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| Adirondack Camping - Friday, July 11, 2003 - NYC to Camp Black Fly. Page 1 of 4 |
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| Here's Payaso mugging for the camera. I was unable to get a candid shot of him the whole trip. We're on our way to the Moose River Plains Wild Forest. |
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| Using his amazing Payaso Sense, Payaso found what was probably one of the most isolated and private of the campsites. It was raining lightly when we arrived an hour before sunset. By the time we got around to trying to start a fire it was too dark to find adequate dry kindling. The illustrated fire is a bit of a sham, as it is subsisting mostly on lighter fluid and soon died, leaving us little protection from the mosquitoes that were starting their evening shift. They clocked-in while the black flies were ringing out. Here I am huddled in my black hooded shirt. From the enthusiastic way that the black flies and mosquitoes hovered around me, we figured that they must be attracted to black. But I'm glad I had it to protect the back of my neck and ears. I protected my face with vigorous slappings. |
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This was the tail end of what we heard was a really banner year for black flies. They'd apparently been waiting dormant for several years for such a fine wet year as this has been. Though the little feller in the award photo above appears to be dining, the ones that hovered around our heads seemed to be of a species that does not bite. They prefer to annoy you to death. Black Fly came in third in the 2003 GammaBlaBlog's Defender of the Wilderness Awards. Black Fly Fact Sheet Black fly image source MAINE BLACKFLY BREEDER'S ASSOCIATION |
| Saturday, July 12, 2003 - Camp Black Fly. |
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We heard nothing that first day, but the wind rustling through the trees. It was heaven, even though it was still cloudy and wet. They call this wilderness camping, and it is, but most of the sites have a privy, picnic table, and fire pit. Well graded dirt roads lead to the camps. Payaso's Nissan handled every obstacle that was thrown at it. |
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| A beautiful tree towered over us. It reminded me of the tall trees you see out West, but of course not quite as tall. That's Payaso's tent at the bottom of this natural lightning-rod. (The top is gray and dead and looks lightning-struck.) |
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| This hooded shirt was the only semi-warm clothing I managed to pack. Sheesh! Next time I'll know better what I need to bring. I want some sort of mosquito netting hat, to protect the back of my neck without restricting air flow. |
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| Camp Black Fly's privy.
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At one point we both took refuge from the flies by
reading our books in the car. Other campers, out exploring in their
truck, came by and asked us how the bugs were treating us. Pretty
funny being out in the wilderness and huddling in the car, but the
tents weren't as comfy. They said that at their camp they haven't
even had to put on any repellant. They were staying in the crowded
lakeside camp where you are lean over and borrow the salt distance
from other campers. Maybe the air by the lake is just saturated with
everyone's evaporated DEET. Our camp was maybe a good mile from the
nearest occupied camp, and it smelled sweet and clean. Here's a news story about some Colorodo campers who took even more bear precautions to no avail. After reading that story, I'm going to be even more vigilent with food handling, and not have the tents near the food area at all. One reading of the news story could be that this particular bear was pissed-off that these campers didn't even leave him a snack. |
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2003 Michael Natale
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