The next morning all of our gear was packed away and put into the canoes as fast as possible, so that we could have an early departure. We all knew that today would be a day of extensive paddling, as we wanted to cover about 10 miles before reaching our next and last night on the trail. Tonight we were heading for a private island in the middle of Kiwassa Lake! Our actual destination appeared to be a short two hour paddle away, so to accumulate some more miles, we headed in the opposite direction toward Lower Saranac Lake.
For what seemed like several hours, we paddled, passing by many small islands. The wind had picked up considerably so we needed to stay close to shore. Our bearing was southwest, but we were paddling into a stiff breeze and we felt like we were getting nowhere fast! 
After an exhausting morning, we stopped on the far shore at campsite that had a rock peninsula for a quick lunch and a few pictures. 
After lunch, we turned around and headed back to our original riverside campsite, then continued down the river into some of the most remote wilderness of all.
Trees were growing out of rocks in the middle of the water and there were many fascinating natural sights. While we were expecting to see some 4 legged wildlife in this pristine wilderness, the only wildlife viewed were a wide variety of birds. The peaceful serenity of our picturesque setting distracted us from noticing our aching and sore muscles from paddling. 
Suddenly, we came upon an extremely rare sight: a canal. Due to the presence of different water levels between two lakes, we were required to enter a canal and to be lowered down about 10 feet, so that we could continue on our paddling journey. The “lower locks” were extremely fascinating, as this was the first time that any of us had experienced this.
After what seemed like endless paddling, through connecting channels and across small lakes, we eventually arrived at our desired location!
Our last night on the trail was on a very small, semi-private island in the middle of Kiwassa Lake, which was actually pretty cool, as we would be able to claim it as “ours” for that night! Since we arrived in the middle of the afternoon, it gave us plenty of time to set up camp, explore the island and relax. 
On this final night, the scouts were to prepare everything on their own― without the help of any of the adults, including Kelly. The scouts were expected to build and maintain the fire, cook dinner, clean up, and hang the bear bag. Let’s just say that given all the practice we had had during the week, all of these tasks were handled very well.
At the fire, a few “infamous” skits, commonly performed by Troop 353, were presented. Afterwards, the traditional “Rose, Bud, Thorn” ceremony was conducted, as we all exchanged ideas of what we thought was the best and worst parts of the trip, along with what we look forward to doing.
Meaningful words were later spoken by the adult Scoutmasters and Kelly, as they explained about everything this trip should mean to the scouts and how it should be remembered for being such an amazing experience. From this, the scouts had embraced the fact that they had all accomplished a lot and learned a whole lot of new things, perhaps more than they thought was possible originally.
As the fire died down, everyone was very satisfied (and very tired) & we made our way to the tents, where we bedded down in the chilly Adirondack air to spent the final night on this amazing trip and easily fell fast asleep listening to wind whistling through the pines.
Troop 353 Eastchester, NY 