Days 1 & 2

Day 1: After we set up camp, right on the lake, we walked on the Hemlock Ridge trail. There we saw a "drowned forest" (an area of woods flooded by Beaver that had become a large swamp) that contained what appeared to be an osprey nest (but no osprey to be seen) and what appeared to be a small heron rookery (but no heron to be seen). As the name suggested, the trail followed a hemlock-covered ridge and then wound through rocky ledges and crevices. It was very pretty (gorgeous, really), but nearly unbearably hot and very buggy. Extremely buggy. We practically ran the last leg of the trail. Dove into the tent with an entourage of bugs trailing.

Day 2: Overnight, we heard loons. We never tire of that eerie laughing sound, the haunting melody floating over the lake to our tent. It was horribly hot all night even without the fly on the tent. Restless and moist. In the morning, we rented a canoe and paddled from island to island, stopping to explore the islands, take pictures and swim. The islands were rocky and Adirondacky, part of a long finger of Canadian shield extending southward. We saw a large bird that was probably an osprey and two loons. We visited a number of islands and saw three deer on the largest one. A group of kids were diving and jumping from a cliff—I got excited and wanted to try it.