There was a resort area that was not yet open for the season on West Caroga Lake. The grounds were fronted by an ice cream stand. I drove in and stood out of the rain for a while in the open pavilion next to the Ferris wheel. It seemed like it should have been open or at least preparing to open. I think it was out of business.

By 12:30 PM I arrived at Canada Lake and I was already getting kind of soggy. There I found Canada Lake Store and Marine and ate lunch. The place was busy: there were some contractors, tree cutters, and others in there looking for the famous sandwiches made with Boar’s Head products. Somebody had told me about this place and recommended it as a lunch stop. I had a ham and cheese on a ciabatta with apple pie for dessert. This was a nice break from the rain and I had a chance to take a look at Canada Lake from the back of the store.

After resting and drying for a while I needed to roll back out into the rain and get going since I still had quite a distance to go to Moffitt Beach State Campground. Besides raining it was foggy so that a lot of the scenery was obscured by low clouds and wet haze. The Paseco Outlet crossed under the road and I could see Paseco Lake in the distance, the headwaters of the Sacandaga River.

Late in the day when I arrived at the campground the rain stopped. That was good because I was able to set up the tent without getting everything soaked. Dinner was also more pleasant without the rain.

The only issue was the mosquitos that were very thick. My arms and legs were protected because I was wearing my rain suit. I sprayed my cap with DEET and that prevented them from lighting on my face although they continued to buzz around and orbit my head.

The swarm was controlled well enough that I was able to prepare and eat dinner in camp without too much hassle. Once the dinner utensils were cleaned, it was nice to finally get into the tent away from the buzzing. My tent site was near the park entrance and right across the road from the shower and bathroom facilities. It was a very short walk in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom.