Kayaking the Rollins Loop – St Regis Canoe Area

For our first anniversary, Jordan and I decided to take a camping trip to Rollins Pond, our favorite campground. I love Rollins because almost every site has water access, which is perfect since we now both have kayaks.

On Sunday, I had planned a kayaking trip for us: the Rollins Loop which we could paddle directly from our campsite. After cooking breakfast and getting our gear ready, we started around 11am.

We paddled through Rollins Pond first, staying to the right side of the shoreline. I had read that there is a small flowing stream that leads to the next body of water, Floodwood Pond. There is a portage trail but we had seen some people come out of it in kayaks, so we figured we’d try it. It got pretty shallow but it wasn’t anything our boats couldn’t handle. We kept to the right in Floodwood Pond, eventually coming to Fish Creek. This part was probably my favorite part of the trip! It was so pretty.


 Coming out of a marsh, I took a wrong turn. We paddled through some fierce wind just a little ways until I realized it. We were supposed to take a left out of the marsh and continue through a widening Fish Creek.

Eventually we came up on a sign pointing in  the direction of Copperas Pond, which was the way we needed to go. It was so weird seeing trail signs out on the water! We paddled through Copperas Pond until we came upon the sign for our first portage.

This was the longest carry at 0.3 miles We took two trips since Jordan wanted to carry my boat for me (thanks, husband)! The trail was wide, mostly flat and well marked with canoe carry markers.

We launched into Whey Pond, the final pond before arriving back at Rollins. We paddled  across Whey Pond. This one was crowded with people fishing from their canoes and other paddlers. We spotted the portage trail sign, got out of the boats and then carried them a short distance through a parking lot and then crossing the Rollins Pond Campground road. We launched directly from the boat launch. Our original plan was to stop for lunch along the route that I’d packed in a cooler and kept in my boat. But before we knew it we were back at Rollins Pond so we figured we’d just paddle back to our campsite and eat.

Overall it was a great paddle! We did the loop clockwise (see map below of my GPS tracks). And it was the furthest I’ve ever paddled!

Rollins Loop Paddle
Distance 8 miles (including portages)
Time 3 hrs, 19 minutes