LOCALadk Magazine

BLACKFLY BUSHWHACK ODYSSEY By Bob Dickie and John Scanlon LOCALadk 17 is article is dedicated to the memory of Adirondack advocate and boat builder Peter Hornbeck. ank you for your passion and hard work in building boats that allowed us to take on and experience an adventure like this one. A part of you paddles with us on every trip. Cheers to you, Pete! e bow of my little Hornbeck canoe bobbed lightly in the waves of a pristine Adirondack lake. ree of us—Anne Brewer, John Scanlon, and—had just completed the easy part of a four-day wilderness trip into the Five Ponds Wilderness, north of Stillwater Reservoir. Behind us was one mile of marked trail, and the mile-long lake that we were now on. As the far shore drew near, I knew that the real challenge would begin as we le the security of more traveled paths for the trackless wilderness that we were about to enter. At over 131,000 acres, the Five Ponds Wilderness is third in size only to the High Peaks and West Canada Lakes Wilderness, but in a ranking of true wilderness character, it may well place first, owing to the scarcity of designated trails and people. e trip had originally been planned for the beginning of May 2020, but owing to scheduling issues, we weren't able to start until late May. Consequently, our twin goals of avoiding blackflies and beating leaf-out were only partly met. e leaves weren't quite out, but the blackflies sure were. And although the weather was perfect for most activities, the cloudless blue skies and bright sun would prove to be intense as we traveled through the woods. e three of us came from different backgrounds, but one thing we all had in common was that in addition to our packs, we each had a Hornbeck solo canoe. I was using a 12-footer, Anne a 12-footer, and John his original 20-plus-year-old 10-footer. And because this was to be mainly a bushwhacking adventure, it would be necessary for each person to carry their pack and their boat, except for those glorious moments when we were floating on one of the remote ponds on our itinerary. e first day on trips like these are oen the most difficult, owing to the fact that on Day 1, the packs are at their maximum weight. On this trip, that difficulty was compounded by our route, which included an extended bushwhack straight uphill to a remote pond. e going was slow and arduous, but was broken up by the chance to float on a small, unnamed pond midway on our journey. Every pond offers its own secrets: inlets, outlets, shoreline, aquatic environments, fauna and flora, the possibility of finding an old campsite. Taking out again and working our way south and staying relatively high up in the topography, and then methodically dropping in elevation slowly along and down the gradual contour lines, we watched every step, each of us working together to try and pick the best route through the understory vegetation of spruce pockets, witch hobble, hardwood regeneration, and the occasional ledge "Remembrance of things past is not necessarily the remem- brance of things as they were." — Marcel Proust

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