St. Regis Canoe Wilderness

On a bluebird day being in the St. Regis on skis is like someone handing you a pound of freedom on a happiness roll. We had a great long tour, about 12miles, and the snow conditions couldn't be better; the lakes were dry powder but firm enough for my skinniest of skis for speed. Bill Ingersoll, Paul Sirtoli and I dropped out for the day and drove to Tupper Lake and then to the trailhead at Little Clear Pond. The tour took about 7 hours with a nice half hour lunch. Highlights were skiing the tall, narrow esker between Mud Pond and the St. Regis River, remote Fish Pond and it's lean-to, and the wild rolling ride on the truck trail on the way out. Paul wants to make it an annual tradition, and I don't see why we shouldn't. 28+ inches of barely consolidated snow in the woods, but we had tracks most of the way. The lakes were wind-blown firm with 2" of powder.