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After a night at home to unpack and repack, we left for Lake George with kayaks car-topped. We would be spending the next four days camping on an island in the narrows of the lake. The timing of this trip to this particular lake was selected purposefully right before the vacation season would begin in earnest. Once the season begins Lake George becomes almost inaccessible to paddlers due to the heavy boat traffic. However, our camping trip fell on the last week that New York schools will be in session for the summer and this was not a coincidence. We were excited to spend a week on the lake that Thomas Jefferson described as "the most beautiful water I ever saw."

With kayaks laden with gear, we launched from Bolton landing - a location in the middle of the lake. We headed north and coming around the tip of Green Island, the areas that we would spend the next week exploring started to open up to us. Northwest Bay was directly north and the imposing Tongue Mountain range came down to the water with a series of islands to the east. Juanita island was our goal and despite the fact that it had five campsites, it turned out to be our private island for the week!

On Monday we settled in with a dinner of pork tenderloin while enjoying the scenery to our north with Black Mountain's fire tower in the distance. With full stomachs, we went to sleep ready to explore in the morning.

Tuesday's weather included a stiff south wind which was creating whitecaps on the broad lake. We decided not to venture too far since there were possible thunderstorms in the forecast. Heading southwest and donning our spray skirts, we didn't hesitate to ride the waves. I enjoyed crashing over the rollers at full speed and watching the bow of my boat dip into the lake. We made another circle around Green Island and made it back to Juanita island in time for blue skies - the storms never came!

Our longest paddle of the trip would take place on Wednesday when we decided to paddle roughly sixteen miles to the tip of Sabbath Day Point and back. We dashed around islands, exploring some of the bays on each shoreline (including watching loons in Paradise Bay). When we arrived in Huelett's Landing we purchased the first ice cream that we could find! After crossing the lake to touch Sabbath Day Point, we headed south toward Deer Leap for a picnic and swim. The imposing cliffs and rubble below reminded us of some of the great canyons that we found out west. Returning back to our island home, we feasted on salmon and couscous with vegetables.

The next day, we explored south from our island at a more leisurely pace. We found a mixture of state and private land as we headed along the eastern shoreline. After arriving at Watch Point, we made a bee-line across the lake toward the aptly-named Dome Island. From it's southern tip, we watched two of the lake's passenger ships (the Saint-Sacrement and the Mohican) heading south on both sides. After a stop in Bolton Landing for a water refill and a quick drift at Montcalm Point we went back for our final night on Juanita island.

On our last morning on Lake George we found two Adirondack guideboats leaving the lake as well. The motorboat traffic had been building and it was time for the paddlers and rowers to seek more remote waters. Our future explorations of the "Queen of American Lakes" would have to wait until the tourist season would be over.