Camping trip - Day 3 (July 3)

The last day of the trip. Basically it was nothing more than a pack-up day. Before I go into the details of it I would like to elaborate more on our arrangements. Here is a snap of the bare essentials of the trip.
The black containers are called 'Bear Cannisters'. These are environment friendly and bear friendly containers. Previously, people who used to go for camping trip would use plastic bags to store food and the wild bears would unwittingly eat them along with the food and die. Nowadays, most of the trekkers pack foodstuff in such cannisters and the bears can't open them and eat the stored food (ofcourse, in this photo the cannisters are open since the foodstuff is outside). Also, during night time, we would keep the cannisters a fair distance away from our tents so that even if the bears smelled food, they would play around with the cannisters and not venture too close to our tents.

The green cans are propane gas which was our fuel source for cooking. These are really small, convenient and safe to carry around and in fact they form the base of the stove. The black can is a water-proof sealant which we would spray on our shoes to keep them moisture-free since it had rained the previous night. This spray forms a layer on the shoes which is effective in keeping away small quantities of water. The blue plastic bottles are electrolyte replenishers. We also carried them in powder form. We also had iodine tablets to purify the water from the stream. Basically, u collect the water, put a couple of iodine tablets in it, wait for 30 min and the water is safe for drinking. This water has an unpleasant taste and to mask it we used the electrolyte powder. We bought a lot of packed food; mostly powdered soup and ready to eat Spanish rice. Apart from this, we also had macaroni and flavoured oats. The grey bundle is a sleeping bag. There is just one shown in the snap but we had one for each of the eight of us. Believe it or not, the black bag contains a tent. It has 3 rods which form the skeleton of the tent, the main cloth which forms the tent, a water-proof cover and clamps to hold the tent on the ground. We also had energy bars and torches. These are some of the things you have to carry for a camping trip.

As for the third day, I slept really well the previous night and was one of the first to wake up. I called the other guys, brushed my teeth and started preparing tea. Slowly but surely, everyone woke up and we had oats and tea for breakfast. We packed everything, dismantled the tent and waved our final good-byes.
We went back the way we came. So first we crossed Marcy dam and then walked for ever till we reached our van. This took us more than an hour. Since this area had all the facilities, a couple of us decided to take a bath before leaving for home and while they were doing so, Mukul, Chetan & Harsh got busy stuffing everything inot the van and to tie off the sleeping bags on the top of the van. Here is Harsh smiling after a job well done.
We all left after spending almost an hour at the parking lot. We had to feed our hungry stomachs and some peolple opted for subway sandwiches while others including opted for Chinese food. This Chinese restaurant is situated in the downtown of Lake Placid area. The downtown is very beautiful with a European touch and was chock-a-block with tourists. We then went to an ice-cream shop and had juices and ice-creams.

Then began the long drive back to Buffalo. We had breaks in between where we would change seats, sing along the songs played in the van and sometimes do nothing. We stopped in the evening at a Burger King for our dinner. At the very end of the trip, Vatsala got bored with the songs that were being played in the van and hence she started listening to the songs in her i-pod. She would sing the song aloud and at that moment, since I was the navigator, I paused the song being played in the van and recorded a clip where you will see my lips moving but actually it is her voice in the background. Such fun!!!

We ultimately reached Buffalo around 9:30 pm and thus ended a successful camping trip. I am sure I won't forget this for a long long time to come. I thank Harsh & Mukul for borrowing some of their photos and video clips. A big 'Thankyou' to Amol, Ranjana, Candice and Chetan for arranging this trip and to Vatsala for sportingly bearing our constant bantering. Here is a photo with the names of the members:
From left : Harsh, Chetan, Candice, Ranjana, Amol, I, Mukul & Vatsala.

Here are the photos again in case you missed them in my previous write-up.