Know Before You Go: Preparation and Packing for White Pine Camp

This post is more specifically focused on the nuts-and-bolts planning of our trip. It is a general checklist of what you might want to bring to White Pine Camp, what is already there, and a few ideas to help plan a trip to the camp. For this reason, it might not be as interesting as many of the other posts to the general interest reader. If you fall into this category, you may be interested in some of the previous entries, which are divided into the categories:
- Organizational Information (related to our trip)
- Fun Things to Do (in the Adirondacks)
- General Adirondacks Information
You can also view a topically sorted index of all of my blog entries.

A member of our group recently asked me what he needs to bring to White Pine Camp. Cooking Gear? A week's supply of food? Any other general supplies? Fortunately, the camp and its cabins are quite well equipped. Considering that the camp even has a washer and dryer, including laundry detergent, you could literally show up at camp with a sack of dirty laundry and still be adequately prepared for a week stay. Nonetheless, to make the most of a week at camp, here is a more precise list of what you will find at camp and things in general that you might want to consider bringing.

Cooking Facilities

Unless you anticipate doing cooking or baking with some highly specialized utensils, the kitchens have everything you will need. First the basics: the kitchens each have a full sized refrigerator-freezer, stove and oven, microwave oven, toaster and drip coffee maker, as well as a basic but comprehensive collection of cooking and eating utensils. Outside there is a barbecue grill and a stock of charcoal. The consumables provided include:

• salt and pepper
• a few packets of sugar
• a starter supply of coffee and tea
• filters for the coffee maker
• kitchen paper towels, plus cloth dish and hand towels
• dishwashing detergent

Groceries 

Even though White Pine Camp gives you the feeling of being deep in the woods, there are stores and a supermarket relatively nearby in the village of Saranac Lake.

Here is a list of supermarkets that we tend to use in Saranac Lake and on the outskirts of Lake Placid:

• Tops Market on 156 Church Street, Saranac Lake (7:00 AM - 9:00 PM, 7 days) is slightly less than a 25 minute drive. The selection and the produce are, well average.
• Hannaford Supermarket on 45 Hadjis Way, Lake Placid (open 6:00 - midnight, 7 days) is just over a 35 minute drive and has a more substantial selection and produce.
• Price Chopper on 1930 Saranac Ave, Lake Placid (24 hours, 7 days), is just slightly closer than the Hannaford Supermarket and falls somewhere in between Hannaford and Tops with regard to selection and produce. Coming from camp, you will pass Price Chopper on your right just before you get to Hannaford, which is on the left.

In Gabriels, Brighton Mini Mart (Facebook Page), 846 State Route 86 (M-F until 9:00 PM, Sun until 8:00 PM) is the closest place to camp to get food, clocking in at an 11 minute drive. They describe themselves as "Your one stop convenience store & deli for all of your last minute grocery needs." They also have pizza and lay claim to a large beer selection.

All of the above mentioned stores are more-or-less close to camp, but as we are all coming from the north, we would have to drive past camp to get to them. If you want to pick up some groceries on your inbound journey, then a logical stop would be in Malone NY, which is about 45 minutes north of camp. 

Grocery Stores in Malone

• Walmart, 3222 State Rte 11
• Aldi, 3324 US-11
• Price Chopper, 53 Finney Blvd.
• Big M, 619 E Main St

Coming from Ottawa, you will pass through Malone if you cross at Cornwall. However, if you cross at
Ogdensburg, your best bet will be to do your shopping there. Ogdensburg has an Aldi, Price Chopper, Save-A-Lot and Walmart. Ogdensburg would be on your most direct route to camp, but it is still 1:45 from there to camp. So, if you are picking up perishables, you may want to consider the crossing over to the States at Cornwall, which only extends your journey about 5 minutes, compared to Ogdensburg.

Sanitary Facilities

The bathrooms are fully stocked, including soap, small bottles of shower gel, bubble bath, shampoo and conditioner. The towels are generally refreshed once a week and are not intended for use on the beachfront. There is a separate stock of towels at the old boathouse for use when swimming in the pond. You may consider bringing a towel if you want a large beach towel to lay out on or if you are considering going swimming somewhere beyond the reaches of camp. Gardner's cottage has a full bath including a claw foot bathtub and separate shower stall, plus a half bath with toilet and sink. Gate cottage has one bath with a claw foot tub with shower head and a second bath with a shower stall.

Recreational Equipment

At camp, you will find a large supply of gear for free-time activities, including canoes, kayaks and a rowboat free to use on a first come, first served basis. Sporting equipment includes a pool table, a two lane, set-your-own-pins bowling alley, ping-pong table, croquet set and an assortment of sports balls and frisbees. The cabins and the great room have a collection of books available. The cabins, great room, tennis house and bowling alley have wood-burning stoves or fireplaces and a stock of firewood. There are also designated fire pits in a few locations around camp that can be used. For those who can't spend a week offline, WIFI is available in the great room. We haven't had much success with cellphone connections at camp or in large sections of the Adirondacks, but our innkeeper says he doesn't have trouble getting a signal. Perhaps it is our European pre-smart phone era equipment or our provider. At any rate, you can make a collect call from the great room if you need to use a phone and can't connect via cellphone. See also the White Pine Camp website description of their amenities and services. The camp's website also has a list of suggested activities, as well.

What you should bring

• sunscreen
• bug repellent
• towels (if you want to have a large one to lay down on or if you plan on going swimming away from camp)
• rain gear: We have been known to hike in the rain and have recently added rain pants to our collection of gear. However, no one should feel compelled to do a rainy day hike with us.
• clothes for hiking: It is an open question as to whether my knee will be in sufficient shape to do hiking in the higher elevations this summer, but others should feel free to hike as much or little as they wish. Particularly in the alpine zone, you need to be prepared for rapid changes in weather. Button down or zip open clothes are good options to adapt to changing elements. Also, a light pair of pants and moisture wicking materials are good tools to keep comfortable. We also suggest a light long sleeve shirt as well as long pants as an additional defense against biting insects.
• sturdy shoes: Some of the more gentle trails can be navigated with a sturdy pair of sneakers, but you should have hiking boots if you plan on doing more serious climbing.
• flashlight: Each cabin has at least one flashlight and/or electric lantern, some have two. It gets dark at night in the woods, and a significant portions on the camp's grounds are without outdoor lighting. The darkness is a benefit as it makes for terrific stargazing - and I have had the pleasure of watching shooting stars numerous times. Ideally, each person should have some kind of flashlight.
• binoculars: There is lots of wildlife to investigate and much of it is too shy to be catch a glimpse of up close.

We have a relatively good collection of topographic maps and trail guides, and quite a number of hiking ideas for just about any level of difficulty. The staff at White Pine Camp has even more ideas still.

Camp Policies

Check-In is 4:00 PM.

Please also refer to the White Pine Camp's webpage describing their policies and procedures.

That is everything that I can think of at the moment. Please feel free to let me know if you have any additional questions about what to expect or what you might want to bring to make your week great!

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Our itinerary is complete!

If you were to suggest to me that it wouldn't be until June 2015 that we would be finished booking all of the accommodations for our big trip - nearly the anniversary of the creation of this blog - I wouldn't have believed you. But, it is so. We finally booked the final accommodation for our journey. So, now we have plane tickets, the rental car and a place to stay for the duration of our trip.

Touchdown in Montréal

This will be the first time that we will begin a North American journey in Montréal. Since our flight gets in relatively late (8:30 PM), we will spend the night in the Best Western directly adjacent to the Airport and begin our journey the next morning. Here, we are not looking for anything fancy, romantic or memorable, just a convenient, reliable place to recharge our batteries. We are excited to explore Montréal, but will save that for the end of our journey.

We selected Montréal because it and Ottawa have the two closest international airports to White Pine Camp. In 2011, we made an open-jaws journey, starting in Toronto and departing via Ottawa - and can warmly recommend both cities. This time, we decided on a circle tour, which economizes a little bit on the flight costs (perhaps around €100 less for round trip compared to open jaws), but significantly on the one-way car rental costs: we paid $300 for a one-way fee in 2011. We selected Montréal this time for the novelty, and it appears to be a fascinating city.

Next stop, the Main Event: White Pine Camp

Google maps tells us that the 161 km journey from our hotel to White Pine Camp should take us just under 2:15 to get there - not including any delays at the border.

We will spend seven nights at White Pine Camp, and I have previously written about how we might spend our week, activities at White Pine Camp as well as some of our favorite mountain climbing and non-mountain climbing destinations in the park, plus some ideas about places to eat.

Continuing South in the Adirondacks

The most direct route from White Pine Camp to my parents' home is about a five hour journey. We decided to break up this journey with a stop in the Blue Mountain Lake region. This area is the home of one of my all time favorite museums, The Adirondack Museum, which I describe in more detail here. We will stay at LaPrairie's Lakefront Cottages, which is pretty basic, classic Adirondack style lodging. We have a small "Lakeside Suite"

Our room at LaPrarie - photo from laprairiecottages.com

To be completely honest, I was hoping to get a room at Hemlock Hall. It is located on a much quieter dead end road and is nestled in the woods. I had a lovely chat with the proprietor who gives the immediate impression that they are first class hosts. Oh, and they have Sunfish Sailboats available to hotel guests. Maybe we will be able to get a room at Hemlock Hall next time.

The Sunfish - photo from wikipedia

Maybe next time: Hemlock Hall - photo from hemlockhall.com

Home Again

Our next stop is the place of my birth and upbringing: Rochester, NY. For the sake of privacy, I have only placed the pin on the map in the general area (see below), not our exact address. We will spend time visiting friends and family.

The Foothills of the Adirondacks

Our return journey leading ultimately back to Montréal is via the south central Adirondacks. We will be staying at the Irondequoit Inn.

The Irondequiot Inn - photo from irondequoitinn.com

The Irondequoit Inn is located on Piseco Lake, which is just up the road from Lake Pleasant, where I spent many a childhood summer with my family and their friends, sometimes with some of our relatives as well. Our summer destination back then was "Baker's Lakeside Cabins," which has long since changed owners, and has been reconfigured to the point of being nearly unrecognizable to what I remember from way back when. Now, the property operates under the name of Waters Edge Cottages. I was considering staying there for sentimental reasons, but they only rent by the week, and we were only interested in staying for four nights. When we considered our alternatives on Lake Pleasant, we stumbled upon The Irondequoit Inn on Piseco Lake, which appeared to us to be the most cosy and inviting offering in the area.

The Northward Journey

We have a full day's worth of potential activities along the route from Piseco Lake back to Montréal. The most direct route would take us just under 3 3/4 hours, but we are considering stops in Fort Ticonderoga, the historic town of Essex on Lake Champlain and Ausable Chasm. While that will extend our driving time by a little more than another 3/4 hour, the sights are nicely spread out along the route at decreasing intervals and takes us on a route more directly along the shores of Lake Champlain.

Our final stop in Montréal

We will wrap up our journey with a three night stay in Montréal. We will stay in the Bed and Breakfast du Village, where we will have a small cottage house to ourselves. This reservation was the last piece of the puzzle, and we are excited to have found a place that comes with such enthusiastic recommendations where we can park our rental car and have easy access to the subway system.

Our Journey's Route

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Other Accommodations

Before I began writing this blog, there was this idea about inviting our friends and family to join us for a week at White Pine Camp to celebrate our cumulative 90th birthday. The bit about the birthday was admittedly a bit contrived, but our focus has always been on sharing one of our favorite places, the Adirondacks, with some of the people closest to us. So, we have been talking about this idea for three years now, and the most important details of the trip have since been settled: we have a confirmed group of people joining us, and we have reservations at White Pine Camp.

The logistics of the idea were daunting from the start. Our friends and family are spread out over several countries on two continents, some are teachers and some have children in school. We decided to choose a week that created the least number of conflicts with family and work schedules, but this meant that we are in the middle of the peak season. Many expressed interest, but a significant number weren't able to make a firm commitment in time for us to secure a place for them at White Pine Camp. We currently have three cabins reserved, all spaces are allocated, and White Pine Camp is otherwise fully booked for the week of our stay. For those still interested in joining us, there are still several alternatives.

There are three basic ways that you can be near to White Pine Camp while we are there: Camping, staying in an RV Camper, or finding other lodging accommodations in a rental cabin, nearby camp, B&B, inn, motel or hotel. We will be happy to help you sort out the details with regard to any of these options if you would like to join us. What follows is a general guide to each alternative.

Camping

Those in Germany and many other places in Europe typically aren't familiar with primitive camping which is common in the Adirondacks and other wild places in the United States. For them, "camping" is pitching a tent or staying in a camper on an organized campground that has a certain level of infrastructure, often including central sanitary facilities and even a kiosk/snack bar with things to eat and drink. The one European exception that comes to my mind is in Sweden, where there are broad rights to pitch a tent just about anywhere in the wilderness, including in many cases, on private property. With the exception of pitching a tent on private property, the idea of camping in the Adirondacks has a lot in common with the Swedish idea.

You are pretty much good to go, as long as you are familiar with the camping regulations of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (summarized in brief by the Adirondack Mountain Club, with more information about protecting your food from bears here).

If you are interested in planning a camping trip to coordinate with our get-together, then proximity to White Pine Camp is key.  As you can see in the map below, there are lots of nearby options. White Pine Camp is at the end of White Pine Road, so you will be closest to us if you can find a campsite on Osgood Pond. And if you have or rent a canoe, you can paddle over to visit us.

Excerpt from Adirondack Paddler's Map For Canoe & Kayak Travel
Published by Paddlesports Press

Tent or Lean-to?

The most common way to do primitive camping is pitching a tent in the wilderness. It will also give you the most flexibility of options to coordinate with our trip. In the Adirondacks, there is an alternative way to get shelter: a lean-to. Pictured below, a lean-to is a three sided structure with a solid roof above your head. In the event of rain, there is a better chance of staying dry in a lean-to than in a tent (with water seeping up from below), but the tent will give you more protection from mosquitos and the myriad flying insects that you will encounter while staying in the Adirondacks. Either way, bug spray should be in your list of things to bring. Other benefits of lean-tos are that they have a certain amount of infrastructure, including a fire pit, and they are often scenically located overlooking a nearby river or pond, as is the case on and near Osgood Pond. The biggest drawback to the lean-to is, for the most part, they are strictly first come, first served. Since these are public property, many smaller groups will share "their" lean-to with you, but you may or may not be comfortable doing that.

Around Osgood pond, looking at the map above, you will see that there are about four lean-tos, indicated by the red symbol with a structure on it that looks like half a house. If you are pitching a tent, there are "primitive campsites" indicated with a red "+"on the map. These are essentially small clearings, each with a fire pit. Sometimes there is a privy near to an established campsite or lean-to, but not always. The primitive campsite at the north corner of Osgood pond is easiest to reach via canoe. On the other hand, the campsite along Jones Pond Road on the far right of the map section above is very easy to get to, with drive-in access. That one is occupied relatively often, and not the quietest place to camp because of the proximity to the road.

Classic Adirondack lean-to, photo from White Pine Camp Facebook page

Regardless of lean-to or tent, you will want to get an early start when looking for a campsite, and be prepared with a few back-up plans. Those coming from Europe will probably not be able to bring all the camping gear they will need. The best resource I have found for this is St. Regis Canoe Outfitters. While we haven't visited the shop ourselves, they appear to have everything you would need, for example: tents, sleeping bags, cooking gear, rain gear, canoes, equipment to mount the canoe on your car and even packaged trail food items. For those leery about transporting a canoe on a rental car, they will even transport gear to your location. Gear can be rented per piece or in configured packages.

If you are coming from Europe, I would definitely recommend not trying to get off the plane, driving to the Adirondacks, picking up gear and heading into the woods on the same day. Plan at least two days in a B&B / Inn / Motel / Hotel, before heading into the woods.

RV Camping

Quite a number of our German friends had the idea to coordinate with our trip by renting an RV Camper. The biggest challenge that I see with this is logistics. If you are traveling from Europe and want to join us, you will want to find a company that will rent an RV that is both near to an airport and within a drivable distance to the Paul Smiths, NY area. From what I have been able to find, Cruise America / Cruise Canada appears to be the best option. Their closest locations to camp near to airports are in Montreal, Canada and Syracuse, NY. Montreal would be the most convenient as there are direct international flights to major European airports. It is possible to cross the border either to or from Canada, but the RVs must be returned to the same country they were picked up from.

The closest RV Campsite to White Pine Camp is Charlie's Inn, which is about a 15 minute drive from where we will be. They have all the necessary hookups.

RV Camper, Photo Credit: cruiseamerica.com

Lodging

In order to best coordinate plans, the closer to White Pine Camp you can get, the better. This will be a challenge because the week we have chosen is among the most popular to plan a vacation in the Adirondacks. Depending on the size of your group, the most attractive alternative could be to rent a cabin. There are a number of cabins on Osgood pond that are rented out by the week, three of which are listed online by "Adirondack 'By Owner'." I also have a few phone numbers for rental properties that are not listed online.

The next three pictures are of the cabins that are listed online. As of this writing, Twin Pines and Camp Brig O'Doon are showing vacancy during our week on their reservation calendar. The Gazebo instructs those interested to contact the owners during this time. The most affordable option among these are the two cabins at Brig O'Doon, with one unit for $600 per week (max 4 people) and one for $900 per week (rate for 4, or $1000 for 6 people). Click on the caption to see each property's detailed description and more pictures.

Twin Pines on Osgood Pond, listing on Adirondack "By Owner."

Camp Brig O' Doon on Osgood Pond, listing on Adirondack "By Owner"

The Gazebo on Osgood Pond, listing on Adirondack "By Owner"

Other nearby alternatives include Adirondack Swim and Trip Camp on Jones Pond (they generally confirm reservations in January and tend to fill up - send them an E-Mail early if you are interested; see my blog post about ASTC here), Lake Clear Lodge & Retreat and Charlie's Inn. In addition to RV campgrounds, Charlie's Inn also has rooms and a cabin to rent. The next option would be to look for lodging in and around the Village of Saranac Lake, which has a search engine with listings here.

Many of the lodging options will be fully booked during the week of our stay. If you are interested in joining us, please contact me directly, and I will be happy to help look for a place that fits your needs.

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Cabins are Reserved and Spaces are Allocated

As I mentioned in my original post, we wouldn't get final confirmation of our cabin reservations until mid-August. As it turns out we didn't get Longfellow as one of the three cabins we wanted to reserve, but, but instead we got Gate Cottage (which just happens to have capacity of four beds more than we originally had in our mix).

Gate Cottage

Now, we have a confirmed reservation for Gate Cottage, Gardener's Cottage and Kirkwood. Equally important, we have now finalized the allocation of rooms in each for our reserved cabins. We are a wonderfully diverse group of 11 adults and 5 or 6 kids ranging in age from 2 to 13 (2, 2, 4 - almost 5, 7, 13 and 13). We will be traveling from Germany, Canada, MD and NY, representing even more nationalities.

So, now a big THANK YOU goes out to all of you who have helped make this dream of ours to spend time with you in this place decisively closer to becoming reality. In particular, we would like to give a shout out to all the fine folks at White Pine Camp, whom I have bombarded with E-Mails in recent months asking about which cabins we can get where & when, and which spaces will work out best for the families with small children, and, and, and. Also, we would like to thank those members of our group who firmed up their plans and "officially" joined our group within only a few short days notice after configuration issues left us with an overcapacity that briefly brought the feasibility of the entire plan into question.

To all of you: THANK YOU! We look forward to seeing you all at White Pine Camp!

To anyone who might have still been considering joining us, we are truly sorry! Our three cabins are now completely spoken for, and White Pine Camp is fully booked for the time we will be there. What we can offer you is to help find an individually rented cottage on Osgood pond or an alternative space in a nearby bed-and-breakfast, hotel room, or something similar. We can also give you ideas about tent camping, nearby lean-tos or places which accommodate RVs.

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Getting There Is Half The Fun

For our friends coming from Europe, a central aspect your approach to White Pine Camp will be an airport.

Here are the nearest airports to White Pine Camp with direct service from Europe:

1. Montréal QC, Canada: Pierre Elliot Trudeau International Airport  clocks in at 160 km and just over 2 hours travel time to White Pine Camp.


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2. Ottawa ON, Canada, Macdonald-Cartier International Airport will bring you to within a little more than 2 1/2 hours travel time to White Pine Camp at a distance of a little more than 200 km.


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Both approaches from the north will take you through some of the most remote areas in this corner of North America. These routes are both very leisurely ways to get to camp, taking you through very rural countryside, crossing the St. Lawrence River on or before the US boarder, depending on which route you take.

We can definitely recommend Ottawa for an overnight visit either on your inward or outbound journey. It is the capital of Canada and the place where the English and French speaking parts of the country meet. We enjoyed the city's cultural and museum offerings, the historic Rideau Canal and the European Vibe that this city has. If you are here for a little longer and are into Cold War history, we highly recommend a visit to the Diefenbunker Museum.

When planning your route, you may want to use an "open-jaws" strategy, flying into one airport and returning home from another. Just remember two things: you will have to return your car in the same country from which you started, and there will be a one-way fee which is typically not included in your main rental fee. We have paid up to $300 for one way fees, but have found it to be well worth it since it saves us from having to retrace our route, maximizing our vacation time.

The airports in Boston, NYC, Newark and Toronto are all similarly distant from White Pine Camp, and will take you somewhere around 5 1/2 hours to get there.

3. Boston Logan International Airport: 530 km / 5:30


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Don't get too distracted by what you see on the google map that I imbedded showing a flight from Boston to White Pine Camp. This is definitely an option, and you can get a one-way fare for somewhere between $95 and $155, with up to three flights a day on Cape Air, departing Boston at 9:20 AM, 1:50 PM and 6:20 PM. Don't choose this option if you have an aversion to small aircraft, you will be flying in a Cessna 402. BTW, Infants under 2 years of age can travel for free if seated on the lap of an adult passenger. Your destination airport is the Saranac Lake Airport (SLK), which is just under 20 minutes from White Pine Camp. You can either get a rental car from Hertz, or we can pick you up upon arrival.

If you prefer to travel by car, you can either travel via Massachusetts, then Albany NY, or through New Hampshire and Vermont. We thoroughly enjoyed the latter on our last trip, making a one night stop in each State on our way. We can recommend a few cozy bed-and-breakfasts to stay at if you are interested in this route. Montpelier VT, is an interesting visit to small town America, the smallest state capitol in the USA, with less than 8000 residents. We recommend taking tour of the Vermont State House and eating a burger at the Coffey Corner Diner. Yes, there are more posh places to eat in Montpelier, but we really enjoyed this typical diner looking out on Main St., small town, USA.

On your way, stop off at the original Ben & Jerry's Factory and take a tour, or just stop for some Ice Cream. We also recommend traveling via Burlington VT, to take the Ferry across Lake Champlain.

This route will take you via Ausable Chasm, a fascinating geological feature of the Adirondacks. Here you can go hiking, rafting, tubing or take a tour on the Adventure Trail. I have mixed feelings about all this. While these are all fun things to do, Ausable Chasm is one of the more visibly commercial enterprises in the park, and a bit pricy at that. If you stop here, don't be disturbed by the tour buses and the admission fees. Rest assured, most of the Adirondacks is not like this at all. And, please don't let me stop you from going on one of the tours. Believe me, this region is grateful for every source of revenue that it has.

4. New York, NY JFK International Airport (or alternately Newark Liberty Int. Airport): 515 km / 5:30


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This is likely to be one of the first places to come to mind among those considering a trip to the Adirondacks from Europe - fly in to New York City!  Certainly, there is no substitute for Manhattan and all that NYC has to offer, but this route does bring a few challenges with it. If you plan to spend a few days here, then travel north by car, I would suggest not picking up the car until you are ready to depart. You may also consider taking an Amtrak train either to Albany or Saratoga Springs, then picking up a rental car for the rest of your journey. Or, you could travel via Amtrak train to Lake Placid, NY. This involves taking the 8:15 AM train from Penn Station to Westport, NY, then continuing by bus transfer to Lake Placid, arriving just after 3:00 PM. We can pick you up there.

5. Toronto Pearson International Airport: 5:20 / 506 km (or 7:00 / 685 km if you travel via Niagara Falls)


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I have never actually traveled along the northern shore of Lake Ontario east of Toronto, but Pearson Airport has been part of my travel itinerary many times. First of all, it is the closest international airport to my parent's home, and we have used this airport in connection with Ottawa, coming in to one and departing from the other. Toronto is also a nice city to visit, Canada's most populous city, looking over on Lake Ontario. The alternate route via Niagara Falls adds quite a bit of travel time to White Pine Camp, but you could potentially break that up with a stop at my parent's house. I tend to think of Niagara Falls as the largest tourist trap in New York State, some call it the World's Greatest Tourist Trap. But many people believe that it is one of the places you have to visit. I'll let you decide.

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Where we will be staying at White Pine Camp

Hi everyone,

after years of discussion, we now have a nice group of friends and family together and we are pleased that they will be celebrating our "90th Birthday" with us. Not being big on parties, we decided invite those close to us to spend a week together in a place that I have known since my childhood and the two of us have enjoyed returning to every couple of years since we have been together: the Adirondacks.

The group:

In total, we are now a group of fourteen, including three toddlers and two children, coming from three different countries.

The Location:

We will get together at White Pine Camp, and we provisionally have three cabins reserved for us. Final confirmation will come from the camp in the second week of August.

The Cabins:

Gardeners

Link to official White Pine Camp cabin description

Kirkwood

Link to official White Pine Camp cabin description

Yes, that is a satellite dish on the roof, but no, this cabin does not have a television set. None of the cabins have a television or telephone. Cellphone service is also a bit weak throughout the camp. Anyone having a communication emergency can either make a collect call from the camp's office phone, or access WIFI in or near the Great Room. More about the Camp's amenities and services here.

Longfellow

Link to official White Pine Camp cabin description

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