Home » Adventures » Adirondacks » St. Regis Canoe Wilderness: To Hoel Pond

Route I paddled and hiked this day

I started the morning with a few short warm up portages before my longest of the trip — 1.3 miles from Nellie to Long Pond. This portage had large, damp, mossy, and slippery rocks for the first quarter mile. After that it reverted to “just” a long and never ending walk. I had rigged up a system with my PFD to provide some padding while carrying my boat, which made the labor a little more bearable. I took it one step at a time, resting when I needed while not trying to set any speed records. This method was slow, but worked. A beaver pond was about 200m from Long Lake, which required paddling across, but at least it broke up the portage.

Not having spent enough time on land, upon reaching Long Pond I set course for Long Mountain trail. I parked my boat at the trailhead, assembled a minimal hiking setup, and started for the top. The trail had a few switchbacks, but otherwise attacked the mountain head on. I worked up a sweat, but enjoyed the climb. The top had great views, and I could see many of the lakes of St. Regis Canoe Wilderness and Fish Creek.

I hoped back down and paddled to Hoel Pond and engineered a return to civilization the next day, since I need to talk with insurance companies about my car. I portaged across railroad tracks for the first time crossing to Hoel Pond and afterwards found a campsite on a nice rock outcropping. I had an interesting soup dinner, despite forgetting my utensils in my car.