The Adirondacks is one of those places that, in its own way, is kind of mystical. Something about the sunlight, the way the trees reflect in the lakes and ponds, and the way the woods and the mountains absorb sound all make you feel like you’ve escaped somewhere.
During the summer, the days are warm and sunny, and the nights are refreshingly cool–perfect for sitting around the campfire. And the sheer volume of mountains, lakes, hiking trails, and good fishing is the perfect antidote to suburban and urban monotony.
In the name of getting out of suburban Jersey, we decided to make the trek up to the Adirondacks for July 4th weekend a few weeks ago to get our fix of camping, fishing, and kayaking. So we took the long and winding drive up to the mountains.
Barley by our side, of course.
The main purpose of the trip was to do a little fishing, as bass season began at the end of June. We stopped at Hoss’s Country Corner to pick up our fishing licenses and a few other sundries (guarded by a gang of taxidermied critters, of course) before heading to the campsite and settling in for the night.
The next day we woke up bright and early. A breakfast of eggs, toast, and thick-cut bacon will make any human–ANYONE–feel like a king on the Oregon Trail. We highly recommend it. (And, yes, I mean the computer game. Child of the 90s here.)
Our original plan to rent a boat and fish on Raquette Lake was foiled by strong winds, choppy waters, and a particularly cautious boat rental attendant, but after asking some locals, we discovered a great place along a rocky shore to do some fishing. And lo and behold, we caught a few!!!
We headed back to the campsite, triumphant, and promptly set about making dinner. Stay tuned during the next couple of weeks for two recipes that we made during our trip! One of them is a fish fry recipe that we did over the campfire with a few simple ingredients. The other is another camping ramen recipe, part 2 after last month’s part 1. After filleting the bass for the fish fry, we even managed to make a soup using the rest of the fish!
I’ll let you in on a secret and say that the real mission of the trip was to catch a few bass for recipe fodder, so once that was out of the way, the next day we were able to do some leisurely kayaking on Blue Mountain Lake.
Work hard, play hard, right?
Of course, you can’t take the fisherman out of my dad, who was still trying to see if he could muster another dinner out of the lake right up until we started in on our drive back home.
This is sort of a random question but what did you do with Barley while you kayaked? We want to bring our dogs camping but never know what to do with them when they can’t (or don’t want to) come with us because they are old/lazy.
BTW, thank you for ALL your recipes and blog posts. I’ve never made a bad thing from your site and you’ve inspired my family yo be more adventurous when cooking outdoors.
Hey Kirstin, that’s a good question. We actually had the RV with us on that trip, so Barley stayed there with my mom (who didn’t join in on the kayaking). It’s true that bringing dogs camping can limit the activities you can do a little bit!
Also you’re very welcome––glad that we could help, especially with the outdoor cooking (it’s one of my all-time favorite things to do.)
You guys are doing fabulous work! Thank you so much for all the nice recipes (especially the authentic Chinese ones. :)) Good to see that you are blogging about your travel as well. Keep up the great work!
Thank you so much, Jon!
Great article… The Adirondacks are a wonderful place to spend time ! Thanks!
Thanks, Kevin!
With it being so hot right now here on the East coast these pictures cooled me down. What a beautiful area and gorgeous pictures. What is being cooked with the fish heads, is it some type of soup? Looks good.
Thanks, Jacquie! And it is indeed a fish head soup. We managed to cobble together a soup of fish, onions, mushrooms, scallions, and a bit of tomato, with some miscellaneous seasonings thrown in. What we were really missing was some soy sauce and white pepper, though!
Thank you for the lovely pics of the small town and the lake area, you all looked to be relaxed.
happy days .
Thanks, Valerie! Happy days, indeed. :)
Green foliage! And water!
Hey, when you live in southern cal, such things are like a dream.
Will be waiting for those fish recipes.
Yes! Hope you’ve checked out the fish fry by now :)
Ah, my origins!! What beautiful pictures of Blue Mountain Lake … making me very nostalgic! As an expat, everyone asks me what I miss from home and after people, come nature and junk food. Most often people say, but we have nature, and I’m always left thinking … you haven’t seen nature then! Looks like you did well fishing too! Love your posts….
Hi AJ, we couldn’t agree more! One of the big attractions in China that made the family homesick for upstate was Jilin, known for its vibrant fall leaves; we couldn’t help but shrug and look into booking plane tickets bound for home :)
Love you guys’ work! Really pleased to see that you won those two Saveur awards–I voted for you, natch! Since I live on the Lake Champlain beach just a couple miles north of Port Kent (and my wife has now got 42 out of the Forty-Six high peaks) we loved your blog today.
I particularly like your take on Chinese/Asian food. I grew up in California, and spent time at WuHan University, so your appeal for me is obvious! :) Keep up the good work!
Thank you so much for the support, George! Hope to see you around the blog some more :)
Used to go to the campsite at Port Kent when I was a teenager… loved it there !
Thanks for sharing, Kevin!
Spousal unit is from & was raised in the Adirondacks. I had the opportunity to go there several times before his parents sold their camp on Upper Saranac. It’s a breathtakingly beautiful place & I’d love to be able to visit there again.
Hi Samina, glad we could rekindle some memories for you. And we highly recommend making a trip back soon :)