Hiking, Camping, and Trout Fishing in the Adirondack Mountains

Well guys, welcome to another video and I'm excited about this one because we're somewhere new today. The family and I decided to take the camper, take a little trip to the Adirondacks. So my wife and kids will be doing some camping at the campground in the camper while I hike. We're going to do a little hiking, a little camping, maybe some fishing. There's a mountain I want to hike to the top of, or at least close to the top. It's getting a little late so I'll probably set up camp before I get there and then continue my hike tomorrow. Starting to climb, I'm getting warmed up pretty quick. That breeze feels good. I have my waterproof boots on, only because I forgot my hiking boots at home. So my feet might get a little sweaty. And I just found some chaga, makes a great tea. It's a very medicinal fungus. You don't want to use it from dead trees though, only living ones. It's growing on dead trees, it contains toxins. Here's another thing we don't have back home, or at least not very much of it, cedar. Bark has fallen off of it and this makes really good tinder, when it's dry that is. Some more cedar here. This one's alive and well. You see that? Smells very good. Water break. Well, I hear a stream down here. Now this definitely looks like it could have some wild brook trout in it. I'm gonna break out the fishing gear, see if I can catch something. My little mini fishing rod I picked up the other day, perfect for hikes like this. We're gonna see how it does. Three pound test line on here, perfect for these small trout. With some hooks, sinkers, jigs, flies, all kinds of stuff. I'm gonna try this little jig here. Well, no bites so far. I'm gonna try this other hole down here real quick. Might be something under these rocks. Oh, almost had one. Just trying these deep little pockets right in between these rocks. I almost had one up there. I'm gonna give that one a break for a minute, try these other holes real quick. Then I'll stop messing around and set up camp. Okay, caught one. Tiny wild brook trout we're gonna throw back. Nice looking fish though. Not really worth cooking. I'm not gonna get much meat out of them when they're that size. Unless I catch a big one, I'm just gonna throw them back. I got some water on my camera. It's getting kind of late now, so I'm gonna go set up camp. I was hoping to catch something a little bigger for my meal tonight, but I have plenty of food, so we'll be good. I'm gonna get some water. Good water. There was one more spot I wanted to try. Missed one. It's a little thick in here. I'm not sure if I'm gonna be able to make a fire tonight because of how thick it is. All right, I found a place for the tent. It's my river country trekker tent. And to set this up, I need my trekking poles. I'm gonna get my sleeping pad in there and inflate that. And once that sun went down, it got chilly. Chilly and windy. That's comfy. That wind is howling out there. These mountains get really cold and really windy. Some of the nastiest, coldest weather in the country. But it's still August, so shouldn't get too cold tonight. All right, I got my food bag here, and let's see what we got in here. Some coffee, my titanium cup. Got some new meals in here I want to try. Wild mushroom fettuccine alfredo. Fettuccine alfredo with chicken. Some raspberries I freeze-dried. Korean-inspired beef. Got my little camp stove set up here. I have to block this wind a little bit. It's not doing too bad though, especially for a cheap little stove. A lot of bugs out tonight. Now for the fettuccine chicken alfredo. I'm gonna get some of my raspberries, rehydrate these, and just snack on them. And they're really good just freeze-dried, but can also rehydrate them. Dump them in that hot water, and they'll soak it up. And then I'll even have a tea. Raspberry tea. That's good. It's getting chilly. I'm putting this hoodie on. It's windy. All right, we're gonna try it out. Never had it before. It's different. Got kind of a sweet flavor. Pretty good. A little bit of a spice to it. Not much, but just enough. Now for the fettuccine chicken alfredo. Wow. Very good. So this is now one of my favorites. Well, I am full, and I am ready for bed. I'm gonna put my bags in here that I just ate. There's a lot of black bears here in the Adirondacks, so I'm gonna hang this from a tree. There we go. Let's get in the tent. Sleeping bag's a little overkill for tonight, but better to have something that's too warm than something that's not warm enough. I'm going to bed. I'll see you guys tomorrow. Morning. Still pretty windy out there. Let's get my food bag down. These little towel tablets. Just put them in water, and they expand. And then just open it up. And you can use these for all kinds of things. I'm just going to clean this cup out a little bit. Some raspberries stuck to it. Let's get some coffee brewing. Looking good. I'm gonna have some more raspberries. Those are good. That's good coffee. That's strong. Beautiful day today. Well, I'm gonna finish my coffee, get all my stuff packed up, and get out of here. Still nice and breezy out. It's warming up a little bit though. There is so much birch around here. A lot more than back home. I'm gonna break out the fishing rod again. We're gonna try this rubber worm this time. I just ripped off a section of this one. These fish are really small. All right, let's give it a go. Got one. Another small one. There's got to be a big one in here somewhere. I just missed a nice one. It's a nice looking one. I like to hide under those rocks. That's where I like to drift the worm. Just like that. That's a pretty one. The fish are so small they're not really getting the hook in their mouth. No shortage of trout in this stream, that's for sure. I'm gonna try this spot one more time. There we go. Nice looking fish. Biggest one so far. Still too small to make a decent meal out of, so I figured I'd just release it. Well, on that note, I'm gonna get my stuff and keep on hiking. I could do this all day, but there's other stuff I want to do too. A lot of times, if you get a bite in one spot and they stop biting after that, give them a break. 15-20 minutes or so. Go back to that spot. Sometimes they'll bite again. I've caught a lot of fish that way. I'm gonna fill up my water bottle before I head out. All right, back to the trail. Little toad. This is where we start to actually climb. That looks steep and rocky. I might have to get those trekking poles out. Looks like I'm here. Beautiful view. Time for a snack. Some good old-fashioned trail mix. I couldn't ask for better weather. Already starting to get some fall colors here, and I'm loving it. Fall weather too. Still August, but it's cool. All right, so I'm gonna start hiking back now. It's actually a very small mountain compared to a lot of the other ones around here. This place is beautiful. If you ever get the chance to explore it, I highly recommend. Sometime when we have more time to stay here, I want to start exploring the high peaks, hiking some of those trails. Those range anywhere from 4,000 to well over 5,000 feet in elevation. I passed a couple people on the trail, so these trails do get some use. I'm taking a different trail down the mountain. I'm not sure what's worse, going uphill or downhill. You'd think uphill, but downhill is a little harder on the knees. The acorns are starting to drop. Acorns are a major food source for the wildlife around here. It's packed with carbohydrates, protein, so in the winter when there's not much to eat, a lot of the animals are scraping for acorns, looking for them. See all these bear spots in here? Turkeys will do that, scraping the leaves away, looking for acorns to eat. Deer also do that. It's all scraped up. There are moose around here too. I'd like to see one of those. More birch. Birch everywhere. Well, I am getting hungry. I'm gonna stop up here for a little while and cook some food. There it is. Wild mushroom fettuccine alfredo. Sounds like a winner to me. These freeze-dried meals aren't cheap, but they're worth it on backpacking trips like this. They're very lightweight, compact. The igniter doesn't work on this thing, that's why I have to give it a spark. It's about ready. That is good. I have some more raspberries. I do have a freeze dryer now, but I've been freeze drying a lot of fruits lately, and also a lot of the things I forage, like mushrooms. So I haven't had a chance to freeze dry many actual meals yet. I have about a mile or so to go. It was a nice hike. I love this area. Well, hope you guys enjoyed the video. Hopefully we can do some more trips like this soon. Join me in my next one.