The Gill Adventures

kids and portaging

2012-01-29T12:27:00.002-05:00

Lower Nulhegan Wenlock Crossing to Connecticut river

2011-06-22T15:54:00.007-04:00

Patty knows when I need to get out on an adventure and I finally had the time last weekend. It’s not that I don’t enjoy little league games, graduation parties, piano recitals, musicals at the Jewish Community Center, and Girl Scout parades but I like to get out once and awhile and have a good adventure. Patty encourages me and fully supports my need to get out and do stuff so after showing myself at a neighborhood party for a respectable length of time I got into the preloaded car and headed north to Island Pond.

I had contact my friend Russ earlier in the week knowing that he had done most of the section previously. I was looking for any information that he might have, he basically agreed with the NFCT maps and guide, he gave me a little more detailed info on where take-outs were for the portages and some useful information about some tricky bits of whitewater. He than subtly mentioned that he might be available for the day.

We finalized plans on places and times to meet, the convenience store across from the Clyde River Hotel at about 9:00. There is no cell reception in Island Pond or anywhere near it as far as I can tell. We met right on time, Russ brought his two boys ent(10) and Sterling (12), his friend Remi, his dog Millie, a small tandem, a solo canoe and a solo decked canoe.

We set out for the put in, unloaded the canoes and shuttled a car to the beginning of the one mile Old Stone Dam portage that bypasses some class III-IV rapids. Russ is a much more experienced and smarter paddler than I am. I had thought we would leave a car at the take-out and it would be smart to leave a cart at the portage so I could wheel my canoe and not carry it. Russ pointed out that we might as well just use our cars for the shuttle and save a lot of energy. Duh!

The weather was perfect, I really mean perfect. High 60s and clear with a breeze form the northwest. The Nulhegan has no USGS gauge but the Clyde River gauge in Newport was about 270cfs. The Clyde and Nulhegan both originate near Island Pond, the Clyde flows west and the Nulhegan flows east. I figure the Clyde gauge will give a paddler an idea of what the levels are on the Nulhegan. The gauge showed the Clyde slightly higher than normal for the time of year. I would say that this is the absolute minimum you will need in order to paddle the Nulhegan, higher water would be better. We ended up lining and dragging over several sections and did a lot of bumping scrapping, and grinding as well.

The first several miles of the river are very pretty and similar to the section from Nulhegan Pond to Wenlock Crossing. Immediately after the put-in a branch stream enters adding water to the main stem. The current is steady and the river meanders a great deal. Four canoes and five people are not ideal for seeing wildlife but we did manage to see plenty of birds and lots of tracks in the sand including moose and bear tracks. Occasionally you could hear a truck or herd of motorcycles on Vt 105.

When you see a few big boulders in the stream you have reached the beginning of the whitewater section. It would be great if the NFCT could get a walk in access point here, it’s only 100 yards from the road and would enable paddlers and fisherman access to this beautiful section of water without having to commit to the much more serious whitewater below.

The next section started out with a few easy and short sections of white water leading to a longer section that grows more difficult as you near the RR bridge mentioned in the guide book and map. The water was low enough that we all did some serious bumping and grinding through this section. I chose to take the right side around an island which was a definite mistake. I ended up lining down to the RR bridge pool. The rest of the crew had a little more success on the left side of the island. The take-out for the Upper Gorge Portage is at the very tail end of the pool below the RR bridge, I think you would be sad if you missed it especially in high water. The carry is short and ends at a nice pool full of brook trout; Sterling had good success fishing here.

We met up with through paddlers Justine Jarvis, TK and Moxie the dog at the take out. I have exchanged emails with Justine on several occasions. It was unbelievable that we met up with them. Throughout the rest of the day we played leapfrog as we passed each other on carries and rest stops. They are paddling and Old Town Tripper and used a much more aggressive ramming technique on the bony rapids, it seemed to work quite well.

After another short set of rapids we stopped on a sand beach and had lunch with Team Moxie and swapped trail stories. The dogs played in the sand and water and the humans enjoyed the sunshine and cool breeze.

Almost immediately the rapids began again and we had various degrees of success paddling them. Russ and Ent were in the tandem and did very well as did 12 year old Sterling in the decked canoe. Remi and I had a bit more difficulty. I did OK for awhile but eventually got hung up on a rock while upstream Remi broached his canoe and it slowly filled with water. I stopped and headed upstream to help. I’m still not sure how he did it but he managed to get the boat unpinned by himself, he’s awfully strong for a small guy. He passed me as I returned to my canoe. He collected his dumped gear as he went. I started out and only made it a short way before taking on about 4” of water. I had to stop and dump out the boat. I ended up lining the rest of the way down to the end of the rapid.

I’m not sure if he was trying to make me feel better but Russ has done this section before and said it was easier with more water. After this long section of rapids there is a mile and a half of flat water leading to the take-out at the Old Stone Dam and Rte 105 bridge. We shuttled the 1 mile using our cars. Them NFCT map says to put-in by a bridge over a feeder stream that leads .5 miles back to the Nulhegan below the Class IV lower gorge. Russ had learned that if you go another 200 yards past the bridge there’s a new trail that leads to a picnic site that avoids some of the shallow stream. We put-in, paddled, and scraped down to the confluence with the Nulhegan.

The next 2 ½ miles of river were some of the finest I’ve ever paddled. The weather was perfect, the company was great, the water is crystal clear and the paddling is fantastic. The river is a bit bigger here and flowed along at a nice steady pace with occasional riffles and easy rapids, the banks are forested and the river meanders enough so you get new views every few minutes. Near the end there is a very nice RR bridge to pass under and the take-out is close to the cars and a short walk to a general store that sells ice cream. Anyone who plans on paddling the Connecticut River section of the NFCT should consider doing the last section of the Nulhegan as well.

Canoe Abuse

2011-02-02T08:23:00.002-05:00

Mud Pond Portage by Sally Gill

2010-12-14T13:31:00.006-05:00

This was written by Sally, my 8 year old daughter, for her third grade writing class. I have added some pictures.

When I awoke at 7:00 it was a bitter cold morning. I walked to the picnic table with sleep in my eyes. The sun warmed me enough. My hot chocolate was as warm as a fireplace. I was on day five on a canoe trip with my Mom, my Dad and brother Brad who is ten years old. The early morning bird songs and silence brought small but happy smile to my face. The water was glistening and the sound of our paddles was soothing. Then the wind picked up and my Dad said “sweep on the left draw on the right”. We got to our first portage and ate lunch. After the portage on Umbazooksus Lake that’s when in all happened.

When I first stepped on that tail I know it was not going to be good. I was going to portage the Mud Pond Carry. The first time I stepped in mud it was cold, wet and thigh deep. Then I heard a crinkle and my shoe fell off. I didn’t think I would get it back on my foot. Splitter splatter help! False alarm just a frog no a toad. Maybe if I sing I’ll have more fun than being alone 100 bottles of milk on the wall 100 bottles of milk so on. Maybe that won’t work. Yes, I got another frog for my frog count. I wonder how long…

“Oh no what have I gotten myself into now.” It was raining cats and dogs. Not another mud puddle! How about I go around it like my brother? But it’s to big I thought. I didn’t like this I just wanted to go home. I got really grumpy and bored. “Mom do you have a snack?” I asked. The mud was so very cold even my thighs were buried in it. This was hard for an eight year old. “Is that what I think it is?” I wondered. Land. One giant step for me one small step for earth!

Hiking all that was hard but I survived my big journey. I still had one day left and I was kind of glad about it. After all I will admit I did have a good time. My moments alone were full of silence and thoughts, not the regular kind of silence, the kind that helps you think good thoughts. But I did have a good time. By the time I was done I felt pretty good about myself, another small but happy smile.

Sally Gill

Dead River and Grand Falls Hut

2010-10-18T16:23:00.005-04:00

Over the Columbus Day weekend I took my last NFCT trip for the season and headed up North to Dead River Township to paddle the Dead River from below Long Falls Dam to Spencer Stream. Until reading about this trip at Trash Paddlers site http://www.trashpaddler.com/2010/09/nfct-stratton-me-to-grand-falls-return.html
I didn’t know it was possible to do this section as a down and back trip.

After a nice stay at my sister’s house outside Lewiston I drove the remaining two plus hours to the put in at Big Eddy. It was cool and windy Sunday morning as I headed out, I passed a couple of late season fishermen who looked cold standing in the water.
The first ½ mile goes through some easy rapids and soon passes an alternative put-in at Spring Lake Landing. It’s possible to avoid the rapids by putting in here, this could be advisable in high water, during a dam release, or if you don’t want to line or pole back up the rapids to Big Eddy.
The paddling is very pleasant along the tree lined banks with occasional views of the surrounding mountains. This section of the trail heads generally northwest which means you’re paddling into the prevailing wind. By hugging the shore I was usually able to avoid the worst of the wind but occasionally I had to fight pretty hard to keep the boat going straight into some pretty strong gusts. At about half way to the carry around Grand Falls I passed Half Way Brook. This is a very pleasing looking brook so I followed it up stream for awhile until I came to a beaver dam. There are great views of the Bigelow Range in the distance. From Halfway Brook to the take-out the river begins to meander a bit so the wind can come at you from any direction. The scenery gets better especially at this time of year as you get views of the foliage on the surrounding hills. Five or six miles from the put-in you come to the NFCT carry on river left, it’s reasonably obvious and well marked to the left of the island in mid river. On river right, hidden just around the bend where the right hand channel goes around the island, is the dock and take-out for the Maine Huts and Trails trail. They told me there would be a canoe rack here but they haven’t built it yet.

I got the boat out of the water, up into the woods, and stored my paddles and PFD underneath the overturned canoe. I packed up my gear and headed along river right on the new Maine Huts and Trails trail which soon leads to the Tom & Kate Chapell Footbridge bridge across the river. The bridge is located just down stream of the old dam shown on the NFCT map. The trail follows the left shore to an outlook with beautiful views of the falls. After some pictures I continued on down some beautiful new stone stairs and was soon on the dirt road that follows the river up to the gated bridge over Spencer Stream.

A right turn after the bridge leads to the rafter put-in where the trail continues down river for about ¾ of a mile. This is fantastic walking, next time I come I plan on bringing my rod so I can do some fishing, and there are also a couple of nice beaches for swimming. About a quarter mile from the hut the trail heads uphill on an old skidder road. I soon arrived at the new Grand Falls Hut.

This was the first night the hut was open to the public, the previous night it was only open to invited guests and VIPs for the grand opening. I checked in with the staff and went to my room to do a little reading and take a short nap. Sometime during my siesta one of the other guests took some pictures of a big bull moose just behind the bunk house. Dinner was great and so was the conversation with the other guests. The hut was half full with 16 out of 32 beds taken.

The sunrise on Monday morning was excellent as was a breakfast of scrambled eggs and sausage with hot coffee and juice. After cleaning my room and packing I headed back to my canoe. My GPS says its 2.1 miles from the hut to the take-out. It’s mostly flat with a couple of short hills, one at the hut and another at the falls.

The return paddle was wonderful, both the sun and wind were at my back. The sun lit the foliage beautifully and the wind made the paddling quick and easy. There was enough wind to form whitecaps on the river in the final stretch up to the rapids. A fellow camper was at the Spring Lake Landing take-out and I accepted a ride to my car rather that working my way up the rapids back to Big Eddy.

Day 6 and 7 Mud Pond Carry to Chamberlain Bridge

2010-09-03T20:21:00.009-04:00

At about 7:00am I looked at Patty who said “I’m not going anywhere until the rain stops”. I’m not sure if it was raining or whether the water was dripping heavily off the trees but we got up about an hour later and began our day. We ate, got everything packed up and organized into efficient loads, put on our wet clothes from the day before, and all headed out with a load, no need to get another set of clothes wet. We each carried a pack including Sally who was determined to contribute her fair share.

We were back at the east end in about 45 minutes and with only 2 loads left we dicided that the girls would stay, get the boats in the water, and boil some water for a mid morning cup of soup. Brad and I returned for the last two packs. We were back in an hour and a half, got everything into the canoes and set off across Mud Pond after first post-holing through knee deep mire getting to water deep enough to paddle. The sun came out right about now.

Soon we were at the opposite shore and it was immediately and painfully obvious we could not float down Mud Brook and would have to portage over to Chamberlain Lake. We double carried this one but it was difficult and Patty and I were very tired. The trail is quite rough and you need to concentrate to avoid any mistakes. The water in Chamberlain was low so the portage was .45 mile long. With higher water you would be able to shorten the carry significantly and in high water you can float the brook.
A ¾ mile paddle leads to a nice campsite but Brad insisted we do another ¾ miles to cross over to Gravel Beach in case the wind picked up over night. This turned out to be a wise decision on his part and I’m glad he convinced us to do it. It would have been easy to stop early and we would have paid for it the following morning. Gravel Beach was very nice and we set up a clothes line, swam to get clean, admired the brand new outhouse and generally relaxed in the sunlight with dry clothes on.
The next morning it was cloudy again with a strong wind out of the north, thankfully we would have a tail wind for the day. We cooked our final meal and headed out. Unfortunately Patty and I had to get into the water and line the boats around the point before we could get in and paddle. Patty and Brad practiced surfing in the waves. Sally and I watched the water crash onto the rocky islands and we enjoyed easy paddling for a couple of hours. We stopped at an island to go to the bathroom and found a broken loon egg and carcass of a loon chick. We watched the whitecaps out in the middle of the lake and observed a few powerboats trying to make headway into the wind. All too soon we arrived at Chamberlain Bridge got the car packed and headed south.

Day 5 The Mud Pond Carry

2010-09-03T16:26:00.016-04:00

Day 5 Boom House to Mud Pond Carry

We had learned the day before that the water in Chesuncook was down 12 feet and was going to be lowered another 5 feet so that the dam at the south end could be worked on. This explained the extremely low water levels in the lake. We woke to nice calm weather and had a pleasant breakfast and un hurredly broke down camp, loaded the boats, and started out for the day. I was, of course, aware of the weather approaching from the east, it was to grow steadily worse all day.

The initial paddling was windless and pleasant, not unlike low tide in a marsh. As soon as we passed around the point and onto the North end of Chesuncook Lake we were greeted with a strong southerly wind which hit us broadside and made the paddling difficult. We both were blown onto the beach on more than one occasion and Patty and I had to fight hard to make decent headway. Gradually we progressed into the lee side of Gero Island and the traveling became much easier. We were sheltered from the wind until well into Umbazooksus Stream where we had a tail wind to help us forward.

At the northeast end of Umbazooksus Stream one can normally paddle under a bridge and work their way up do the decommissioned dam at Umbazooksus Lake. Due to the low water levels we were forced to disembark well below the Longley Stream Bridge and then portage east on the road until we could turn north on an obvious side road and re-enter the water on Umbazooksus Lake. We had lunch at the start of the portage. The South end of Umbazooksus Lake is shallow and filled with long abandoned pulp logs. After a short paddle through the reeds we reached the west end of the fabled Mud Pond Carry. Both Brad and I were excited to see what this was all about, Patty and Sally, not so much. It began to rain, how appropriate. Time to make some decisions, we reasoned that we could camp here if needed and would look for better options as we started the carry. On our first trip we would bring the canoes and everything paddling related and leave the sleeping gear, food and cooking gear for later trips reasoning that we could return and camp for the night if needed. So, up with the big green umbrellas and off we went. The first section up to the road is rocky and dry(ish), about 250 yards in there’s a good campsite on either side of the trail by some old 55 gallon drums. Once you get to the road the water and mud begin. From here to the height of land there are sections of water and mud, some worse than others. In some places you can walk on the side of the trail and stay out of the worst bits but in other places you have no choice but to walk knee deep in the mire and muck.

These wet sections are not continuous, there are also sections of better and drier trail to walk on. When carrying the canoes it is probably best to just walk in the middle of the trail and not waste energy trying to avoid the nasty stuff, the trail is often very narrow so you'll have no choice. Once you near the height of land the trail dries out to a beautiful gravel path through a lovely mature forest, enjoy this section. This is the half way mark so when you start down and the water flows east toward the Allagash you will know you’re more that half way done. When you reach a clearing on your left you have about half a mile to go, the worst water is just before the end.

There are no steep sections on the trail; it's gradually up and then downhill. There are occasional blow downs but only one or two are at an inconvenient height. At the east end there are two overhead blow downs that are a real pain in the ass. The trail is really to narrow and the water section to short to make floating the boat an option. I don’t think it would be worth the effort to get the canoe off your shoulders and then back on just float the canoe a few feet, your opinion may be different.
You're going to get muddy and wet so accept it and don’t waste energy trying to avoid it. Wear shoes that are snug on your feet, some of the mud will try and suck your shoes off, don’t even think about wearing Crocs. If you have a bow saw you could clear some trees for huge karma points. Once you reach the end you'll still need to post hole through the muck in Mud Pond in order to reach water deep enough to paddle so don't change clothes right away.

It took Patty and I an hour and 15 minutes to do the carry with the boats, we took our time and rested as needed. The rest of the trips took about 45 minutes.There's a very nice, small, grass clearing on the eastern end to leave equipment at, it would also make an adequate camping spot if necessary.

We were all soaked to the skin when we arrived at the east end and Sally was starting to show some signs of hypothermia so we headed back right away, Brad and I took about 40 minutes for the return. By this time there was a hard and steady rain so we quickly set up the tarp and then the tent. We stripped the kids and Patty put them into warm dry clothes and then into sleeping bags while I boiled water and made soup and then dinner. The kids were warm and happy especially because they got to eat inside the tent, something I never let them do. We read how Thoreau got lost on the carry and discussed how similar the conditions still are 150 later.

If you are into fungus and amphibians of northern Maine this is the trail for you. We saw several different frogs and toads as well as three Spruce Grouse. There are lots of different ferns, mosses and lichens growing as well. I must have seen a dozen different types of mushrooms.

Rockwood to Chamberlain Bridge Day 3 and 4

2010-09-02T16:17:00.015-04:00

Day 3 Big Duck Cove to Thoreau’s Island

Patty and I were well into our morning routine by the third day. It’s nice to peacefully prepare breakfast, sip coffee, and start packing gear before the kids get up. This morning was nice with broken clouds and sunlight occasionally lighting the opposite shore. The wind was calm and the water quiet. We got going early in anticipation of getting off of Moosehead and onto the West Branch. The paddling was very agreeable and the shore was craggy and interesting as we headed north. We were sheltered from a Northeast wind by Norcross Mountain. Along the way we saw two very interesting things. The first was a brand new beaver lodge on the rock shore of the lake. I cannot see how this beaver is going to survive the winter especially if the water level fluctuates and the ice moves around at all. My guess is that it’s a yearling animal that is in search of a place to settle down. We did get to see the beaver do the tail slap thing. We moved on to leave him in peace in his new house. The second event was much more interesting. There are lots of Spotted Sandpipers on the shore and we observed them regularly. At one point a small hawk, probably a Coopers, attacked one of the flying sand pipers, we had great seats for the show. The sandpiper dove into the water and totally submerged for a moment, he then floated with just his head out of the water. After a few seconds he took off and the whole process was repeated again. After the second failed attempt the hawk headed off towards Kineo and the sandpiper returned to hunting along the shore. It’s not very often you get the chance to see a real life hunt in the wild and we discussed and theorized about it for quite awhile.

As we neared the northeast carry the camps and homes became frequent and Sally and I discussed what we liked and disliked about all of them. The large white house at the start of the carry is a beacon that seems to get closer only very slowly. The wind was no longer deflected by any hills so we fought a crosswind that made the paddling more difficult.

Eventually arriving at the start of the carry we unloaded the boats and set them up on the wheels preparing for the two mile walk (640 rods)on the dead straight road over the gentle divide. All the while we talked with some folks who were very curious about our trip. The people were very nice and very inquisitive about our family vacation. This is a very easy portage with wheels as it's a very gradual up hill and then downhill with only a little bit of roughness at the end. We almost immediately passed a couple of large bear scats in the road, its berry season the ursus kingdom. We had hoped to stop at the general store along the carry but unfortunatly was closed. Brad did a great job pulling a boat by himself and occasionally Sally rode along in top of the gear. The put in at Pittston Farm was spacious and we had lunch while we reorganized the boats for the afternoon. We met a nice family doing the trip up to Lobster Lake and we swapped stories about camping with kids. Unfortunately the wind had picked up and we spent the first hour or so paddling into a head wind, I’ve paddled in worse and with the help of the current we made good progress. At the turn off to Lobster Lake the river veers north and the current picks up. We floated and fished for the final two miles to Thoreau’s Islands which we found empty. I did some fishing above the bridge at Hanibal’s Crossing and caught 5 fish in six casts much to the dismay of Brad. After grudgingly helping us get the packs up to the site the kids were free to do whatever they wanted while Patty and I set up the tent, tarp and got going on dinner. We had tuna helper for dinner along with some vegetables. I burned the milk and Patty took over the cooking while I pumped a gallon or so of drinking water. The island seems to have a large and healthy Red Squirrel population and I amused myself watching them race around the campsite. We had plenty of wood for a fire and got to bed early for some reading and story telling.
Day Four Thoreau’s Island to Boom House Campsite

This one of those perfect days that happens occasionally on a trip. I woke early to a heavy dew, fog, and a temperature of 42 degrees. It was a good morning for hot cereal and hot chocolate as the fog slowly burned off and the mist rose from the river. We started out early paddling in magical sunlight and perfect conditions. The day alternated calm sections of flowing water with great, easy white water sections. Brad and I saw an animal swimming across the river and tried to figure out what it was from a distance, it was small. A mink, an otter, muskrat, small beaver? Nope, it was a red squirrel! We laughed about this and tried to figure what would prompt it to attempt such a dangerous mission, after all we had seen plenty of bald eagles and hawks that would love a nice easy dinner. A little later on we saw a second one and this time I got pictures. We checked out many campsites all of which were vacant. The sky was blue, there was no wind, the current was strong, and overall it was an incredible section of paddling. We stopped for a nice lunch at some flat rock in a bend in the river and then again shortly later to use the outhouse at one of the many great campsites. Soon the river entered Chesuncook Lake and we were paddling current-less flat water again. There was only a minor headwind with beautiful scenery and pleasant paddling. The water seemed very low and we observed lots of signs of the old logging operations that used to take place here, I think we even paddled a set of rapids that only shows up in these rare low water conditions. We arrived at Boom House Campsite at about 3:00pm; the site is named after the house that protected the winch that controlled the log boom at this location. I told the kids it was named after the sound that the house made when it blew up but they didn’t believe me.

The landing was very muddy and it was a pretty long way up to the site because of the water level but we were soon set up and ready to walk into “town” for root beer and fudge at The Store. There’s a sign that says Store and points to the outhouse but it really is pointing to the path that starts behind it. After a pleasant walk of about a mile we came to The Store which is very hard to miss, unfortunately they were closed for the day to go to doctors appointments. The kids were upset but a neighbor told us to keep walking to the Chesuncook House because they also sold soda. I’m glad we did because we got to see the church and the rest of the town. Two of the owner’s kids were out in the yard spraying each other with fire hoses when they were supposed to be watering the garden. Mrs. Surprenant was busy canning vegetables but she was happy to sell us some home made home made birch beer. We sat on the front porch and looked at Katadin in the distance and hummingbirds in the foreground as we drank our sodas. We realized how disgusting we were and headed back to clean off in the river. The trail back has several relics from the logging years.
We swam in the river cleaning the grime and sweat off in the process, had a nice dinner of Ramen and vegetables, and watched the sunset under a cloudless sky, I had nothing but high expectations for the following day. At 3:00am I awoke to prove that I had re-hydrated sufficiently and noticed some cirrus clouds moving in, not a good omen.

Rockwood to Chamberlain Bridge Day 1 and 2

2010-09-01T15:08:00.016-04:00

Day one, Rockwood to Hardscrabble Point.

After a long drive up to Rockwood we were forced to sit on the lawn at the public landing and stare at the cliff of Kineo. Although the crossing is only about a mile there was a considerable wind out of the north and whitecaps were common. The consequences of a capsize here are serious because you could be blown many miles south before reaching land. Moosehead narrows down at this point and then opens up again south of Kineo. It would be stupid to take any unnecessary risks at this point especially with a ten and eight year old. At one point we forayed out into the crossing but I was very uncomfortable in the choppy water and we decided to return to the grass to wait for the wind to abate.
Eventually, later in the afternoon, the wind let up and we made the crossing and then headed up wind, along the west shore of Kineo. The water was choppy but not to bad, the wind was strong enough so we struggled a bit as we headed north. The first campsite we came to was at Hardscrabble Point, a two unit site with one site open. Since it was Saturday night and the next site was several miles north with another large crossing we decided too take the site after a very short day on the water. Even if we had continued there was no guarantee that we would be able to find an open site in Big Duck Cove 8 mile further north.
We set up the tent and tarp and got a fire going and started on dinner, soup with noodles, sauted vegatables, and chicken. The kids explored, fished and skipped stones. We were visited by an older couple from New Jersey who told us stories of canoe camping with their kids when they were younger. We went to bed around nine after reading stories to the kid including excerpts from Thoreau’s Maine Woods. I woke at night to listen to two barred owls calling back and forth, one on the back side of Kineo and the other on Farm Island.
Day 2 Hardscrabble Point to Big Duck Cove.

We decided to paddle only as far as Big Duck Cove today, about 8 miles. Once past there the next campsite would be Thoreau’s Island several miles down the West Branch of the Penobscot after the 2 mile North East Carry. This would have been a demanding twenty plus mile day for the kids and since we were in no rush we decided to have another easy day on Moosehead.

The weather was overcast and calm when I woke at about 6:00. Our morning routine is for Patty and me to get up, make coffee, and start on breakfast. We can usually even get some of the packing done before the kid wake up, usually around 7:00 or 7:30. The breakfast menu is premixed granola and powdered milk and hot cereal and hot chocolate are available if wanted. While the kids eat one of us packs up the sleeping gear and the other takes care of the kitchen.

Once we have everything in bags the kids help carry things down to the boats and we load up. We try to make sure there is lots of snack food available and the lunch is easy to get to when we need it. We fill the canteens with drinking water and make sure appropriate clothing for the expected weather is on top of the dry bags and available if needed. The kids alternate days canoeing with Patty or me.

We started paddling about 9:00 and headed around the backside of Kineo and across the bay towards the east shore, there’s a nice view of the cliffs from behind. It was a nice paddle along the shore in calm waters. Brad had a Mayfly land on his hand, we passed a lone apple tree on the shore full of apples, and there were some interesting old piers to look at. We discussed the life cycle of aquatic insects, tasted the apples which were very tart and unappealing and talked about the history of logging and farming on the lake.

At about noon we entered Big Duck Cove and began to look for open campsites. The first one we came to was on the south shore and we decided to look for one further along. All the sites on the other side were taken but one of the groups was leaving. We spoke with them and they agreed to leave the fire going and leave all the extra firewood for us. Great. It began to spit rain but soon stopped, the tarp and tent were quickly up and the kids had a great time exploring on the pebble beach. They each walked out to the nearby island and took the canoes out for solo paddles. Dinner was early and so was bed because tomorrow was going to be a longer day. More barred owls and some coyotes yipping at night.

2010-09-01T15:08:00.001-04:00

Allagash, Chamberlain Bridge to Allagash Village

2010-06-28T14:29:00.015-04:00

Day I

It’s been a week since I returned from my trip to the Allagash with my son Brad. It was my gift for his tenth birthday in April, after school ended on Friday at noon I picked him up and we headed north to Millinocket, stopping for a mid afternoon dinner at Bob’s Clam Shack in Kittery. We had our first moose sighting just off the interstate south of Medway.

We woke early the next morning for the long drive to the put-in at Chamberlain Bridge, 60 miles, first on the Golden Road and then on the Telos Road. We stopped at the North Maine Woods checkpoint, paid our fees and tolls, and an hour and a half after leaving the motel we finally arrived at the put -in. It must be a good year for snowshoe hares because we saw several on the drive up and more along the waterway. Brad fished while I unloaded the car, deposited it in the parking lot, and loaded the canoe.

Under overcast skies and little to no wind we headed up the thoroughfare to Chamberlain Lake. Out of respect for the lake’s reputation we traveled northwest up the shore making steady progress. Brad worked on his paddling skills.We saw several loons including one covering her eggs on a small rocky island. My original plan was to stay along the shore until we were opposite Lock Dam thinking that if there was an issue with the wind we could camp on the western shore and cross in the early morning. We reached the cove opposite Chamberlain Farm when what little wind there was disappeared so we decided to cross there. It was probably a two mile open water crossing, my biggest source of anxiety of the whole trip, and as it turned out the water was like glass without a puff of wind.

We had a shore lunch on the little point near Chamberlain Farm and soon were headed north again, this time on the east side of the lake. It seemed like it took us forever to reach Lock Dam and the short carry to our first moving water of the trip. Brad fished where the water flowed out of the culverts below the dam while I carried the canoe and gear. We both spotted fish trying to jump into the culverts and swim up stream, neither of us had any luck but I had a good strong bite. We floated down the stream scratching on a few rocks as we approached Martin Cove. We saw several moose as we made our way towards the main section of Eagle Lake. This cove is a really pretty place and perhaps on a future trip I could spend more time exploring it. We got to Pillsbury Island around 5:00 and stopped at the Thoreau site for the night.

Brad immediately proceeded to fishing while I unloaded the boat and set up camp. He caught several fish while I cooked a fine dinner of sautéed vegetables and Ramen noodles with cream of chicken soup as an appetizer. We were joined by a very tame snowshoe hare who dined on a locally grown fresh greens salad. Brad did some more fishing while I cleaned up and filtered drinking water for the next day. We both enjoyed the beautiful sunset and were in bed shortly after the sun went down.
Day II

I really don’t set goals for each day but I do like to rise early and get a good start on the day so I was up by 5:30, made coffee and got a start on packing. I woke up Brad at about 7:00 and let him rise at his own pace. I didn’t want to have him feel rushed. Since we had no firm itinerary I felt it was OK to have a leisurely morning so we didn’t get paddling until 9:00.

Miraculously we had another day of no wind. Our first goal was to find and take a look at the trains at the east end of the tramway carry. I paddled while Brad fished and looked for more moose. We saw a moose or two in the distance and Brad caught some fish, eventually arriving at the end of the Tramway Carry. We cruised through the iris lined inlet to the landing and had a super time exploring the old cars, tracks, tramway parts, and trains.

I took a bunch of pictures and we set off north across Eagle Lake passing Hog and Farm Islands. We talked to some fishermen who were camped for a week and really enjoying themselves. Another pleasant, windless paddle up Eagle Lake and into Round pond soon had us at Johns Bridge and eating lunch. We watched a loon dive repeatedly in the water above the bridge while we ate prepackaged tuna salad on crackers with slices of sharp cheddar.

After lunch the sky cleared and we headed downstream towards Churchill Lake. We saw several moose here including one that just stood in the middle of the river while we paddled by. It was probably here that the novelty of the moose began to wear off and we began to point them out with less enthusiasm. We probably saw 50 on the trip; it was more surprising to us if we went for more than a couple of hours without seeing one. Still, it’s pretty cool to see so much wildlife so often. In addition to the moose we saw lots of bald eagles, hares, a deer and a fox.

The songbirds were great. Because of the lack of wind we could hear the warblers and other nesting birds calling constantly throughout the day, it’s the peak of the mating season for most of them so they were very vocal. I recognized many of the calls but couldn’t remember what bird they went with. I used to do a lot of birding years ago and it seems I’ve forgotten much of what I used to know.

We decided to spend the night at High Bank site about a mile from Churchill Dam. We stopped at 3:30 after about 15 miles form our previous campsite. The sky was increasingly threatening so I set up camp in preparation for rain. Brad went fishing and had a swim both before and after dinner. We were again visited by a snowshoe hare and a hummingbird that showed a lot of interest in the red top of a Nalgene bottle. An immature bald eagle flew over our campsite.

After our dinner we were in bed by nine, we looked at maps and I read to Brad out of Thoreau’s “The Maine Woods”, particularly about the sections we had paddled the previous couple of days. This was a great interest to him and we discussed the differences between our two trips. I was kept awake much of the night by the incredibly loud bull frogs in the shallow water behind the campsite. Brad slept soundly, I don’t think there is much that can wake him up. I woke up to go to the bathroom at some point and the stars were fantastic.

Day III

I awoke on the third day to a gloomy sky. Brad was not feeling well, had a slight temperature, felt weak, and looked a little pale. He felt good enough to paddle so I made breakfast and broke camp. We paddled the mile or so in a mild drizzle to the dam where he needed to urgently use the bathroom. While he was doing that I waited for a guide and his clients to load up their gear. The ranger came and I decided to bypass Chase Rapids because Brad was feeling poorly and there were only two of us, I would have felt more at ease if we had had another boat with us to go through the rapids. Brad began to feel better almost immediately after he got back from the outhouse. Still, I decided to be cautious and we took the F150 portage around the rapids, It'll be there next time.
The ranger was a very nice guy and we had a pleasant talk while we drove to the put in below the rapids. While I unloaded the truck and reloaded the canoe Brad caught his first brook trout. This made him feel almost as good a new, there’s nothing like the smile on the face of a ten year old who has just caught a fish. This is a beautiful section of river; it was probably my favorite of the whole trip. Almost immediately after we started paddling we passed a moose that ran away down stream. The river alternates class one water with smoother sections, lots of curves and surprises around each corner. You need to pay attention but not so much that you can’t enjoy the surroundings. In my dreams I could paddle that type of river for days on end. There’s a beautiful section of water where the Allagash flows into Umsaskis Lake. We watched a bull moose feeding in water up to his shoulders, he ran away as we started to get closer. The wind picked up and it began to lightly rain as we progressed so we hugged the western shore of the lake to stay in the lee of the wind. Steady paddling soon had us at the ranger’s house at The Thoroughfare where I left a note saying we had passed through.

We had lunch at the Thoroughfare Bridge and headed into Long Lake. Several more swamp donkey sightings as we paddled north on the lake as well as two or three bald eagles. The front that was bringing us the unsettled weather, wind, and rain passed through and the rest of the afternoon we paddled in beautiful sunshine with a blue sky. After a couple of hours of paddling and six or seven miles Brad, who was the official navigator and keeper of 3 different sets of maps and the GPS, sighted Long Lake Dam.
We landed and Brad immediately ran up to find a campsite while I unloaded the canoe. One site was taken but the other was open so we carried our gear up to the picnic table. As soon as that was done Brad headed down to the pool below the dam to fish and I set up camp. The weather was now clear, dry and breezy so I set up a clothes line and dried our wet gear. The tent was set up in a field with a view of the river; the grass was thick and about six inches high which made for a perfect bed. I carried the canoe up and over the short trail to the put-in and filtered drinking water while Brad did some fishing.

The folks from the other site came up and invited us down for fresh baked carrot cake with creamy frosting, not wanting to be impolite I accepted. It was great, really great. It turns out they were from a town just south of us, a group of seven with mom, dad, two children their spouses and a grandchild. The father and son were very experienced on the Allagash and had done it several times before. Unlike Brad and I who traveled fairly lightly they had all the amenities and were camping in luxury. I was impressed with how smoothly they worked together. There’s a lot to be said about that style of canoe tripping and I’m seriously thinking about adding a folding chair to my equipment list.

We were into bed early again. Our procedure seems to be that we would get into the tent at about 8:00, read, look at maps, and then go to sleep at about 9:00 or 9:30.

Day IV

After a very good nights sleep on the thick grass I woke up early to try and get some pictures in the morning light. I was surprised to find frost on the pack outside the tent door. There was a nice mist coming off the river and the birds were singing loudly. This was great morning for hot drinks and hot cereal. After breakfast I packed up and Brad did a great job helping me get the gear down to the river and into the canoe. By the time we got going the swallows were swooping and diving over the river taking an advantage of a stonefly hatch for thier breakfast. I took some pictures of the dam and we headed downstream in calm waters, this was soon to change.

We sighted our first moose of the day as we passed Cunliffe Island; the wind was beginning to build. As soon as we rounded the next corner we were face with a STONG up stream wind, blowing steady with stronger gusts. I needed Brads help in order to paddle this next section into the waves being blown up river. After a couple of miles of hard paddling the river turns and heads east for two or three miles as it heads toward Round Pond. For this section we had a tail wind and the paddling was very nice. There were some fun class one rapids before the newly rebuilt Henderson Brook Bridge and Brad’s navigation and rapids scouting were excellent. We passed the beautiful elm trees that seem to be in everyone’s pictures of the river and entered the islands that lead to Round Pond.
I was a little worried about what the wind was going to be like when we got to round pond and took the turn and headed north again. Sure enough there were whitecaps on the pond but we were able to hug the western shore and make good headway towards the Round Pond Rips. What a beautiful spot, on a future trip it would be a great place to spend a night.

As we neared the outlet we lost any and all protection from the wind and had to face its full force at the outlet of Round Pond. It took us three or four tries to get down the class one rapids. Every time we got even a little bit sideways to the wind a gust would blow us back upstream into an eddy. It was very frustrating getting sent back upstream while trying to paddle down a set of rapids, but hey, it sure was a beautiful day and I was thankful we weren't out on the big lakes.Eventually after several setbacks we mastered the Sisyphean task and reached another section of east flowing water and made decent progress for a mile or two.

When we reached the Musquacook Deadwater I knew we were in for some hard and frustrating work. There were 18 to 24 inch rollers with whitecaps headed up stream as we made the turn to the north. This section of river was headed straight into the wind. By staying right up against the western shore and occasionally getting out to walk the canoe down stream into the wind we made slow progress. We got blown back upstream a couple of times and had to work hard to re-paddle sections we had already done. At a small rapid I had to get out and track downstream and we decided to call it a day at the next site. We stopped at 2:00 at the Hosea B campsite. Brad did a great job in the bow and I doubt that even a stronger paddler could have done much better.

I did some reading and Brad alternated building dams in a little feeder stream and fishing. It was a relaxing afternoon for both of us. Eventually the wind began to abate. At one point in the early evening a moose walked along the opposite shore for a couple of hundred yards passing our campsite. The site doesn’t have a level spot for the tent so I spent some time stuffing the underside of the tent with our PFDs in order to keep us from rolling down the hill.

Day V

I woke at 3:30 to go to the bathroom and the eastern sky was pink, at about 5:30 a moose crossed the river right to our site. We were up early and out of camp by 7:15. Brad and I had gotten into a rhythm in the morning and he knew when I needed help and when he was free to play. The river was so calm it was hard to believe we were in the same spot where we landed in the wind yesterday afternoon.

We paddled steadily north on quiet water which gradually began to pick up some speed as the gradient increased. The rapids were only minor. We stopped to look at the Lombard Haulers, one of which is fenced off because it contains asbestos which let to a long conversation about toxic materials. After a stop at a nearby campsite to use the outhouse we headed on north to the rangers station at Michaud Farm.

The ranger saw us coming and went to get his clipboard. We made an ugly approach to the landing by choosing the wrong channel and grounding the boat 20 feet from shore. The ranger was polite enough to not laugh at our efforts as I got out and dragged the canoe to deeper water. The bugs were incredibly bad at the landing so after a quick check of our documents we headed out toward Allagash Falls. This was the only spot that the bugs were bad on our hole trip, kind of surprising for mid June.

The river widened out as we paddled to the portage at the falls and we had to do a bit of dragging in spots but were soon at the start of the portage. I order not to kill ourselves we did the carry in three trips although we could have done it in two if I carried the small pack along with the canoe. This is a pretty easy portage by our standards and does not deserve the reputation it has as being very difficult.
We met a nice man from Florida who was doing the trip by himself. He had seen the thin green line of the Allagash on a map when he was previously in Maine and decided to do the trip. He was having a wonderful time and was a pleasure to meet and talk with on the portage trail. I admired his curiosity and determination to do a trip in such unfamiliar territory. After the usual picture taking and a leisurely lunch we were on our way again.

The rest of the river was shallow and we ended up having to drag the canoe over rocky areas, a real pain in the butt. Next time we do the trip I hope the water is about 2 inches higher, it would make a big difference. The Class 2 Twin Brook Rapids were a perfect finish for the two of us. Brad did a great job in the bow, his draws and rudders had gotten very good. He did an excellent job scouting on the fly and smiled as we rode out the wave train at the end.

We chose to camp at the first site we came to and it wasn’t nearly as nice as the AWW sites we had stayed at previously. We paddled down stream a little bit to look for a better site but couldn’t find one so we returned. It was adequate and since it was now raining it was a good choice. After dinner we did some fishing with no luck and got into the tent early to avoid the rain.

Day VI
We got up at about six and decided to pack up and head into Allagash for breakfast. There were a few fun rapids along the way and after about 5 miles we saw our first signs of civilization in 6 days. The car was where it was supposed to be and after loading everything up and eating a big breakfast of eggs, potatoes, and toast we were on our way south for the 10 hour drive home.

Lake Champlain - Plattsburgh to Swanton

2009-08-18T15:11:00.012-04:00

I’ve been waiting all summer to get a good window of weather so I could do the Plattsburgh to Swanton section of the NFCT. Finally no important obligations and a weather report of warm temperatures, sunny weather, and mild winds saw me leaving for Plattsburgh on Friday night.

The plan was to paddle about 23 miles to North Hero Island the first day and then about 12 miles to Swanton on the second. I reserved a campsite at Cumberland Bay State Park and arranged for a shuttle to meet me in Swanton on Sunday. Carl and Shelly at the Swanton Motel are trying to increase business so they are offering a shuttle service for people canoeing locally. The shuttle issue has always been one of the most difficult things for me deal with on these trips and it’s good to have an resource in Swanton. The state park was quieter than I expected so I had a good nights sleep until my alarm went on at 5:15. I quickly packed up my stuff and was at the public launch on the Saranac River and on the water right about 6:00, just as the sun was rising over Cumberland Head. The water seemed calm as I paddled east directly across the bay.

After about 2/3 of a mile the water started to get choppy and the wind picked up out of the south causing the water to get quite rough. The first part of the crossing is protected buy a breakwater that I hadn’t notice before, I decided to go straight for Cumberland Head Light figuring that the worst thing that could happen was that I would dump and I’d have to hold on to the boat until the wind pushed me to land in about a mile and a half. The water grew steadily rougher, enough to make me slightly nervous but I felt stable enough in a kneeling position that I didn’t think I would tip. I don't think it would have been an issue at all if I hadn't been alone.

At Cumberland Head the wind hadn’t gotten any worse so I decided to go ahead and make the mile and a half crossing over to South Hero Island. By now it was about 7:00 and the sun was up and I could see where I was going and what I was aiming for. I also had much better depth perception in the full light of day. In low light conditions it’s hard to tell where the closest land is, of course if you look at the map you can tell.
I watched the ferries travel back and forth and in about half on hour I was near enough to the shore to turn north and look for a place to land for a late breakfast. Once I got near the shore I was protected from the southeast wind, the paddling was easier, and took a lot less concentration. I stopped at the public boat access about a 2.5 miles north of the ferry dock at Gordon Landing. I used the outhouse and had some fruit and water on the lawn.
I passed several Vermont public boat access points on this trip and they were all very clean with no litter, have a clean and well stocked outhouse, and pleasant place to sit and rest. This was nice because nearly all of the rest of the the shoreline is private property.

The next landmark was Nichols Point and the entrance to The Gut. Here I found many nice big expensive sailboats moored. It was quite pretty. At least half were from Canada, I asked if it was a usual thing and was told that on nice weekends it's common to see lots of sailboats anchored overnight in the protected area.

I passed through The Gut to the east side of the island into the Inland Sea and returned to the wind. The waves from the wind and the chop from the motor boats made the paddling difficult again but I made steady progress toward North Hero. Because I was close to shore there was no real danger but the rough water made going in a straight line difficult and I was constantly having to correct my course and pay attention the water. When I got to City Bay I stopped on a beach and had some food and water and took a nap in the shade. I was making good time and wasn’t worried about getting to the campground.

After I woke up I was got ready to fight the wind and waves for several hours on my way up to North Hero State Park. I was on the east side of the Island because that'swhere the NFCT map said to go. A careful reading of the trail description said it was possible to portage over or go under Rte.2 about a mile north of where I was. This would lead to more protected waters so I set out looking for the carry.

Rte 2 is obvious but the culvert was hidden, when I eventually found it there was just barely enough room for me to squeeze through. It was a little unnerving to hear and feel the cars go overhead especially because of a noticeable low point in the middle of the tunnel.

The paddling through Carry Bay was nice, now that I was out of the wind the heat was more of an issue so I made sure to drink plenty of water and I dipped my hat in the lake often to keep it wet. I rounded Blockhouse point and headed up the Alburg Passage toward the Rte 2 bridge.

If you read the Trail Updates on the NFCT website and look at the map carefully it’s not too hard to find the landing and trail to the campground. There’s a Lake Champlain Paddlers’ Trial sign at the spot. Since it was early I paddled up to the public beach and did some reading at a picnic table. I would have done this at the campsite but even at mid afternoon the mosquitoes were terrible. At about 4:30 I headed back to set up camp and cook dinner. After eating I walked the ¾ of a mile to the caretakers office to register for the night. The campground is only open to Paddlers and Bicyclers, I was the only one there.

The mile and a half walk felt good after paddling all day and I got to take a look around a bit. There is a large wasp nest in site 92 but it isn’t doing anyone any harm. The whole site looks like it was built in a swamp using fill for the roads and campsites. This explains the vast quantities of mosquitoes. I cleaned up and went to bed early and had an excellent nights sleep, there is a resident Barred owl that woke me up a couple of times but I love to hear them call.

I woke up shortly after 4:00 to go to the bathroom. I tried to get back to sleep but decided to get moving. I was on the water at 5:00 and the sun was just starting to lighten the sky as I left Stony Point and crossed north east to Clark Point, unfortunately the wind was also starting to pick up. I was surprised at the strength the wind but the crossing was only a hair over mile so I reached relative safety in less that a half hour. I followed the shoreline to the northwest and soon I was protected from the wind. I passed under the railroad trestle and then the new Rte 78 bridge and headed towards the mouth of the Missisquoi River just south of the border with Canada.
Since it was still early I decided to take the trip to the heron rookery and do a little exploring and in the NWR. I saw several types of ducks, some osprey, some herons, and lots of wildflowers. Purple Loosestrife is an unwanted invasive plant but is sure is pretty, the Arrowhead was also blooming . I was surprised at how colorful the Swamp maple was. I think we're going to have a great foliage season this year. the last 4 miles whereinto a stiff breeze and I reached the take- out at Louie’s Landing right before 10:00 and called for the shuttle.

NFCT Lake Memphremagog

2009-08-03T13:44:00.006-04:00

The long day trip to Lake Memphremagog was to complete another fragment that I needed to do in order to reach my goal of section paddling the NFCT. My only realistic choice was to paddle from Newport, VT to Perkins Landing in Canada and back, about 24 miles. I got to see the trail from both directions on this trip. I was up at 5:30 and on the road by 6:00, I arrived in Newport at about 9:30 and was on the water by 10:00.

This isn’t my favorite type of paddling because it involves long monotonous stretches of shoreline without any surprises or changes of scenery. On the plus side the weather couldn’t have been much better. I suppose I could have had a tail wind both ways but that’s asking a bit much. The wind was out of the southeast as I started, just strong enough to be a help and not so strong as to cause a problem. The first 5.5 miles went by uneventfully and I soon reached the Canadian Custom station at Leadville Wharf. I used the phone-on-an-arm and called Canadian Customs and spoke to a nice woman who asked some questions, gave me a number and sent me on my way. I’m sure she was watching me on the little camera attached to the abandoned customs house. This is another great example of one of the quirky little things that you have to deal with on the trail. The shoreline becomes much steeper at the border and the number of houses decreases. For a while there were some modest lake homes, as I got closer to Owl’s Head Mountain there were some huge houses that reminded me of Lake Tahoe. One of them had some impressive topiary between it and the water.
There are some pretty obvious landmarks as you head north that I used as goals as I paddled. It seemed to break up the trip a bit. The boat traffic increased steadily as I progressed towards Perkins Landing. There were lots of fishing boats anchored at the narrowest and deepest part of the lake near Owl’s Head. Between there and the turn around point the water was very choppy from the heavy boat traffic. It was difficult to paddle in a straight line with the waves coming form all different directions. I hate jet skis. Perkins Landing was very busy probably due to the rare sunny weather we were having. It was overflowing with cars and trailers as well as people waiting in line to get in or out of the water but everyone seemed happy to wait their turn. There is a nice little beach that was being enjoyed by several families. I landed and used the restrooms, took some pictures, ate a light snack and started on my return trip. I always keep 2 or 3 PowerBars in my thwart bag just in case I need something to eat in an emergency. Since I forgot to bring the food I left on the kitchen counter it was a good thing I had them. I also keep a few single serving of powdered GatorAide for the same reason. Now have to remember to replace them.

The wind had shifted and was now from the southwest so by staying close to shore I had no issues with wind. The chop from the boats was worse on the way back. The trip north took me just over three hours of paddling with ½ hour of stopped time. I was figuring on about 4 hours for the trip back.

The return trip was pretty much the slog I expected it to be. The scenery was nice I enjoyed watching the Sailboats that were on the other side of the lake where the wind was better. I have some feelings about what is appropriate lakeside development and what is inappropriate and I took a picture that I think sums it up. I prefer lakes with no development but I understand that people are going to want to have lakeside houses. I strongly prefer modest buildings that at least make an effort to blend in with the surroundings. I have seen lots of buildings, even large ones, that are set back a little bit, have some landscaping between them and the lake and in general are pleasing to the eye. Others are really ugly. I don’t understand why some people have to be in your face so much. The last three miles into Newport seemed to take forever, part of this was that I lost much of my protection from the wind, my sunburn was starting to bother me, and I was getting sore and tired. I landed at 5:00 and was home by 9:30. I think this trip was good training for Lake Champlain.

NFCT Jackman to Rockwood, ME

2009-07-30T13:36:00.011-04:00

We left Carrabasett Valley at a reasonable hour and drove the circuitous route to Jackman arriving at about noon. Out first stop was at the local grocery store where I purchased some last minute lunch items while listening to Nancy Sinatra sing “These Boots Were Made for Walking” on the stores sound system. It was a bit surreal but the folks were all very nice.
I put-in at the Rte 201 Bridge over the Moose River. It took a few minutes to get all my gear ready and to do the last minute idiot checks to make sure I didn’t forget anything. I was soon off and paddling, after the first mile there are only a few camps along the river and it was a peaceful ride. The wild flowers were excellent and I saw several great examples of Canada Lily.
It’s about 7 miles to the west end of Long Lake, the drizzle and hopes of seeing a moose kept me going at a steady pace. Near the entrance to the lake the river opens up a bit and I got to see my first moose of the trip, a large cow who looked a bit bothered that I was on her river. She slowly climbed the bank and headed to the woods. Since it was alternating rain and heavy mist I didn’t have my camera ready to get a picture.
As the trees transitioned to wetlands I realized that I had been sheltered from the wind and that the trip down the lake wasn’t going to be as easy as I hoped. The wind was out of the northwest and made the paddling strenuous as it pushed the canoe around. I made good progress mostly because I was alone and needed to continue paddling in order to keep the canoe going in the correct direction. Long Lake was very nice, it has camps sprinkled along the shore but it’s certainly not over developed. I was 1/2 way to the eastern end before I saw two kayakers near the Lower Narrows. They were the only two boats I saw on the 7 mile long lake. I didn’t see any of the marked campsites but I really didn’t look too hard. I got a little confused entering the Moose River again as there are some islands not shown on the map. The easiest way to find the outlet is to look for The current bending grass on the bottom of the lake. The 2 miles of river were great. It was nice to be out of the wind again, the scenery was fantastic, and the white water was either easy or just challenging enough without being scary. I got to see my second moose and if there had been more time I would've liked to have done some fishing because the trout were rising. The landing at the Demo Road Bridge was a little difficult because there’s a strainer at the take out which sort of forces you to head into the current, additionally the water was high due to all the rain. I wouldn't have wanted to get sucked into the drop below the bridge. I got all my gear up to the road and organized in the canoe and began the three mile Demo Portage. At least the rain had stopped. The NFCT map is incorrect and the description is misleading. The first fork is at .5 miles and then you go an ADDITIONAL 1.5 miles to the turn-off on the one lane track in the description. The turn is AFTER the Demo Brook at the top of rise and at the beginning of a gentle turn to the north. The turn-off was well marked. I then headed down the single lane overgrown dirt road, at one point I had to wade through knee deep water and the cart flipped. After getting everything back together I began looking for a good camping spot. It was late and I was tired and it had begun to rain again. I'm glad I did the portage on a cool cloudy evening rather than during a hot sunny day. I got the hammock set up and dinner cooked and I went to bed. About a 19 mile day with a 1:00pm start.

It poured rain during the night but stopped by the morning. I got the gear packed up and decided to wait until I got to the water to eat because the mosquitoes were horrible. After a short walk on the road I got to the final .25 mile section through the woods. Once again the turn was well marked, it’s on the right. I had to carry the boat for the final section which probably isn’t .25 mile and is relatively easy. Judging from the footprints on the trail it is very popular with the local moose. I didn’t see any human tracks. The put in was small but nice and the campsite at the opening to Brassua Lake looked excellent. I wish I hadn’t run out of daylight the previous night and had made it that far.

The wind was quite strong on the lake and I had to hug the south shore to keep out of the worst of it. As I headed around the final point I was headed straight south into the wind and had a hard time fighting the waves, I estimate the winds at 20 to 25 mph. I was averaging about 1.5 mph on this section. I could see the dam I needed to get to 1.25 miles away across open water but there was no way I was going to be able to do the crossing so I stayed near the shore and went the long way around probably about 5.5 miles. In calm waters the trip across Brassua Lake is about 7 miles, I estimate I paddled about 12 or 13 doing my best to avoid the wind and waves and taking the safest route. Sometimes solo paddling comes down to plain old hard work and conservative decision making.

I eventually got to the dam about when the sky cleared and the sun came out. An easy carry led to the river below the dam. I guess there was a front passing through because the air dried out and the wind died down as well. I took a brief 15 minute snack & nap on the grass by the dam. My wife had been tracking me on my SPOT messenger. She would call my father in law who would look on his computer and then relay my position to Patty. Unknown to me she was on the other side of the dam at one point but couldn’t get to the side I was on.

A couple of easy rapid lead to the heavily developed river at the entrance to Moosehead Lake. Mount Kineo is an impressive landmark to head for. I eventually met up with the family at out predetermined meeting point at the bridge over the river. We went downstream and had a snack and made plans. While I paddled the last few miles to Rockwood Patty and the kids took the boat shuttle over to Kineo and hiked to the top. I organized the gear, put it into the car and took another nap. The people-watching was pretty good at the boat launch. I can’t wait to go up to the area and do some more paddling.

NFCT Flagstaff Lake

2009-07-29T15:28:00.009-04:00

The weather on the drive north from Sebago lake was partly cloudy and windy as we headed north up to our put-in at the rte 27 bridge just outside of Stratton, Me. We shared the launch with a pontoon boat, a very friendly driver gave us an flag which we mounted in the bow of one of our canoes. It blew straight out in front of the canoe for most of the day indicating the strength of the tail wind. The water level in Flagstaff Lake is up, I have been told that in drier years there are lots of big beaches but we saw none on our whole trip. The first few miles are relatively protected but we hugged the north shore in an attempt to stay out of the wind. Out in more open water the waves and whitecaps were growing as the wind gained strength. We saw our first moose in a cove, a big bull with antlers dripping with water. A classic moose sighting that unfortunately I wasn’t close enough to to get a good picture. He slowly ambled away, like most moose I don’t think he was really scared but perhaps the WindPaddle sail Patty was using bothered him enough so that he decided to head to the woods. We did a short crossing to a stump lined “beach” after about 3.5 miles. We decided it would be a good place for lunch so we landed and got the food out. Even though we were standing directly in a steady wind of about a 15mph the mosquitoes were bothersome. This caused me some concern about dinner time that evening but the bugs weren’t too bad later.
Flagstaff Lake is shapped lie a big frown so we chose to stay on the south shore until we got to Jim Eaton Hill and could follow it’s shore west. The afternoon consisted of 7 or 8 miles of paddling and dealing with various amounts of wind and waves. We were fortunate enough to see some bald eagles. The sky threatened with some ominous looking clouds but rain never materialized.

The weather was cool but we were comfortable in our PFDs. At the end of Jim Eaton Hill we paddled .5 miles across a bay with protection from the wind and then we headed southwest along the shore. From here we had to paddle with full exposure to a strong cross wind to get into the channel that leads to Hurricane Island, our intended campsite. We made steady progress while pitching, rolling, and yawing. Soon enough we covered enough distance to get into the protection of the southern shore. It figures that right about then the wind began to die down and the sky began to clear.

We saw maybe 5 powerboats all day and I lost count of canoes after about 25. We were the only non camp canoe trip, they were all headed into the wind, I hope they made their final destinations.

11 or 12 miles wasn’t a bad day. Although we didn’t cover a lot of distance I was tired from constantly correcting the canoes direction as we got pushed around by the wind. We circumnavigated the island to find the best landing spot which is in a little cove on the South side. As is our usual practice the kids were free to explore while Patty and I set up camp. I put up the tarp and Patty set up the tent and got the sleeping stuff out. I made an attempt to start dinner but I bet two minutes didn’t go by before I had to go help one of the kids get a fishing lure out of a tree or tie a new one on. Brad caught 2 perch which made him very happy. I taught him how to remove the hook figuring he was old enough and I didn't want to have to keep doing it for him. Sally is only seven so I spent lots of time undoing tangles and retrieving stuck gear. Eventually, in spite of many distractions, I got dinner cooked. Ramen with chicken breasts and veggies. After dinner I cleaned up and sent the kids out for firewood. As usual this results in enough wood for about a 10 minute fire so Patty and I did some additional wood collecting with the kids. At some point Brad fell into the lake and had to change his clothes. We had SMORES for desert and headed to bed under a clear sky and loon music.

It was great to get up to sunny skies and smooth waters. I got to have a cup o’ coffee before the kids got up and I also got a jump on organizing the gear. After breakfast we got camp taken down and packed up. I got mad at the kids for not helping at all, Patty pointed out that I need to communicate my expectations better. She’s probably right as usual. A pleasant paddle for 3.5 miles with spectacular views of the Bigelow Range led us to our final obstacle, a 1.2 mile open water crossing to the eastern shore. We stopped and the kids climbed on rocks for while Patty and I did some map and compass work to make sure we were headed to the right place. We were in time killing mode because we had a short day, probably only 7 miles from Hurricane Island to the new Flagstaff Hut. The crossing was uneventful except that the wind decided to pick up a bit to make it interesting. It wasn’t nearly as strong as the day before but it was a direct cross wind so we had to fight a bit to maintain a straight course. We ended up at 1 mile beach which was, because of the water level, 1 mile dry-ki. We swam and had a leisurely lunch, I would have napped if I could have. Our next objective was finding the hut. From doing research I generally knew where it was but I had heard that it wasn’t visible form the lake. We paddled north along the shore and headed into a cove where I thought I heard a generator. I later learned that it was the huts generator and they were doing some maintenance on their solar electrical system and were balancing the batteries. We paddled out of the cove, around the point, followed the shore and eventually discovered the dock. Sally and Brad headed up to check things out while Patty and I unloaded gear and got the boats up on shore. The kids helped carry gear up to the check in.
The hut is beautiful and well worth the stay. It cost us $185.00 and included a 4 person bunkroom, dinner and breakfast. The staff was friendly, knowledgeable and very accommodating. They have nice bathrooms and showers, the food was excellent and plentiful. After checking in and getting settled I read and took a nap, I’m not sure what the others did. My cousin and his wife and son shuttled our car and then walked in for 2 miles to have dinner with us. The staff let us eat on the screened in porch. After dinner we talked while the kids played hide and seek and generally had a great time. The next morning we got up and had a great pancake breakfast before loading up and heading north to the takeout at the boat launch just above Long Falls Dam, about a 2 mile paddle. We packed up, looked at the seaplane that was tied up and then drove to below the dam to look around and scout a future trip.

Clyde River 5-18-09

2009-07-14T15:04:00.005-04:00

This trip was a bit of a catharsis for me. Full of hubris I set out early in the morning for a quick day trip to finish the final section of the Clyde River between Lake Salem and Newport, VT. The route description said steady class II rapids but I figured I could deal with it especially on such a small stream.

When I left Massachusetts the weather was fine but it was overcast, cool and breezy when I got up to northern Vermont. I scouted the river as I headed from Newport up to Salem Lake. The water was high and I decided that I would portage around the bend at the 105 bridge mainly because there was some Fish and Game Trap in the middle of the river and I didn’t want to get trapped in it if I dumped upstream of it.

I put in and headed into a decent breeze as I crossed Lake Salem. After a mile and a half of steady paddling I reached the Cedar lined entrance to the river. It’s a pretty spot and I stopped to take some pictures. After a bout a half mile of powerful quick water the whitewater starts. After some class I I eddied out, landed and got out to do some scouting. I took some pictures of some old milk cans and put the camera away. I didn’t take another picture until the rapids ended at Clyde Pond five miles from my put-in.

I decided to run a bit of relatively easy looking water and eddy out above the 105 bridge and scout again. The rapids weren’t bad but I overshot the eddy and ended up backwards on a rock. I slowly but surely tipped and pinned the boat. I managed to get away safely but I lost my portage cart and water bottle. I saved the camera, pack, map, and paddles.

It was touch and go for a few minutes as I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to free the boat, it seemed like any effort only made the situation worse. Fortunately I was able to lever the canoe against the rock and with a great deal of effort I got it unpinned and eventually to the shore. I was totally wet at this point and I spent some time bailing and emptying the canoe. I made the decision to keep the wet clothes on. I didn’t seem to be cold and I didn’t want to use my last set of dry clothes in case I dumped again.

I had lost my confidence so I lined down to the little park by the 105 bridge in Derby Center and prepared to portage around the nasty looking bend with the obstruction at the end. I rigged up a yoke out of paddles, and bungee and headed off. At least the exercise was keeping me warm. For the next several miles I lined, carried, dragged the canoe and even paddled a little bit in order to get to Clyde pond. In the process I wrenched my knee and was very close to giving up and limping out for help. I knew I was in way over my head and had made a bad decision to even attempt this section in these conditions especially alone. Eventually I reached Clyde Pond and a little bit of easy paddling to the dam. Once again I had to portage and buy this time I was very, very tired. I rigged up the paddle yoke again and headed off down the road. I was soon met by a very nice gentleman out for a walk. He offered help me carry the boat but it was easier for me to carry it alone rather than having each of us carry and end. This would have been an easy one mile pull if I hadn’t lost the wheels earlier in the day. My knee was really hurting at this point but I made it to the put in and paddled the rest of the way to the waterfront in Newport.

I called the local cab company but it turned out that the driver is also a bartended and didn’t get off work until 9:00pm at the earliest. I walked down to the police station but there was nobody there. I called the taxi woman back and asked if she had any ideas. She suggested I walk to a local bar and ask for a gentleman who occasionally drove some people around. So I went to the bar and everybody in the place was incredibly drunk including the bartender but he made the call and in about 20 minutes the driver showed up. While I was waiting the locals and I had a conversation. Between them being drunk and having pretty think northern Vermont accents I didn’t understand much of what was said but I nodded my head a lot and laughed when they did. After the ride to my car I bought some coffee and downed some ibuprofen and headed home humbled and tired.

NFCT Swanton, VT to Lake Champlain

2009-07-14T14:15:00.006-04:00

I set my alarm for 3:45am and had everything packed and ready to go. I drove the ¾ mile to the put-in below the dam in Swanton, carried my gear to the water and was paddling by 4:30. Even at this early hour, the sun wasn’t up and the sky was only beginning to lighten, I could hear the wind in the trees. This wasn’t a good sign but “hope spring eternal” and I kept on paddling.

I had planned this weekend for a while. Patty and the kids would be my “support team”, while I paddled they would find a beach to swim at and a Campsite for Saturday night. Occasionally they would see if they could spot me out on the lake. Unfortunately the weather forecast turned bad but since we already had a motel reservation I decided to get an early start and see if I could get at least some of the trip done.

I’m intimidated by big lakes and Lake Champlain qualifies as a big lake. The Northern Forest Canoe Trail enters at Plattsburgh, NY and exits via the Missisquoi River right near the US Canada border. I chose to paddle north to south mainly because I couldn’t get a motel room in Plattsburgh, something about a fishing tournament. There are several places where you have to cross open water, although none are more than about a mile and a half they do leave you exposed to the wind and away from the relative safety of the shore. Steady paddling with the current and growing wind from the south had me making good time as the sun slowly rose in the east and the light began to reveal the details to the riversides. I soon passed the boundary of the Missisquoi Nat’l Wildlife Refuge and then Louie’s Landing boat launch. With the sun up and the wind from my back I did some sailing for a mile or two before the river began slowly bending to the west and I had to paddle again.

There were lots and lots of birds around. I lost count of the great blue herons that I saw. I also observed several osprey, king fishers, gulls, swallows and I heard lots of warblers and other songbirds. As you gradually make your way into the delta you can see through the trees into the marshy areas on either side of you. The woods are very pretty with lots of ferns covering the forest floor and silver maples providing shade. The wind was steadily increasing as I paddled the 8 miles to the entrance to Lake Champlain. I pretty much knew what I was going to see and I wasn’t wrong. The winds were howling directly out of the south. The pictures I have don’t really do it justice. The wind was probably a steady 20 to 25mph with higher gusts. There were lots of whitecaps and the water seemed to be rolling toward me. I paddled out a short ways and tried to anchor the canoe in some reed so I could take some pictures but the wind was to strong. The only decision to make was to head back up river to Louie’s landing and call for a pick up. It would have been foolish and dangerous to try and continue south.
When we paddled a different sedction of the Missisquoi last summer we passed a very grassy section on bank and on two or three occasions some type of animal slid into the water just behind our canoe. I never saw the animal but I assumed they were muskrats. The noise sounded like someone dropping a bowling ball into the river. On my way up river the same thing happend only this time I saw the animal and it was a smallish beaver, the tail was obvious, it dropped into the water right as I passed it. The must either be eating or resting in the tall grass.

I made it back to the landing by 8:00am and woke up Patty with a call to come and get me. I told her that there was no rush as I was lying on the grass and planning on taking a nap. She arrived an hour and a half later. I’m looking forward to trying this section again. On the plus side we had a great time sightseeing with the kids on the Hero Islands.

2009 is the 400th anniversary of Samuel Champlain "discovering" the lake although he found it with the help of a local guide.

East Indies Pond

2009-06-23T14:06:00.005-04:00

6/20/09 The weather in our area has been crud for several days and the forecast looked miserable through the weekend and into the middle of next week so after studying the internet I decided that early Saturday morning was my best window for a dry paddle. I got up early and was out of the house and on the road by 6:00 am for the 1.5 hour drive west to the put-in.

This is the only trip that I repeat on a regular basis. The only way to get to East Indies Pond is to first paddle about half a mile over Thousand Acre Swamp then carry about 1/3 of a mile on an old abandoned road to get to Mill pond. After paddling about 100 yards on Mill Pond there is a lift over at a beaver dam to get to East Indies Pond. There’s enough work involved to keep away all but the most adventuresome local paddlers.

The nearest road is more than a mile away, there must be a way to hike to the pond but I don’t know where it is. I have on occasion heard and seen ATV activity and I’m sure the occasional snow mobile get to the pond but as far as Massachusetts is concerned this is as remote as it gets.

The reward for the effort is fantastic. The fishing is wonderful, the wildflowers are spectacular, the birding is great, and the fall foliage is first rate. I’ve done this trip many times and the portage trail is getting worse which is fine by me. The blow downs aren’t that hard to go around or over and they help keep ATVs and kayakers away.

Each time I do this trip I find something new and special to see, this time was no exception. Thousand Acre Swamp seemed to be about a foot higher than normal. We’ve had lots of rain and I figured maybe the beavers had been active or debris was clogging the outlet at the dam. The water levels fluctuate so I didn’t give it much thought. At the end of the portage there is small stream to cross that, depending on the season, can get your feet wet. This time it was very high and I got wet up to my shins. Once again I figured the water was high from all the rain. As soon as I got to the end of the portage I knew something was amiss. There was very little water in Mill Pond and a brief investigation revealed that the ancient dam had somehow let go.

The whole pond, maybe an acre and a half was mostly drained and was still draining. The water level was down maybe 4ft leaving the resident beaver lodge high, dry, and exposed. I've included a picture from last fall for a reference.
I decided to do more investigation on my return and I headed off to find an alternative way to get to East Indies Pond. For a brief moment I considered going via the shore but the mud was deep and thick where the water once was and the banks were an impenetrable chaos of laurel, hemlock, and other plants.

I carried back out to the old road and headed south for a few hundred yards and then bushwhacked into the woods eventually fighting my way to the shore. I’m sure you can imagine trying to get through thick Hemlock and Mountain Laurel with a 15ft canoe and 25 pound backpack on. Fortunately the bugs weren’t too bad. I managed to put-in just below the overgrown beaver dam so it took me a minute to find a place where I could get out and not be in thigh deep water. Eventually I got the canoe over the dam with out impaling myself on any of the pointed sticks the beavers leave as booby traps for canoers like me. When ever you see a picture of a beaver dam it’s always a beautifully engineered object that any human with some degree of coordination could easily walk along the top of. In real life this isn’t the case. First, they’re made up of mud, rock, and some of the most evil looking pointed stick you can imagine. Many of the sticks are pointed up and are a serious danger if you were to fall on them.

This dam has been around long enough to be overgrown with bushes and plants that make climbing over it much more difficult that you would think. The upstream side is deep enough that you don’t want to fall in and the downstream side is deeper than you want and the bottom is muddy. I’m willing to get as wet as needed but I also know that the muddy areas around these beaver dams are prime locations for leeches so I was not particularly anxious to spend any more time in the water than I needed to. I eventually got over the dam and into East Indies Pond where the paddling was easy.

I go here every year because the mountain Laurel Bloom is usually spectacular. This year the Mountain Laurels were only fair but there were lots of other wildflowers that were fantastic. The Blue Flags were great, I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many and such large groups of these irises as I have this year. The same is true for the Lady Slippers earlier in the year.

I paddled along the shore doing a little fishing. After catching 3 Pickerel and a Sunfish I put the rod away so I could do a little more exploring along the banks. There is great little campsite on the north shore that I got out and looked at. It has been used sometime this spring because the fire pit was used and there were some half burned beer cans in it. They also left a couple of old lawn chairs. Other than that the site was in good shape. I spent the night there once and probably will again sometime.

As I mentioned earlier the blue flag were impressive and I took lots of pictures trying to get the perfect shot. While I was paddling by a beaver lodge an obviously agitated female red wing blackbird flew out of a hummock of grass. The hummock was surrounded by water and not much bigger than a basketball and sure enough right in the middle of it was the nest with three eggs. I took some pictures and moved on so as not to aggravate the mother any more than I already had.

Nearby in the boggy south end of the lake is some sheeps-laural which I wanted to get a picture of. It’s a beautiful miniature laurel found in this habitat. It’s also called lambs kill because it’s poisonous, I didn’t eat any.

I also came across a wildflower that I wasn’t able to identify in any of my books or on the internet. If any of the 2 or 3 people who ever read this can identify it please let me know. I did a bit more poking around by the shore and then headed to a small clearing on the east shore. I recalled from reading a guide book that there was an alternative carry here that should bring me back to the old road that I portaged in on. The trail headed up hill and trended in the wrong direction but eventually met up with the old road which I followed back north towards Mill Pond passing some impressive glacial erratics along the way. I went back to take photos of the dam collapse and the emptied pond and then finished the carry back to Thousand Acre Swamp. I’m sure that the failure of the dam and subsequent draining of the pond is what raised the water level in Thousand Acre Swamp. Many of the pond plants were under water so the rise in water level must have been fast. I’m looking forward to coming back later in the year to see how things have changes. I think I’ll come back later in the summer and then in the fall.

NFCT Missisquoi river, Enosburg Falls to Swanton

2009-06-17T08:26:00.019-04:00

Patty and I took our now annual anniversary weekend together paddling the Missisquoi River from Enosburg Falls to Swanson, Vt. As is our usual plan we traveled up to the put-in on Friday evening and stayed in a motel so we could get an early start on Saturday morning. I left work early on Friday and the days are long so we got to do some scouting of the river on our way to the motel. We got a reasonably early start on Saturday morning at the very picturesque put-in below the dam in Enosburg Falls. Around the first bend in the river are a series of easy class II rapids.(at least at this water level, about 1000cfs) This was a fun section of white water requiring some maneuvering around some rocks and a couple of small ledge drops. We scouted once from the shore and Patty stood up in the canoe to get a better look at the less difficult looking sections. We didn’t miss all the rocks but I think we did pretty well especially in a fully loaded canoe.

After this series of rapids there are about 6 miles of flat and quick water. The scenery is very nice along this river with lots of wildflowers and plenty of wildlife. We saw some muskrats and deer as well as osprey, bald eagles, redtail hawks and lots of song birds. We passed several spots where the banks were sliding down into the river, some of these slides were small and some were big, the largest one I saw must have been 1/2 to ¾ of and acre and it was pretty fresh. I wonder if the happen slowly or quickly enough to cause a small tsunami as the earth displaces the water in the river. I’ve mentioned before that the clay banks of the Missisquoi are some of the slipperiest that I have ever tried to climb. I guess the soil is not very stable.

This section of the Missisquoi has a remote feel to it even though you are never far from a road or houses. The sound of the river blocks out most of the car noises and because you are paddling below the river banks much of the nearby civilization is blocked from view. There is however no escaping the odors that remind you that you are in dairy country.

Soon enough we arrived at the North Sheldon Bridge and the beginning of Abby Rapids, a long series of class I and maybe some class II water. This was a great section, never to hard but still plenty hard enough with constant maneuvering around rocks, lots of fun to read on the fly. We stopped once to scout and take some pictures. Patty is quite good at finding the best way through these sections and we did well although once again we did scratch a bit. We had to change course quickly at one point and it’s obvious to me that we are getting better as a team in the canoe; this is a good thing because in the future we have to do some sections of the NFCT with more difficult water.

At the end of the Abby rapids as a campsite that we stopped to have a look at. It was a really nice site and I’m sorry that we didn’t get to stay at it. Its under some large white pine and hemlock with a nice view of the river, it’s got a picnic table and lots of fire wood available. Much of the firewood is from a huge dead hemlock that fell sometime last winter. I don’t think anyone would have put up a tent where it fell but if they had been camping there at the time it would have scared ‘em to death. The thunderbox was a bit hard to find. If you visit the site it’s under some pine trees to the left on the other side of the clearing.

We did some very pleasant paddling and stopped for lunch under the bridge in Sheldon Junction. We had crackers, and cheese, and salami, and an apple. I washed it down with some GatorAide.

Our next obstacle was the portage around the dam at Sheldon Springs. The map says that there are two options one is ½ mile and the other is ¾ mile and wheel-able. We chose the longer option. It turns out to be 1 ½ mile long, and easily wheel-able although hilly. It was much hotter on the road than it was on the river. Patty and I worked out a good way to tow the canoe. We tied a paddle to the bow line about a foot from the carrying thwart. We each grabbed an end of the paddle and together we could lift the bow and tow the boat easily. We stopped to eat some of the sweet little wild raspberries growing on the side of the road.

At the put-in there was a gentleman fishing who told us that the put-in on the other side was much easier, I wonder if he thought we were going to go all the way back to the start and then ½ mile down the other side so we could enter the river at a beach instead of on the rocks?

After the put-in the NFCT map says there are some rapids that can approach Class III in high water. After having gone through them I’m sure they are right. I think we didn’t take the suggestion seriously enough, although the water was up and the rapids were only class II they were certainly the most difficult we did that day. There was lots of maneuvering involved with a couple of good size drops, one of which kind of snuck up on us. This set of whitewater was right at the upper limit of my comfort zone and caused a little bit of excitement. I think we did a good job of getting through but we easily could have made a wrong decision and dumped. After negotiated them without mishap we were quickly on our way to the East Highgate Ledges.

We followed the well marked new portage though town choosing to be conservative and not run the rapids. The marked take-out is right below a nasty looking little ledge so we took out about 150 feet upstream and lined the drop. The portage is along a surprisingly busy road. The marked put-in was down a steep bank and was full of limbs and branches so we opted to wheel the boat another ¼ mile down the road to a much easier put-put. We did miss out on a couple of really fun looking ledge drops by bypassing the signed put-in.

The weather started to cloud over as we paddled to our final carry of the day at the Highgate Falls dam. The clouds were not unwelcome as they helped to keep things cooler. The final take-out of the day was at a public boat launch where we met the only other canoe we saw on our trip, a couple of local youth headed out to do some fishing. The portage follows an ATV trail through the woods, over the road, under some power lines and steeply down hill to the campsite. The combination of ATVs, rain, and clay has made the carry treacherous especially on last section. Patty and I were both glad we had the canoe to hold on to a as we went down the last hill.

The campsite is in the woods but we chose to put up our hammocks down by the river where there was a breeze, a view, and a sunset. In the heat of the summer I bet one would choose to camp in the woods where it might be cooler. Amazingly the bugs were a non factor but there were a lot of slugs which seemed to get onto everything we put down in the grass. As usual we cooked too much food and had leftovers for the next day. Noodles with sauce, broccoli, carrots, and cheese. Cookies for desert.

We went to bed at about 8:30. After sleeping for a couple of hours I woke up and read a bit. There where some weird animal noises on the other side of the river which I think was a fisher cat, other than that I slept until about 6:00. Coffee and oatmeal for breakfast and we were off on day two.

This was a very uneventful and peaceful paddle for about 6 miles to Swanton.
The take-out in Swanton is surprising close to the dam although it’s an easy one. It has a really nice grassy area to organize gear in and there were some beautiful yellow iris on the bank. We carried our gear a couple hundred yards to the river front park and had a snack while waiting for the cab to shuttle one of us back to get the car. Patty volunteered so I took about an hour nap under the cottonwoods. The “cotton” was blowing out of the trees and it was almost like a warm snowstorm. I wish we had had time to paddle further and gotten to Lake Champlain although it would have been into an increasing headwind.

Urban Paddling 4/19/09

2009-04-22T14:12:00.005-04:00

I took some time on Sunday to do a local paddle on the Connecticut River from Holyoke to Springfield MA, about 9 miles. I was pleasantly surprised with the scenery and wildlife. The only real drawback was the noise from the nearby roads. The afternoon/evening was almost windless and I passed only 5 or six powerboats, all except one were anchored and the folks aboard were fishing.

Soon after setting off I passed a large nest with what I think was a bald eagle in it but it could have been an osprey. I couldn’t see very well because the nest was back lit by the setting sun and I was on the wrong side of the river. I soon passed under the I-91 bridge and headed into Springfield.

I saw people pretty regularly on the east side of the river. Some were fishing, some were walking or riding bikes and some were just relaxing on a nice spring evening. I observed a great blue heron, at least three sets of wood ducks, and a kingfisher. Later on I saw a woodchuck and lots of beaver signs in downtown Springfield behind the Basketball Hall of Fame. I passed the North End Bridge and the rail road bridge before approaching the Memorial Bridge.
The Memorial Bridge in Springfield is really quite beautiful; on the center arch is a fantastic frieze of and eagle that is seen only from the river and probably really only noticed and studied by folks in slow moving boats. After the bridge are some steps that lead down to the river that make canoe access really easy, I’m not sure what their intended purpose is.

Along the eastern shore extending from just beyond River Front Park and extending for at least a half mile to well beyond the Hall of Fame is a beautiful stone wall now home to many trees growing out of the spaces between the blocks. The lighting was fantastic and the current is strong making for very nice paddling. At one point I stopped to take some pictures of an old sewing machine that someone had tossed over the bank. I wonder what it’s history was. The Mill Brook(?) enters from a tunnel and I shortly passed under the South End Bridge.

There is a really cool tunnel that goes under Rte 91 from Forest Park. I’ve paddled through this into the park but on this trip the water was about a foot to low. It’s really kind of a neat thing to do if the conditions are right. I paddled out into the current and soon arrived at the public park in Longmeadow where my car was waiting for me. I averaged 4.3mph which would have been faster if I had spent less time taking pictures and poking around looking at stuff. Overall a great short trip.

Connecticut River oxbow 3/22/09

2009-03-24T16:07:00.006-04:00

The two kids and I met my brother and his partner for our first paddle of the season on the oxbow off the Connecticut River in Easthampton MA. We had decided to meet at 1:00 in order for it to warm up a bit, we were wrong. The weather was windy, cold and raw but we brought plenty of clothes and decided to go out anyway.

We didn’t get far and it took awhile as we had to fight a strong headwind as we headed Northwest. I’ve done this paddle before and it’s really fun for the kids because the river is flooded and you get to paddle in the trees.

Pretty soon we were forced into the woods because the open water was still covered with ice. A man in a racing canoe passed us and said hello. Sally saw an otter, I looked but all I saw was a tail so I’m sure it wasn’t a beaver and it looked pretty thick so it was probably an otter and not a muskrat. She brought her new binoculars and she and Brad looked at the geese and ducks on the ice while we held onto trees and each other to keep from getting blown away by the wind.

We decided to head back mainly because I didn’t want the kids to have a miserable time and not want to go paddling again. We soon were back at the boat ramp and headed home in the warm car.

NFCT Rangeley to Lower Richardson 9-17-08

2008-10-09T18:42:00.003-04:00

NFCT Rangeley, ME to South Arm, Lower Richardson Lake 9-17 to 9-19-08

First off I would like to thank my brother and parents for watching the kids so Patty and I could take off for a long weekend of paddling by ourselves. Our options for sections of the NFCT to paddle are getting smaller because I am running out of new places to go that are within a reasonable driving distance from home.
This would be our first “big water” section of the trip and the first time I had canoed on any large lakes since the late 60’s when I was a camper on Lake Winnipesauke in NH. We originally planned to start at South Arm and head to Rangeley trying to take advantage of the west to east winds. Sometime on Wednesday night a front came through and there were VERY strong winds out of the north which made paddling north on Lower Richardson dangerous and probably foolhardy. We altered our plans and drove to Rangeley to do the trip in the direction suggested by the NFCT folks. With the wind out of the north we could hug the north sore of Rangeley Lake and be protected from the wind.

After saying goodbye to my nephew who helped us with the shuttle and talking to a very nice elderly man about the trail we headed west along the lee shore. None of my pictures show it but there were large whitecaps out in the lake that were very intimidating. We passed by several houses with interesting docks. These were made with a wooden cribwork around a large pile of rocks. The crib work had planks attached to it at about a 30 degree angle to the water. Obviously this was to protect them from ice in the winter. In all our travels across NY, VT, and NH this is the first time we had seen these. The trip across Rangeley was uneventful, we had to cross a few small bays where the waves were bigger and the wind was stronger but nothing to serious. At the west end of the lake the trail heads northwest into the bay leading to the first portage. This turn exposed us to the full force of the wind and for the first time I was a bit worried. We stayed close to the shore while we fought the wind and waves and eventually paddled into calmer water. I took no pictures of this as I was busy paddling and keeping the boat headed in the right direction. Right at the takeout we saw our only motorboat of the day, a tour boat full of cold looking folks all bundled up in warm clothes and life preservers.

We got the boat ready for the portage and ate a snack while we rested in the warm sun on the public dock. We had it all to ourselves except for one friendly duck. The kiosk had an old NFCT trail marker on it from when the trail was only 700 miles long and the canoe on the logo had only one fir tree in it. We started the portage and immediately stopped at an outfitters and bought some gifts for the kids. A little further down the road we stopped at the Oquossoc Grocery Store and bought a grinder for lunch. Very good. We got the usual odd looks from people who have never seen people portaging a canoe before. After lunch on the deck we finished the carry at Haines Landing. One person stopped to offer us a ride, we politely turned them down. As usual all the folks we met were very friendly. At Haines Landing we entered Mooselookmeguntic (Moose Feeding Place in Abanaki) Lake. Unlike Rangeley this lake runs North/South and we were faced with the full force of the wind. Even though the wind had let up a bit it was still quite strong and the waves were intimidating but probably only 2 feet at the most. We decided to head north along the shore towards Cupsuptic Lake to the spot where we could make the crossing at the narrowest point. The crossing was not as bad as I anticipated, the wind was gradually abating and we passed quickly to the more protected western shoreline. Now we were headed south and Patty got to try the sail which worked quite well at times. By this time it was getting later into the afternoon and the wind was getting weaker all the time. Mooselookmeguntic as a very beautiful lake with long stretched of wooded shoreline. We began to look for a campsite; Patty was adamant that we find one that would get the morning sun. The weather forecast was calling for temperatures in the low 30’s.
Eventually, after paddling around the archipelago on the west side of the lake, we found a campsite acceptable to both of us. We did run aground a couple of times looking. I think that the powers that be are lowering the lake level for the winter. By this time the wind had mostly stopped and the loons were out in little rafts getting ready for their trip south to stay in open water. The temperature also began to drop as the sun went behind the trees to the west.
We have had lots of practice setting up camp this summer and it was especially easy without the kids, Patty began dinner and I set up the hammocks. It was a beautiful site but I’m glad we were not sleeping on the ground. There was not anywhere that was flat without any roots. This site was very clean as were all the sites we saw on this trip although it was obvious that they were well used. We are used to packing lite although on this trip we didn’t have to. We each brought a personal pack with our clothes, sleeping bag, hammock, and personal gear and we had another small pack with the cooking gear, food, first aid, and miscellaneous stuff. We were using my brother’s 17.5 foot tripping canoe so we had lots of extra room. Since we were on a small island I didn’t worry too much about the food at night only hanging it high enough to keep the rodents away. We had a small fire and went to bed early. I don’t think it got below freezing during the night but it got close. We both stayed warm, I got up early and Patty slept in to about 8:00 before I woke her up. I find hammocks comfortable to sleep in and very comfortable in the morning. While Patty was still sleeping I circumnavigated the island and took some picture in the fog. The best part was watching a squadron of common mergansers swim by looking for breakfast. Patty cooked coffee and oatmeal while I packed up the hammocks and got the gear ready to pack into the canoe. What a difference from the previous day. No wind and a calm lake to paddle in the morning. It was a cool morning with a warm sun, perfect for paddling. We cruised quickly ands easily down to Upper Dam and the carry to Upper Richardson lake. We spent some time looking at the dam and watching the fishermen below it. Lots of casting but we didn’t see anyone catch anything. I checked out the Porta-potty and Patty got the gear ready for the carry. We read the memorial for Carrie Stevens and walked the 200 yards to the put in. Portages don’t get much better than this: wheelable, short, nice view, picnic area, clean toilet, well marked, nice little beach, wow, the perfect carry. I stole a picture of this carry in April for another blog when it wasn’t so nice.

The end of the portage was beautiful so we had some lunch and I took a nap while Patty did some stretching exercises for her injured hamstring muscle. I guess I was snoring quite loudly so she had to move away to get some peace and quiet. She also filtered some water for the afternoon. We continued down Upper Richardson along the eastern shore, more long distances with few if any cabins. These lakes are certainly more remote that the lakes the in NY and VT. Gradually we came upon some beautiful long sand beaches that reminded us of the Caribbean except much cooler with pine trees. We missed the kids and talked about how much they would have liked this section. They would have loved running up and down the beach and swimming in the lake. Our campsite had a nice beach and a beautiful spot for me to set up my hammock right near the water. Big moose tracks on the beach. There was a nice fireplace, a picnic table, a crapper with a view, firewood, and no bugs. Life doesn’t get much better although we did discuss bringing the kids next time. This would have been perfect for them. After we got everything set up and organized we walked around the point and were surprised to see how big the waves were and how windy it was on Lower Richardson Lake. We hiked back to the campsite through the woods and collected firewood. Dinner was freeze dried but it tasted great after a day on the water. Patty built a fire and I totally burned a freeze dried Apple cobbler desert. I think the pot is ruined but we will keep trying to clean it out, it may take weeks. We started a fire and Patty stayed up writing a trip report for the kids and drawing pictures to go with it. I’ve known her for at least 20 years and didn’t know she could draw so well. I went to bed early as is my routine on trips and read for awhile before I fell asleep.

Another beautiful foggy morning although the loons were a bit loud. I was up first again and got the stove going to boil water for coffee. Patty was soon up and we ate and got packed up earlier than the day before. There were no new moose tracks but as soon as we paddled about 50 yards a bald eagle flew out of a tree near our campsite. We paddled along the eastern shore of Lower Richardson Lake as the sun slowly burned off the remaining mist. This was Saturday morning so we saw a half dozen boats on their way out to go fishing, we didn’t see any other canoes on the whole trip. The remaining several miles down the Lower Arm has more camps and cottages than the rest of the lake but they are fairly unobtrusive. Lower dam is in the distance to the west, the NFCT heads that way where a three mile carry leads to Lake Umbagog. We took the route to the south where we eventually came to the public boat launch where are car was waiting.

Ashulot River 9-1-08

2008-09-05T20:23:00.005-04:00

Ashulot River

Several years ago my brother suggested that I paddle the Ashulot River from Keene NH south to the town of Ashulot. Beyond Ashulot it becomes Class III and IV as it heads to it’s confluence with the Connecticut, way beyond my skill as a paddler.

Perhaps it was fitting that Sally and I canoed this river on Labor Day. The Ashulot is a typical small New England river that powered the early mills, tanneries, and factories that started the industrial revolution in the area. All along our trip were the remnants of old dams and mill foundations as well as abandoned cut granite railroad bridge abutments from who knows when. The roads go through towns that still have the old row houses where the mill workers used to live. We often passed by fields that have been labored in for three centuries by generations of settlers, sheep herders and now dairy farmers.

We put in at a small park near some strip malls in Keene right below a dam. The first section is not very pretty but it’s still interesting to paddle through. One side seems to be mostly residential houses and the other is the local college. There’s a foot or bicycle path that follows the river on an old railroad bed occasionally crossing the river on an old bridge. The river is not to clean here and there’s lots of the usual junk on the bottom, the most common being old tires and miscellaneous car parts. There were lots of floating things caught in eddies and strainers, most of it was crap but we did find a really good soccer ball amongst the beer cans and Styrofoam. This was in obvious contrast to the beautiful Cardinal Flowers and surprising number of Kingfishers, Great Blue Herons, Green Herons and other birds.

The river become gradually nicer and as you go down stream eventually you get to really pleasant flat water paddling with the occasional short and easy rapids. Sally got to see a Great Blue Heron spear a fish with it’s beak ands them swallow it head first. She renamed some Cormorants “Kickers” because if how they run along the water as they take off. We were going to try and catch a turtle but could never get close enough to one ot make an attempt.

We came to our first covered bridge in Swanzey Station and met up with a family kayaking for the first time. They were trying unsuccessfully to tow a young girl and all of their boats were getting blown around by the wind. Sally and I tried to use our sail but the wind was too irregular for any success. We enjoyed the effort.

A bit further on the second covered bridge in West Swanzey came into view, it was immediately followed by a dam and our first carry. The portage was easy and we put in right below the dam across form a mill of some sort. From the pool below the dam there were a set of bony rapids that led to more flat water cruising through some nice tree lined farm land and Silver Maple forest.

There was a third covered bridge in Westport, NH and a mile and a half later a fourth in Winchester. This last one has a fun drop below it. I bet in higher water it is even more fun. For some reason I thought this was going to be about a 12 to 15 mile trip but when I carefully read the AMC guidebook I learned it was going to be about 20 miles. I was starting to feel it in my shoulders. The next landmark was a race cart track just off the river to the east. We couldn’t see it but we could sure hear it. Another 4 or 5 miles got us to a rapids in the village of Winchester. I had to half carry and half drag the boat past this rock garden. I think this one would be a lot of fun with higher water levels. I definitely want to paddle this trip again when there is more water.

The trip through Winchester is kind of cool there are houses on one side and the other side is lined with the back side of the village stores. Sally was fascinated by the rooms that were cantilevered out over the river. I bet it was fun to be there when the river was at it’s spring peak. There was a fair amount of stuff in the river here but not to bad. It’s a short distance after this to the bridge where we were to take out. We had left our car in a drugstore parking lot on the way up earlier in the day before Patty dropped us off in Keene.

I probably should have left the car 2 miles down the road in Ashulot at the next covered bridge but at the time I didn’t want to spend the time hunting around for a good take-out when their was one right in front of me. Anyway it was getting late and Sally was getting hungry and tired. We had some great conversations on our trip and it was wonderful to spend time alone with her. After the take-out we loaded up and stopped at a nearby hot dog stand for some dinner and a treat. Sally got to try cole slaw which she said was spicy but good and I got to drive an hour and a half while listening to the Redsox. It’s one of my favorite things to do, drive home on a cool summer evening, tired after a great trip, while listening to the Sox and drinking a cup of good coffee. Sally slept.

Umbagog Lake 8/30/08

2008-09-04T20:30:00.005-04:00

Umbagog Lake

After packing on Friday night I woke at 5:00am for the ride up to Umbagog Lake on the New Hampshire Maine border, another section of the NFCT. I bought a large cup of coffee to go and headed north on the interstate to St Johnsbury were I headed northeast across New Hampshire to Berlin and then north to Errol and eventually the put-in at the public landing above the dam on the Androscoggin river.

The last hour or so of the trip was a pleasant drive along the Upper Ammonoosuc River and then the Androscoggin. It was nice to see sections of the Upper Ammonoosuc at a much lower water level than we had paddled it earlier in the year. I’m glad we did it when we did in order to avoid having to drag the boats over bony rapids and sandy flats. The Androscoggin River is beautiful and I'm both intimidated and excited to try the rapids. I’m sure we will carry the Class III sections when we do it.

I spoke with the milfoil guard for a few minutes and he told me to keep an eye out for the Bald Eagle where river enters the lake. He gave me a small sticker to put on my boat and was impressed with my knowledge of the issue of invasive plants. I wish I could take credit for research but I've met probably 8 different guards in 4 different states who have all given me literature to read. I usually read it while I’m cooking dinner or lying in my sleeping bag. I have seen the problems that milfoil causes in some of the lakes and ponds near my home so I understand the importance of keeping it out of lakes like Umbagog.

The three mile paddle up river to the lake was uneventful and pleasant, I passed several kayakers who were exploring the side channels and in general paddling at a much more relaxed pace than me. This section looks like a great place to poke around in. I like paddling solo because I can get into a nice rhythm and keep it up for a long time without any distractions. The trees are starting to change along the river and there's a good crop of berries on the Mountain Ash. As with many lakes and rivers I wonder what the Androscoggin looked like before it was dammed and the surrounding area was logged. The section was up river but there wasn’t much of a current and I had a slight tailwind so I made good progress, the lake opens up in a large reedy area with nice views in all directions.

At this point you have to do a 1 ¾ mile crossing of open water to get to the eastern shore and the bay that leads to the Rapid River. The crossing was a non-issue because the winds were gentle and the weather was good. On the lake I saw several power boats but no water skiers or jetskiis. The people using powerboats on Umbagog seemed to be either fisherman or sightseers. The former where either trolling or headed to a location to fish and always gave me a wide berth and a wave. The latter slowed to reduce their wake and also gave a nod or wave to say hello. I admire boaters like this who go out of their way to be courteous respectful of canoers and kayakers. They seemed very happy to share the lake with everyone who was out enjoying it.

At first glance Umbagog seems to be undeveloped but you soon notice the occasional camp located on the shore but set back behind some trees. Often there is a modest dock and a small powerboat. I suppose I would like all lakes to be without any buildings but if there are houses I like ones like this that attmpt to blend in. After the crossing I headed north around Pine Point and then east down the narrowing bay to the spot where Rapid River enters the lake. There are several islands to navigate around and some small coves to enjoy. The water is very clear and it’s fun to look at the boulders and cobbles on the bottom of the shallowing lake. As you approach the end of the cove the current picks up as evidenced by the grass on the bottom and the water pushing against the boat. Cedar Stump Campground marks the beginning of the three mile carry to Lower Richardson Lake. I spent some time here practicing my ferrying technique on the last of the Rapid River rapids. I looked but couldn’t find any NFCT signs marking the beginning of the portage but I did find a decomposed deer carcass. I wonder what the story behind it was, It certainly must have stunk up the campsite for a while but now it was just some bones and fur.

At this point I had to either find a place to camp or head back to the car. Since it was such a beautiful day I decided to head back. I stopped at an occupied campsite and inquired about the portage trail. The campers said that it started where the deer carcass was on what I thought was a fisherman’s trail. The muddy trail soon leads to a fire road that leads to Lower Richardson Lake. The return paddle up the bay was uneventful, I tried to go on the opposite side of the islands that I paddled past on the way up stream. I explored a few backwaters that had lots of Moose tracks on the edges and in the mud on the bottom. Either the Kingfisher population is up or I am seeing the results of a very productive breeding year. There seem to be lots of kingfishers wherever I paddle this year.

The wind had picked up during the afternoon and the trip back west across the lake was much more difficult than the trip over earlier in the day. The waves were probably about a foot high and I had to keep up a steady stroke rate to keep from being blown back. In order to make the shortest crossing possible I traveled south a bit before heading back to the Androscoggin. I passed a pair of very worn out looking kayakers. They asked for directions to the Rapid River and I told them they were close and that they would have a nice tail wild when the turned the corner around Pine Point. I suspect they had paddled the 6 ¾ miles up from the south end of the lake and had taken a wrong turn or two. They looked very tired, I hope they made out OK.

The crossing was challenging but not too bad and my canoe handled the wave easily. Right when I passed the Magalloway River outlet and entered the Androscoggin I saw the bald eagle perched on top of a dead tree in one of the meadows along the river. I passed probably the 6^th pair of loons I had seen so far on the trip although I had probably seen this pair on the trip up river. The head wind easily negated any advantage I was getting from the current but I made steady progress and tried to stay out of the wind a much as possible by hugging the shore on the lee side whenever possible. The trip down river was uneventful although very pretty in the early evening.

I reached the car loaded up while I fought the mosquitoes and then headed out. The drive home was pleasant while the sun was still up. Very pretty driving in northern New England. I ended up getting home at about 10:00 but didn’t get to sleep until later because of all the coffee I drank to keep me awake on the ride home. I would recommend this trip to anyone with intermediate paddling skills as either a day trip or an easy overnight. It's about 8 miles from the put-in to the Rapid River. I used NFCT map #8.

Mansonville Quebec to Enosburg Falls

2008-08-21T15:00:00.007-04:00

After a night in a motel we spent Friday morning driving up Rte 105 and scouting the Missisquoi River and some of the rapids and portages we would be doing in the next few days. We eventually found the take- out at Lawyers Landing in Enosburg Falls, left a car for the shuttle, and stuffed the four of us and all our gear into our little car for the ride north into Canada and eventually the put in. The border crossing was uneventful. The kids were a bit intimidated by the immigration officers, they were very friendly but you can tell they're observing your body language and they always look directly into your eyes. Since we were going to do this crossing four times I figured we might as well get used to it.

We stopped at Canoe and Co. in Glen Sutton to make sure we could camp there for the night. Francois is a great guy and he has a nice little business going. Since I forgot to bring a paddle for Brad so we rented one and headed up to Mansonville and the put-in. There were several other people putting in in kayaks so we chose to eat lunch and let them have a head start. I guess the trip from Mansonville to Glen Sutton is a popular half day paddle.

At the put-in we got our first experience with the incredibly slippery clay banks of the Missisquoi. The river runs through a layer of clay that makes even a small three or four foot sloped bank very difficult to go up and down. We slipped up and down while loading the canoes, an exercise that would be repeated many times over the next three days.

This section of river is very pleasant flowing through farmland with an occasional riffle or short class one rapid. There was a flood the previous week that left the bushes on the bank marked with grey silt several feet up. The water is muddy looking due to the clay, while the silting is natural the water is not drinkable or filterable due the agricultural runoff. If you paddle this section plan on bringing your own water. We

arrived sooner than expected at the beautiful stone steps leading to Francois's back yard. While we setup our tent the kids picked berries and played with the softball they found in the river. Patty and I cooked dinner. After dinner I cleaned up while Patty and the kids went into Mansonville for ice cream. When they got back they still had time to head up stream to the little rapids formed where Brock River inters the Missisquoi. The kids had a lesson in eddys and got to paddle the rapids several times. After a really nice sunset we went to sleep. usual we didn't get started until about nine the next morning. It was a beautiful day with a cerulean sky, gentle breeze, and puffy white clouds. The humidity was low and the air had a very autumn like feel to it. It was warm, in general a perfect day to paddle. After 5 or 6 miles of peaceful meandering paddling we passed under the international bridge, landed our boats and headed up the path to the border station. Once again the agents were very friendly and told us that they were not going to go down to the river to look at our gear. I was more relieved that we didn't have to bring it up to them for inspection. We went out on the bridge and took the standard pictures of the kids on each side of the border and spent some time scouting the rapids just downstream.

Once you enter theUS the river speeds up a bit and there are more sections of white water.
The first set of rapids was really fun, only Class I but there was some maneuvering required. We are not accomplished white water paddlers so even easy rapid like this provide us and the kids with some excitement and gratification. Quick water and riffles lead to Stevens Mills where there is a short class II rapid . We chose to scout and run these before we stopped on the stone bank for lunch. Patty got a bit sideways and I got a bit farther into the bigger waves than I wanted but we both made it through without tipping or taking on water. This rapid is about our limit with the kids. We chose to run it because it was short with a nice pool at the bottom, the water was warm, and we had one of us on the bank if anything went wrong. The kids thought it was great and wanted more. We had a great lunch and the kids got to play in the cold clear Stanhope Brook.

We had a lot more paddling ahead so we headed off towards Richford as soon as we cleaned up. More pleasant paddling with the occasional easy set of rapids, meandering through islands, and route finding trying to determine the channel with the most water. One of us occasionally chose wrong and we had to drag for a few feet to get to deeper water. If the water was any lower we would have had a lot more problems but fortunately it has been a wet summer.

It's interesting paddling this section of river. The banks are high enough to hide many of the signs of civilization from view. Occasionally you get a view of a road or farmhouse but in general you are protected from seeing much other than the edges of cornfields and large stands of silver maple and cottonwood. All this ends when you take out for the portage through Richford. This is a classic NFCT carry though small village. We stopped and got a treat at a convenience store and became the town oddity for about a half a mile as we portaged down the main street. The normal portage trail crosses a bridge but it is being repaired so we had to follow a detour which added only a small distance to the carry. You would think that the locals would be used to seeing a family of four, covered with clay, with two canoes, one on a cart loaded with gear, all walking through town eating chocolate.After the put-in at Davis Park the nice paddling continues with really nice views of the northern Green Mountains. Magoon Ledges was a bit of a letdown, according to the map a class II rapid can form here but at this water level it wasn't much more than a riffle with a strong current. We passed under twin bridges which confused the kids because the bridges are different; we ended up having a long discussion about this.

Both Brad and Sally spent some time in the water hanging onto the back of the canoes as we drifted downstream. This is an activity that they both really enjoy, it makes for slow going but it keeps the kids spirits up.

Soon we arrived at the Doe Campground, it's obvious when you get there because it sits up on a bank about 75 feet above the water. The take-out is just downstream and once you negotiate the four foot high slippery clay bank the walk up the hill is not as bad as you would expect. It was nice to use our leg muscles for a change ferrying loads up the site. This is one of the best sites that I’ve stayed at on the trail. It has great views, a big picnic table, it catches a breeze to keep the bugs away, and there were lot and lots of blackberries. I wouldn't want to watch a big thunderstorm approach from Lake Champlain but we didn't have to worry about that.

The kids had a great time playing while Patty and I set up camp and made dinner. After supper I cleaned up the dishes and got the tent and my hammock ready for the night. Patty headed down to the river to wash off some of the mud and go for a swim to cool off. It was a beautiful cool late summer evening, it doesn't get much better than this. You could do a great overnight trip starting at the border, spending the night at Doe Campsite and then taking out at
Enosburg Falls.I really overslept on Sunday morning, my alarm went on at 6:00 but I went back to sleep until 8:00. Sally woke me up with a cup of hot coffee. I had really wanted to get an early start so that we would get home at a reasonable hour, oh well. It was a cool foggy morning so everything was damp. Breakfast was instant oatmeal and we soon were packed up and headed down to the boats with our gear. Sally wrote in the register book during breakfast and cleanup. Brad usually sleeps until the last possible minute so he was a bit groggy until we got going.

It’s only a short paddle to East Berkshire and we chose not to stop because the weather was looking threatening and I wanted to leave plenty of time for any carries we might have to do. You do get some nice views along this section but the mountains to our east were cloud covered. Sally was getting cold so we stopped to get her something warm to wear. Soon we were approaching the broached dam at Samsonville. The map says that this is easily line-able but we couldn’t figure out how. Maybe in the spring when there is no vegetation but in late August there was no way we could line this easily or safely so we portaged/dragged out boats about 100 ft to a nice put-in below the breached dam. I think we all really wanted to give this first section a try but it was just a bit too dangerous and there was a good possibility one of us (probably me) would have tipped. The next quarter of a mile is great fun with just enough excitement and white water. The big S-turn around the island leads to a short class II-III drop that we easily avoided by a lift and carry on the left.

After this the river begins its impoundment behind the dam in Enosburg Falls. I promised Sally we would stop at the next available spot for lunch. The river follows a large meander away from the road and there is only a step clay bank for maybe two miles. At two different times some animal dove into the water from the thick undergrowth on the bank as soon as I had passed. I am suspecting they were muskrats but the kids were thinking otters or bank beavers. We eventually ended up having lunch on a flat rock only about 6”X10” near the shore. We tied one boat on each side an all climbed up on top to eat carefully avoiding the bird droppings. After lunch we proceeded down stream to the takeout into a steadily increasing headwind. We moved from shore to shore to try and stay in the protected water below the banks. This was mostly a waste of energy because the wind was headed pretty much directly up stream no matter which direction we were headed.

The river begins to be more of a pond and soon we were at the take-out at Lawyers Landing. After packing up all our wet and muddy gear we headed north to the border to get our car back from Canoe and Co. in Glen Sutton. On our final border crossing into the US they decided to look at our stuff but as soon as border agent opened the back of my car and saw and smelled the wet socks, shoes, clothes, and muddy pack he decided to let us go. We stopped for ice cream and coffee and headed south.

NFCT Old Forge to Long Lake

2008-08-06T16:56:00.011-04:00

Day One

I woke early on Friday 8/1 and ended up messin' around the house for a bit killing time before heading off on the drive up to the Adirondacks and my meeting at noon in Blue Mtn. Lake with the shuttle from Mountain Man Outfitters in Old Forge. Since I allowed plenty of time to get lost, take bathroom breaks , and get coffee I arrived an hour early and had time to do a little shopping to get the kids presents. All the shuttling went well and I ended up getting packed and pushing off in Old Forge at about 1:30. The Put-in in Old Forge is very public and I was a bit self conscious loading all my gear into the boat while answering questions from the curious tourists. I was very pleased to push off and get going on the first leg of the trip. It was a beautiful day and there was a nice tail wind that I was looking forward to enjoying on my way down the Fulton Chain of Lakes. A protected channel soon leads to First Lake which opens up to great views of the surrounding hills. The first four lakes in the chain are very settled along the shore and I had heard that they were very busy with motorboats. Probably because it was a Friday the boat activity wasn’t as bad as I expected and the paddling and scenery was very pleasant.

I ended up using my new sail as much as I could and with the steady wind I averaged about 3.5 MPH with very little effort. My max speed was 5.7MPH which is by far the fastest I have gone solo in a canoe other than in white water. The power boats were for the most part very courteous and either slowed down or kept their distance from me. The houses along the shore point where well kept and it was interesting looking at the architecture and landscaping. The Shoal Point Lighthouse is out of the ordinary to look at and the views along the north shore are really nice.

The channel between Fourth Lake and Fifth Lake is unique; it’s kind of like a side street with residential houses, a store, and a gas station all along banks. This leads to quiet little Fifth Lake which has a 5mph speed limit and no wake regulation which I obeyed. At the east end is the first carry which is hard to see but easy to find. Once you’re at the landing you can see an outhouse about a hundred feet up the trail. When you get to the outhouse there is a NFCT kiosk and registration box hidden off to the right. The outhouse was well stocked with reading material; I would recommend bringing your own TP. Just as advertised the carry trail leads to a busy road where you become the momentary attraction for the vacationers speeding by. The trail goes right by a convenience store great for any last minute food or chocolate you might need.

When I arrived at the Sixth Lake put-in there was a nice older couple sitting on the bench enjoying the warm evening sun. We talked for a bit about the area and the weather before I headed towards Seventh Lake. The trail immediately passes an Island with a nice house on it. I wonder what the island houses use for sewage, there was certainly not enough room for a septic system. I soon passed under a bridge and into Seventh Lake and began my search for a camp site.

I passed an occupied lean-to and soon found a very nice site that was marked by a large boulder on the shore. I t seemed like a quiet site so I set up camp. I prefer a site that gets morning sun but because of the general east west orientation of the lake I assume I wouldn’t find one. I set up the hammock and made some soup and Ramen noodles for dinner. After cleaning up I walked around a bit, talked to a passing kayaker, and then got in into the sleeping bag and read for awhile before falling asleep.

Sometime during the night I was woken to the sounds of a very vocal party going on at the public landing across the lake from me. The lake is quite wide here but because the water was so calm the noise sounded like it was right next door. They played some 80’s rock and fired off their guns a few times. I heard some arguing as well as sing-alongs and laughter. This went on until about two when they either passed out, went home, or went to sleep. It wasn’t as bad as it sounds, I slept through a lot of it and they were just having a good time. I learned to be a bit more critical when choosing a site, besides I was sleeping behind a boulder which protected me form the gunfire.

Day Two

I woke up early but fell asleep again and didn’t get up until 7:00. I was a bit upset about this because I wanted to get to Raquette Lake early in order to avoid any wind. I forced myself to eat some oatmeal for energy and packed up quickly and headed out. The weather had turned overcast during the night and was threatening rain.

The carry from Seventh Lake to Eighth Lake Passes through a campground and even though it was about 8:30 not many people were up and around. It was nice to be able to get fresh water without pumping and to use a nice toilet. I did get some stares as I wheeled the loaded canoe past lots of elaborate campsites and tarp set ups. I passed one huge motor home aptly called “The Intruder”. I had the beach to myself as I put in for the trip down Eighth Lake.

Eighth Lake is quite nice but also short. There were no houses on the lake and the road that parallels the south shore is hidden although you can hear traffic occasionally. With almost no wind the paddle was very peaceful and I think the threatening rain was keeping people off the water. At the west end the 1.3 mile portage to Browns Track Inlet begins with a short and rough uphill section past the lean-to. After this the trail is pretty much flat and easily wheelable. It is hard to say where the highpoint of the carry is but it also the highpoint of the NFCT and I passed it. I really enjoy walking in the woods in rainy, cloudy, misty, weather and I really don’t mind portages at all. The woods were nice and I took pictures of wild flowers as well as the common Bunchberry and Clintonia. There is the occasional rough spot that you need to work around with the cart but it beats double carrying the portage. I was very surprised near the end to discover a tractor on the side of the trail, a short way up there was a very nice detour sign leading around some construction on the trail! I’ve never seen anything like this in the woods before. I followed the detour which led to a temporary put-in at a snowmobile bridge a bit upstream from the regular one. I heard later that they are redoing the put-in which I guess was a narrow slippery floating dock.

I enjoy very much the type of paddling that leads down Browns Tract Inlet. The stream winds through Lilies and Pickerel Weed, it smells a bit musty and there is great potential for bird watching. I saw an American Bittern and a Great Blue Herron as well as hearing many song birds. Right when I got to the regular put-in a very serious group of four paddlers with a Wenonah IV appeared obviously training for the “90 miler”. They looked at me but didn’t acknowledge that I was there. They sped off downstream occasionally running into the banks when they couldn’t make a turn in their 20’ canoe. The stream meanders through a marsh over several beaver dams that were all runable and eventually leads to Raquette Lake. At some point the rain started, very gentle at first but it steadily picked up.

By the time I got to Raquette Lake it was raining quite hard but there was very little wind. Raquette lake was my biggest worry of the trip because the predominate winds are west to east and no matter what you have to do a crossing at some point that leaves you very vulnerable to the wind especially in a small solo canoe. As I paddled steadily north the rain tapered off and eventually stopped. The up side was that the weather kept the lake almost empty of motor boats on a Saturday. I bet I saw only a dozen boats and all of them were obviously on their way to or from somewhere because they were traveling in strait lines with a sense of purpose. Most of them waved as they passed by well away form me. Very polite boaters on this lake. I stopped at Needle Island where I could get cell reception to check in with home and tell them that all was well. At Bluff point I turned east and headed to the end of Outlet Bay.

Outlet Bay seems quieter and less developed than the southern part of the lake. I saw no boats and few houses until I got to the end near the Forked Lake Carry. It’s about 4 miles from Bluff Point to the Carry and I enjoyed this section very much. The carry to Forked Lake Starts at a nice camp called Carry Side, the camp has been much improved by the current owners who are very friendly and enjoy seeing the paddlers going buy, not only have they improved their property but they’ve improved the landing as well. I was greeted by two large golden retrievers who barked and then immediately began begging for attention and beef jerkey. I spoke with the owner for a minute before I set off to Forked Lake (pronounced fork-ed). Halfway through the carry there is a phone booth. Really weird but it works, I checked.

Forked Lake was beautiful and had a very remote feeling to it. I saw two boats on the 4 mile paddle down to the east end both had fisherman in them and were fishing in the lily pads. There are no houses along the southern shore; I think this would be a great lake to spend a few day exploring. Back to reality as the portage start in Forked Lake Campground. People were scurrying around loading and unloading camping gear, I quickly passed through only stopping to top off on water and use the bathroom.

A very easy 1.5 mile carry around some class III rapids lead to a put-in with a lean to . There was a very nice local couple there just enjoying the site for the weekend. We spoke for awhile and I commented on how lucky they were to live in the area and they agreed and told me how they like to get out and enjoy it as much a possible. They’re getting married latter in August and I wish them the best. Eventually they had some friends join them so I set up the hammock, picked some blueberries, made dinner and eventually went to bed.

It rained during the night but I was dry and enjoyed the sound of the rain and river very much.

Day 3

Sunday I got up early and was very quiet so not to wake up the other campers and their dogs. I boiled water for coffee and oatmeal, packed up my gear, cleaned the slugs off of everything I left out, and headed down stream to Buttermilk Falls. It seems to be a banner year for slugs in the Adirondacks. It’s also a banner year for Cardinal Flowers. There were more than I have ever seen along the three mile section from the lean-to to the carry. Their crimson red really stands out against the faded green and yellow late season colors along the banks. I took lots of pictures. Some of my earliest recollections as a child are walking in the woods with my mother as she pointed out the wildflowers; I want her to see some pictures of the ones on my canoe trips. I think that the wet winter and summer have made this year especially good for flowers. The rivers are still high for the season and the small stream paddling has been great.

I could hear the falls well before I arrived at the carry, with the water up the falls were looking good and I can only imagine them in a full springtime flood. The carry is short but steep and I met a group of four about my age with a TON of stuff and two canoes. This was my first unwheelable carry of the trip. I got the boat loaded and then walked up stream to take some pictures of the falls. The folks camping at the falls were also getting ready to leave but they had a ways to go before they got everything packed up. They were worried that they had too much stuff for the next carry and were already complaining about all the weight they had to protage. I managed to twist my ankle a bit walking around the put in, not seriously but enough to bother me the rest of the day and remind me how important it is to be cautious and conservative when solo tripping.

The rains started again as I paddled down to the next .6 mile carry around some rapids. These rapids are marked as Class IV in Dave Cilly’s new guidebook and as Class II on the NFCT map. It doesn’t make any difference to me because I did the carry but I hope no one runs the rapids thinking they are Class II when they are really Class IV.

I took it easy on the carry because my ankle was a bit tender and met a group of three kayakers at the far end. They too were complaining about their heavy loads and were changing their plans so they wouldn’t have to do the 1.3 mile carry at Raquette Falls. On my way back to get the rest of my gear I met a person from the first group complaining about her loads, she was carrying a duffel in one hand and a cooler in the other. Back at the beginning of the portage I answered questions about packing light and then headed back to the canoe with the rest of my gear. I heard more complaints as I passed to woman with the duffel and managed to get loaded up at about the kayak group paddled out of sight.

I soon arrived into Long Lake and passed the kayakers who were sharing a ”cigarette” underneath a hemlock on the bank. The rain picked up and I soon discovered I was going to have to paddle into a headwind on the way up Long Lake to my take-out. A steady 4 miles through the rain and light head wind past some interesting homes and some cliffs brought me eventually to the bridge and takeout at the public boat landing. There were several groups putting in and taking out, I soon got my wet gear into the car, the boat on top and was on my way south back to the family.

NFCT Axton Landing to Saranac Lake

2008-07-20T11:33:00.012-04:00

I left work early on Friday for the trip north to the Adirondacks to start my trip from Axton Landing to Saranac Village. On a very hot and humid day things did not start out well when my AC quit working about 2 hours into the trip. I went from cool and comfortable to hot and sweaty very quickly. I arrived at Raquette River Outfitters at about 5:00pm and after some last minute purchases and discussions we decided that the best shuttle plan would be for me to drive to the put-in at Axton Landing with a driver who would return with my car to Saranac Lake where I would end my trip three days later.

I quickly loaded up the boat and headed up the Raquette River a short distance to the mouth of Stony Creek and the NFCT. I wasn’t sure where I was going to spend the night but since I was alone I wasn’t really too worried. It was noticeably cooler on the water and the paddling up the creek was very pleasant. The sky was getting darker from storm clouds but it wasn’t too threatening. I didn’t hear any thunder and a breeze made it feel nice out.

The stream is supposed to be difficult to follow and I was advised to go left whenever in doubt. I found it very easy to find my way and the flowing grass was an obvious giveaway. I can see how finding the correct channel might be more difficult with higher water in the spring. I arrived at Stony Creek Ponds and headed to the north end to find a camping spot somewhere on public land. I hadn’t been to the Adirondacks for several weeks and I was happy to find that the water lilies and pickerel weed were blooming.

I was surprised to find an open campsite across the bay from Indian Carry. I set up camp quickly and put on a pot a water to get dinner started. I had planned to eat dinner in town but because of the shuttle situation I bought a single serving freeze dried meal, Pasta Primavera. It tasted pretty good but I really wasn’t too hungry; probably because of the heat. As I was eating dinner I watched some folks in kayaks and a couple fishing out of a canoe who were having some pretty good luck. Stony Creek Pond has only a handful of houses on it and I couldn’t see any of them from my site. I reorganized my stuff and made everything waterproof for the night. I climbed into bed and read for awhile. Right after dark there was a great set of loon calls, it cooled off quite a bit and I looked forward to a good night’s sleep.

Sometime in the night the wind picked up, the sky lit up, the thunder started up, and I got up to make sure everything was buttoned up. I wanted to lower the fly of the hammock to makes sure I stayed dry. As I was moving the guy lines I stepped on something soft and I heard a combination crunching and croaking sound.It’s not a good sound and sensation to experience in the middle of the night barefoot in the rain. I quick look around with the headlamp revealed a recently murdered toad. I went down to the lake and washed off my foot and headed back to bed a little bit wet from the rain but it felt good. Now when I tell the kids they always have to wear shoes I can tell them they might step on toad by accident

I woke up to a cloudy, foggy, humid, and warm morning. I wasn’t hungry at all so I made a cup of coffee and started to get things organized and packed up. A short paddle led to Indian Carry a 1.1 mile portage to Upper Saranac Lake. The first half of the carry is uphill and I was soon soaked with sweat. The trail is wheel-able but I still needed to work the cart over logs and rocks. After crossing Rte 3 the second half carry follows a gravel road to the put-in. I stopped to pick some wild strawberries growing along the roadside. The deerflies were horrible. I am not bothered much by mosquitoes and black flies but deerflies drive me crazy and seem to be strongly attracted to me. Maybe I resemble or smell like a deer although I certainly don't run like one. I was happy to put in on the peaceful and quiet Upper Saranac Lake.

I paddled steadily north past Corey Island, turned east at Chapel Island and headed down Huckleberry Bay. I stopped by a lakeside cliff to do a little fishing and caught a couple of small Smallmouth Bass. I passed a house on the north side of the bay that I should own in my next life. There are lots of beautiful housed on this lake that are built to blend into the surroundings. If people are going to build lakefront property I wish they could do it like this rather that built huge McMansions that scream “Look at me, I’m really rich”. As you get to the end of the bay someone has put up a 4X8 foot, not so subtle sign pointing to the carry. Probably a bit of overkill but there must be a reason behind it. When I got to the take-out it was a very pretty little spot.

Up the road, down the hill and left on a trail through the woods led to a deerfly infested put-in. As quickly as I could I was onto the Saranac River on my way to Middle Saranac Lake. When I got to the lake it was very smooth and there was little wind. I set a direct course down the middle of the lake headed for the outlet at the other end. The wind began to pick up and I headed south to be nearer to the shore and safety. I got to test my sailing skills with my new “WindPaddle” and was soon doing 4-5mph without having to paddle. By the time I got to Bullrush Bay and the outlet there were whitecaps and waves a foot to 18 inches high. I was glad to get into the river and off of the open water.

Up until now I had only seen two motorboats in the distance on Middle Saranac. While on the river I enjoyed looking at the water flowers but there were several motorboats headed in the other direction who did not. The speed limit is 5mph and I was the only one who was close to obeying it. After about a mile I came to the locks and had a nice conversation with the attendant as he efficiently did his job letting me down into Lower Saranac Lake.

It’s a totally different world on this lake, full of powerboats and lots of campsites. There were people everywhere, I still enjoyed my paddle through Lower Saranac and its many islands very much. Great views of the surrounding mountains. The entrance to the Saranac River is easy to find opposite Bluff Island and its 40’ south facing cliff, I decided that I was going to finish the trip that day rather than have to find a place to camp and listen to the motorboats the rest of the day. It was still early and I had some crackers and cheese for lunch, I also drank lots of fluids to try and stay hydrated. In my rush to get started the night before I had left my hat in the car and I was starting to get a bit of a sunburn now that the clouds had cleared. The section of river down to the lower locks was really pretty and I had a nice time following it downstream. Unfortunately there are lots of channel markers to look at and lots of boats going well over the 5mph speed limit. I suppose I expected it would be like this but I was hoping it would be a bit more peaceful. This would be a great trip if you could do this section midweek or in the off season when there are less people around.

Unlike the upper locks which are manually operated the lower locks are mechanized, the attendant was very friendly and we talked as he did his job from inside a booth. I did some more sailing down Oseetah Lake as I headed toward the narrows that lead to Lake Flower. These two lakes have lots of houses on the shore and there were lots of boats around. I passed three canoes with dads and kids headed up stream and upwind, they weren’t making great progress and they told me they were headed to Lower Saranac to camp. I wonder if they ever make it to their campsite? The Dads looked tired, their technique wasn’t very good, and they were about to round a corner into a strong headwind.

Paddling on north into Lake Flower and passing several buzzing jet skis led me to the take out left of the dam at the park in Saranac Lake just after 3:00pm. I wheeled the canoe down the street to the river walk and then to the town lot where my car was parked. I loaded up in the sweltering heat of the blacktop. I headed to Duncan Donuts for some coffee to keep me awake for the ride home.

NFCT Upper Ammonoosuc West Milan to Groveton

2008-07-15T16:02:00.019-04:00

In our summer goal of canoeing on the NFCT we chose to spend two days on the Upper Ammonoosuc River on the first week end in June. A few weeks earlier we had done the CT river section and ended up where we would finish our weekend on Sunday. We arranged for a local motel owner in Groveton to give us a ride back to our car on Sunday and got permission from the general store owner at the put-in to let us park our car overnight in their parking lot. The local folks have been very friendly no matter where we have paddled on the NFCT.

The kids ate an early morning ice cream from the general store in West Milan while we got the boats set and into the water. A short paddle under a bridge and we entered the Upper Ammonoosuc proper and we were off. The upper section of the river is very a enjoyable and peaceful paddle. Winding and tree lined it’s a beautiful section to canoe. The moderate current helps things move along at a pleasant pace and there are new things to see around each turn. At one point we were paddling along with a gentle breeze and there were thousands of maple keys gently spinning down from the Silver Maples that line this section of the river. It was almost like it was snowing. The keys would accumulate in eddies and the kids would quietly scoop them up and toss them back into the water and watch them float away. It was one of the most peaceful moments I’ve had in a long time.

This isn’t a wilderness river, we could hear the road now and then but the noise was filtered by the trees and wind. There are several camps and homes to pass and bridges to go under. We saw very little trash on the river; it’s an extremely clean section of water to travel on. There was none of the junk that one often sees on rivers, no cans, no Styrofoam, and other floating human reminders. I don’t think that the river sees a lot of use. We did see an occasional tire half buried in the sandy bottom and at one point we floated over a 10 foot diameter steel circle on the bottom. Right as we passed over it I realized that it was a trampoline that must have been washed away in a spring flood. The water was remarkably clear and since there was very little agricultural runoff I felt fine filtering it for drinking.

Our first stop was at the new Cordwell Campsite. We tied the canoes to some bushes on the river bank and Brad climbed the steep 6’ bank to get to the site. According to the log book only one group had used the site this year. Sally discovered the composting toilet and was fascinated by it. She has used outhouses before but never one with no walls or a door. We told the folks at The NFCT headquarters we would report on the site so we looked around and headed off downstream under the railroad bridge. Everything was in order and I hope more folks use the site. If you choose to camp here remember that a train goes by sometime during the night.

Mid morning we came two the first of two unexpected obstacles. The kids had a great time playing while Patty and I carried around the first strainer. In general I don’t mind portages but these were kind of a pain. We had to get out and scout a way to get the boats out of the water and up the bank, around the blow down, and back into the water. I realized at this point how hot it was. On the river it was a very pleasant temperature, generally we were in the shade and the cold water kept us very comfortable. Once out of the river it was very hot and humid. We had to unload the boats, ferry loads a hundred feet, and then get everything down the bank and back into the canoes. A lot of work for not much distance, it’s all part of canoeing.

We followed the meanders a while until we came to a nice sand beach suitable for a picnic. Patty brought cold cuts and tuna sandwiches with vegetables sticks. Nuts and M&Ms for desert. The kids decided to swim and had a great time in the current. There were lots of animal tracks on the beach for them to look at. Brad has a guide to animal tracks that he put to good use.

Back into the canoes after lunch and off again. We had to do one more carry around a second strainer and I started to worry that we were getting behind schedule. I’m not sure if the kids paddling helped or slowed us down. I knew we had several sets of rapids to deal with and even though they were easy I wanted to scout and hold open the possibility of lining if they looked to dangerous. I really wanted the kids to have a good experience and since they are only 6 and 8 I didn’t want to take any chances of going over in the white water.

The first set of rapids at the highway rest stop was short with a few big waves; it was exciting with a few ups and downs and one rock to dodge. Both kids loved it and were looking forward to more. A few more easy sets of rapids led us to a longer and more difficult set above Stark. The AMC guide rates this at Class II. Patty and I got out and scouted. We decided that if it was the two of us we would have gone to the outside of the bend on the left and tested our skills a bit. Because we were both paddling solo with a child and gear in each canoe we decided to play it safe and run the rapids on the inside of the bend in slower and shallower water. It was not a time to be aggressive and put our trip at risk. Patty has more experience in moving water than I do but both of us agreed that we should be conservative on this trip. The kids loved the rapids which get gradually easier as you get towards the famous covered bridge in Stark. I almost tipped when I let my guard down near the end and went over a rock that I should have seen and avoided. I was gawking at the cliffs above town when I should have been paying attention to the river.

There was a wedding at the church to the left of the covered bridge. The bride and bridesmaids were out having their pictures taken in front of a beautiful lilac bush in full bloom beside the river. Several of the guests were on the bridge, they waved and cheered us on as we passed by the wedding party and floated underneath them. The quick water continued on for a while and gently let up as we approached the sharp turn to the north that went under a train bridge and then to the Frizzell campsite.

The river changed markedly when the rapids start. I switches from clay and silt to sand and cobbles. There are more sections of quick water and rapids mixed in with some quieter sections. In general the water moves much faster once you reach the first set of rapids.

We arrived at the Frizzell site and it’s a great one. Not as good as the site we stayed at on the CT River but almost. The site is located out at the point of a big bend and is very well situated. With a nice place to land the boats and a sand beach close by for the kids it worked out great for us. Patty and I took care of setting up camp while the kids carried a load or two and then headed off to explore the surroundings. We’ve developed a routine on these trips that seem to work out well for us. While we keep one eye on the kids I set up the tents while Patty sets up the kitchen and begins dinner if the time is right. In any case she gets out a snack to hold the kids over until the meal is ready. The kids need the time to play especially if they have been in boats all day long. They chose to go for a swim and had a great time drifting down river with the current. I like it when they swim because it tires them out and they go to sleep easier. Other activities include tossing sticks in the river and throwing rocks at them, looking for frogs and slugs, and collecting rocks.

An added bonus at this site is a picnic table, someone must move it to higher ground in the winter or else it would surely get washed away by the spring floods. The campsite register said we were the first ones to stay this year and since the grass was thigh high I suspect it was correct. The bugs were only moderately bad, not nearly as bad as they could have been in early June. Soup for the appetizer and Ramen noodles with sautéed vegetables for supper. I took some time by myself and sat by the river and watched a bat fly over the water collecting insects for it’s dinner.

There are no fires allowed at this site so the kids had to have cold marshmallows before bed, they were not happy about this. The kids slept with Patty in the tent and I slept in a hammock in the woods. It was unbelievably loud with animal noises right around sunset. We must have been there right at the peak of courtship season for the birds as well as the frogs and insects. I was fascinating listening to all the sounds with the exception of the June Bugs bouncing off my hammock. At about 9:30 or 10:00 we all got up and went down to the river to look at the stars. It was a clear cloudless night with no background light so we got to see a lot more stars than usual before the bugs sent us back inside the mosquito netting. We even got to see a pretty good shooting star.

I slept well and woke up at dawn to the sounds of the animals again. It was really pleasant just lying there listening to the birds and trying to see how many I could identify by song. I have no idea what sounds frogs make other that bullfrogs and peepers. I guess things went OK in the tent aside from the usual amount of thrashing around that Brad does when sleeping. As usual I was the first up and made coffee. Sally and Patty were up a bit later. Brad sleeps as late as possible and on these trips and we don’t bother him until we have to, besides, he can sleep through anything. I took the fly off the tent without waking him.

After a leisurely breakfast we slowly pack up and get the boats loaded. The kids wanted to swim a little so we let them float down stream for a hundred yards or so. It was just far enough for them to get really cold and want to get into the boats. A beautiful cool June morning with a cloudless sky and great views of the farmland and mountains. We passed a few houses and then went through some pastures lined with big old maples and White Pines. The current was strong and we moved along at a quick pace as we enjoyed the scenery.

The river takes a large bend around a mountain and the current slows for a bit and then picks up again as you approach the beginning of a long stretch of easy rapids except for one tricky bend which is probably Class II. Patty had to land quikely in order to avoid getting stuck in a strainer and we had a brief few minutes of anxiety as we lined the boat around the danger. The river was braided at this point into at least three branches and none of them seemed to be the obvious one to take so we may have missed a better and safer channel. A long and very enjoyable stretch of river follows this section, Quick water and continuous Class I that we had a great time on and made very good progress.

The Upper Ammonoosuc eventually begins to braid a bit again and if you’re lucky you’ll choose the correct channel and not have to get out and drag your boat across the sand and rocks. This leads to Red Dam which according to the NFCT folks is being dismantled. We were supposed to portage on the left but I easily lifted and dragged my canoe over the remains of the dam. Patty arrived with the other boat and I ran along the dam to the other end to scout the chute on the right, It looked to be a short Class II wave train and Patty and Brad ran it and said it was fun. I had to run back to the other end and get Sally into the boat and paddle hard to catch up. Sally was very upset that she didn’t get to go through the chute as well.

The river after the Red Dam is backed up by the next dam downstream at the mill. We paddled to the carry which was not very enjoyable but it was short and straight forward. We were soon back in the water and on our final leg of the trip. After going under the covered pedestrian bridge in Groveton we arrived at the take out just upstream of the next dam. I headed back to the Sleepy Time Motel to get a shuttle back to my car while Patty and the kids organized gear and disassembled the PakBoat. They had time to walk to a nearby store for ice cream before I returned with the car fro the ride home.

NFCT Saranac to Union Falls Dam 5/17/08

2008-07-08T21:00:00.003-04:00

Sally and I went for an overnight canoe trip in the Adirondacks this weekend as our first section of the Northern Forest Canoe Trail.. We drove over Friday night in the pouring rain and stayed in a motel near our put-in. Saturday dawned sunny and cool, perfect weather for a paddle and hopefully the breeze would keep the early season blackflies under control. As it turned out the bugs were a non issue until I had to load the car at the end of the trip. We started at a local outfitters store right on the river and for a fee they even move your car to the take out for you.

The first mile on the Saranac River has two short rapids, one of them is an easy class II. Sally thought it was fun and I was a bit nervous because the consequences of a dump could be serious with a six year old. After that the river goes for several miles winding it’s way through a broad valley. It was very pretty paddling with great views of the nearby mountains. We saw lots of different ducks and heard lots of warblers singing for mates and establishing territory. The spring flowers were out and the apple trees were especially nice and very fragrant. The area we were in is all old farmland and at this point we were never to far from a road. We passed under a few bridges and passed by the occasional camp. The current is steady so we moved along at a nice pace without to much effort.

After about 4 hours there is a decision to paddle a mile of class II and III white water called Permanent Rapids or carry around it. We obviously chose the carry and I got to try out the new canoe cart I purchased earlier in the day. These carts are collapsible and if you have relatively smooth terrain make the portages wicked easy. The cart assembles in about 3 minutes and is strapped to the canoe, roughly in the middle. You pile all your stuff in, including a six year old if she wants, and off you go pulling the boat behind you. Without the cart I would have had to do the carry at least twice to get all my stuff to the other end. While I loaded the canoe back up Sally hunted for frogs. She missed two or three but I caught one and let here hold it, a great father daughter moment.

The weather started to cloud over but by this time it was getting towards dinner so we found a campsite on an island in Franklin Falls Pond. Sally continued her hunt for frogs while I set up the tent and the kitchen tarp, unrolled the sleeping pad, aired out the sleeping bags, organized and started cooking dinner. By this time it was raining lightly off and on. I tested the stove at home and it worked fine, now it was weak at best so after about 45 minutes of messing with it I started a fire and used it to boil the water and prepare the soup and freeze dried beef stew. I have had much better freeze dried meals. Sally entertained herself by poking at the fire and throwing rocks and burning sticks into the lake. We had Hershey’s bars for desert, Sally was mad that I forgot the marshmallows. We experimented with echos for a few minutes.

After dinner I cleaned up and field stripped the stove. I cleaned it and got it working to make us some hot chocolate for bed time. Sally couldn’t wait until dark because I gave her 8 little glow sticks of different colors to play with. A Bald Eagle flew by and we heard a Barred Owl but she was not impressed. We only saw one other canoer (how do you spell this) all day and maybe four or five people fishing. We went to bed at 8:30. I looked at the map until 9:00 and fell asleep listening to the light rain. There is nothing like having your children snuggle up to you in their sleeping bags while you are camping out.

The bird chorus woke me up at dawn. It was gray and very windy which is not a great thing when you have to paddle 10 miles of lakes in a solo boat. I fell asleep for an hour or two and woke up to a beautiful blue sky and a diminished wind. I let Sally sleep and fired up the stove for coffee. I took the tarp down organized the cooking stuff, filtered some drinking water, and began getting the boat ready. The coffee was great and Sally got breakfast in bed, instant oatmeal and hot chocolate. I cleaned up and she played in the water and looked for snails.

Eventually I got everything cleaned up, packed up, and into the canoe and we were off by about 9:00. The wind was still blowing but not as hard. After we got around the island I was a bit surprised to see whitecaps on the lake but it was a tail wind and I stayed close to shore for safety. Sally sang songs and after seeing a flag at a camp recited the Pledge of Allegiance about 15 times until I told her to take some pictures. We arrived at the end of the three mile lake quickly and loaded up for a .3 mile carry around the dam. Sally rode in the canoe for this portage much to the delight of the two or three passing cars we saw. Everyone was all dressed up so they were probably on the way to church in town.

The put-in was down a steep bank and it took me a while to ferry loads down and repack the canoe. I was very careful to distribute the weight in the boat for a tail wind. Sally was content exploring the shore. She found a dead fish and threw some rocks. I loaded her in and worked the canoe out into some deeper water before I got in. All I will say is that I need practice doing this, no one got wet but it was close. After a short class one riffle we passed the correct put-in which was about a hundred yards further down the road. It had a short slightly sloped bank and a sand beach. Oh well.

The final six miles were on Union Falls Pond. This is a beautiful lake that is oriented east west and has great views of the back side of Whiteface and its neighbors. The lake gets wider as you go east. The lake is formed by a dam at the eastern end and it is obvious that it flooded a forest because many stumps are still visible; it looks like it would be great fishing.

Sailors and other boaters use a term called fetch. It means that if you give even a small wind enough distance it can develop some big waves. Basically I had to paddle quite hard on this lake to keep the canoe pointed in the right direction. As I progressed east the waves got bigger, the upside is that we made very good time. I kept thinking that if I was in a tandem canoe with and adult we could have rigged a sail and done the whole lake even faster with a lot less effort. While I never felt we were in any danger I can see why people can get in trouble in open water.

We finished out trip at about 12:15. Sally played on the beach while I carried the gear about a hundred feet up a hill to the waiting car. We had essentially no bugs on the whole trip because they were waiting here in the woods at the car park. I kept Sally on the beach and brought here her bug shirt. She is a fair skinned little girl and the bugs love her. After several trips up the hill I got the car loaded up and got Sally away form the beach and into the car. While driving out I found the proper take-out about 100 yards down the dirt road. It could have driven my car to the windy shore and avoided the bugs in the woods and the uphill walk to the car.

T.F.T.D. Take a minute or two to look for the proper put-in and take out it could make your trip easier.

NFCT Long Lake To Axton Landing

2008-07-08T20:02:00.001-04:00

Trip report Long Lake to Axton Landing 6/27/08-6/28/08

Patty, Brad, Sally and I arrived in Saranac early on Friday evening with enough time to visit St. Regis Outfitters who we arranged to have shuttle our car from Long Lake to our take out at Axton Landing. Great folks, very knowledgeable, and very easy to work with. They went over our itinerary with us to make sure we were both on the same page for the pick up and drop off. Of course the weather was beautiful on Friday; the forecast was for a chance of afternoon thundershowers on Saturday and the same on Sunday.

We arrived at the Long Lake put in at about 9:00am and immediately began assembling the PakBoat. The milfoil guard chatted with us for awhile and after about an hour we were ready to push off. Of course it began to rain, very gently, as soon as we put our paddles in the water. We only saw a few small fishing boats and one personal water craft the whole day: perhaps they knew something about the weather that we did not.

Long lake is divided into rough thirds buy two obvious islands that provided us a goal to paddle for. The first was Round Island. We have a GPS with us as well as the NFCT map and the much more detailed Adirondacks Paddlers Map. We could easily track our progress on the lake by our position in relationship to the islands. After about an hour and a half the rain changed from a pleasant drizzle to something a bit more forceful, not bad but we stopped at a lean-to for an early lunch and to change into rain gear.

The kids are used to rain and rarely complain, we make sure that they are at least semi comfortable and they just seem to accept it as part of the trip. They have some pretty good rain gear and good quality warm clothes to wear underneath. We have found it worth the expense to make sure they are warm and dry even if they grow out of the stuff in a year.

During lunch rain the got heavier but we decided that we were in no danger so we continued on up the lake. We did hear a few rumbles off in the distance but nothing ever got remotely close to us. With our sights on Camp Islands we paddled on though the rain, six year old Sally even took a nap! She had been to the doctor earlier in the week and we were told she had strep throat. She seemed fine so we decided to do the trip anyway, I was a bit worried but it was only a nap and nothing worse. We passed several more lean-tos and figured that we should keep on going because we were certainly not going to get any wetter.

Just as we got to the end of the lake and were deciding if we should call it a day the rain stopped and the clouds lifted a bit. Long Lake is 9.5 miles long and it rained hard for about 6 miles of it. It forced us to keep a steady pace and we made good time. We had a floating snack to get everyone spirits and energy level up and continued into the Raquette River. I will admit I initially went the wrong way and had to wade through some mud to get on route. Every route description I read said stay left, it’s no wonder I ran aground when I tried to cross from the right.

I don’t want to sound like we didn’t have a good paddle down the lake, we had several things working in our favor. We had no wind; I would rather have rain than a head wind anytime. We saw only one power boat on the lake once it started raining. It looks like this lake could be quite busy on a nice sunny summer day. The temperature was perfect for steady paddling I wore only a raincoat and tee shirt and was neither cold nor hot. Brad loves the GPS and kept track of our total mileage and speed as we went along and told us about landmarks that he saw on the maps. All in all it was a very enjoyable trip even though it poured rain for most of it.

Once we entered the Raquette River the bugs came out so we put on some bug dope and kept to the middle of the stream when possible. The river is very nice and there was more current than I had expected. I would have loved to have spent some time birding and fishing but we thought we should probably keep going to see if we could get a lean-to for the night in order to attempt to dry our some clothes. A side trip up Cold River looked interesting but will have to wait for another trip. We did let the kids get out and explore a little bit at one of the campsites.

Brad decided to do some fishing and caught a nice smallmouth bass. There are few things that make an eight year old happier that catching a fish. I wish we could have spent more time fishing but we had to move on to find a place to spend the night.

Due to a map reading error we went by the last lean-to thinking that there was one more between the us and the carry. We eventually discovered our error when it was way too late to turn around. We decided to push on and camp at the carry landing. At about 6:00pm the rain began to pick up again and this time was accompanied by much louder thunder. I could sense it was just a matter of time before we were hit by a storm and was very glad to see the signs for the carry. They would be very hard to miss. There were "no camping" signs at the take out so Patty headed up the trail to see if she could find a site or at least a place to wait out the storm.

She found the ranger and a father and son group camping at a site just up the hill from river and they kindly invited us to share the site with them. The storm was gaining on us so we did a fast set up of the tarp and got all the bags underneath as soon as we could. The kids were great and did a super job of ferrying some of the smaller items up the hill to the site. We managed to get the tent set up just as the meat of the storm hit. We shuffled the kids inside to get into dry clothes and draw in their journals. Patty and I started cooking dinner. She sent me filter water but the rain was coming off the tarp so hard I filled a six liter pot in about 2 minutes and then a couple of water bottles before the rain began to let up.

At one point a group of four in a Wenonah Minnesota 4 arrived at the carry. They were doing our two day trip as an afternoon outing. They had to take out for the thunderstorm but were still figuring they could make it to Axton Landing by dark. I was jealous of them, their trip something I would have done when I was younger.

We had a great dinner, a soup course followed by Ramen, olives, chicken chunks, broccoli, and cheese. Dishes were done and an attempt was made to organize our stuff once the rain stopped. Soon it was 8:30 and Patty read the kids some stories while I tried to figure out the best way to do the 1.25 mile carry in the morning. Usually I don’t sleep well on the ground and it was not helped by Brad who was next to me. He sleeps like a pin ball game.

I woke at dawn but waited till 6:00am to start the carry. On the first trip I took the PakBoat, all four paddles, and the adult PFDs along with some other stuff wedged under the seats. I did the carry with two stops, at one of them I watched a dear eating leaves along the trail. She looked my way several times and I moved a little bit to make sure she saw me. She seemed very comfortable with me so I rested a few minutes and eventually she ran off into the woods when I put the boat back over my head. At the far end I passed the lean-to and campsite where a group of college kids were just getting up. The walk back gave me time to take a good look at the trail, I was told not to bring a cart because the trail was to rough. I think I might have found the cart useful in all but a few spots. I’m glad I didn’t have a heavier boat. After a cool and pleasant walk back I found Patty just setting up for breakfast so I took my personal pack and the Wenonah Wilderness as well as some smaller things stuffed under the seats. No deer this time but a lot more action at the other end where everybody was up, cooking, packing, and complaining about the weather and the bugs. I spoke with Gary the ranger for a few minutes and headed back to the beginning again, hoping for only one more trip.

When we got to the put-in Gary the Ranger was there to talk to the kids and gave them each an Adirondack carry sign, one of those yellow disks that mark the carries. He’s a great guy and an asset to the park, I’ll bet he has some funny stories to tell. The camp group was just starting out for the day and looked like they might need a little work on their J-strokes. We packed up and headed out for the final 6 miles of our trip with the usual discussion of who got the GPS and maps.

Once again the current was stronger than I expected. I had read somewhere that the water was backed up to here from Setting Pole Dam so I thought there would be little or no current. After about ¾ of a mile we discovered that Brad had left his Fishing pole at the put in so we had to paddle back up stream to get it. I’m glad we are doing the NFCT in sections so we can avoid as much of the upstream stuff as possible. I have great respect for the folks that do the trail all in one direction and spend days going upstream in NH and VT.

We paddled lazily down stream with the added bonus of a tail wind. Brad and I tried to reconcile the GPS with the map and Patty worked on her sit and switch solo technique. At one point we spotted a Bald Eagle perched in a very tall White Pine that was leaning out over the river. It flew away before I could get the camera out. I think we have seen Bald eagles on everyone of our NFCT trips. The river changes a bit below the carry and the woods become predominantly silver maple, it must be beautiful in the fall. We stopped for lunch at a lean to and I nearly fell asleep as I worried about how my body would feel tomorrow after doing all the portaging this morning. I vowed to drink lots of water and took a couple of aspirin. The sun eventually came out and the kids did a bit of swimming.

The final few miles were uneventful, we passed a group of four canoes headed up stream, the only other paddlers we passed on the water in two summer weekend days on one of the most popular trips within the blue line. I made a mental note of the turn up Stoney Creek so I can find it when we return to do the next section. The bugs were bad at the take-out so we did a rush job stuffing the car and were soon off to find ice cream and coffee for the ride home.

NFCT Island Pond To Salem Lake

2008-07-08T17:07:00.004-04:00

NFCT Island Pond to Salem Lake 7/4/08-7/5/08

This is the first section of the trail that I would be doing solo and I looked forward to it for many different reasons. I was very curious to see how many miles I could comfortably travel in a day when by myself. I was also looking forward to doing everything on my own terms without having to plan and accommodate the kids.

I spent Thursday night at the Clyde River Hotel after doing a bit of scouting on the drive up from Massachusetts. I was able to take a look at some of the sections of the trail as I drove east form the highway to get to Island Pond. I spoke with the owner Dave and he arranged to have a very nice local guy shuttle me and my car the following morning. I had dinner in the bar with a through paddler who told me about some of the adventures he had had on the trail. I told him about the sections he was about to do since I had done them the previous month.

I was up at six, got breakfast to-go at the store next door and ate by my boat along side the river behind the hotel. I watched a small trout have its morning meal, rising and sipping bugs off the water that flowed underneath the hotel as it came from Island Pond. After shuttling my car to the take-out at Salem Lake I loaded up my gear and headed down stream.

I immediately floated through a section of cattails that reminded me of a scene out of “The African Queen”. The morning fog still hadn’t burned off and it was a very pleasant cool temperature for canoeing. The birds were still very active and I heard and saw many different warblers as well as other birds. I soon passed though the reeds and as the fog cleared I entered a section of river lined with alders and cedar.

I soon came to the short class two drop mentioned on the map and decided that I could run it. I immediately grinded to a halt as the boat got stuck on the remnants of the dam. I got out, decided not to look at the bottom of my Kevlar boat, dragged the canoe to deeper water, got back in and continued on. Someone has cleared a way through the strainer mentioned in the map so it is no longer necessary to carry around it. This will probably change next spring when winter provides a fresh set of wood to clog up the river.

This is a really nice section of river, shaded and cool with clear water and few signs of any use by people. Along the way I heard two large animals take off through the woods when they obviously heard me approaching. I suspect moose or perhaps a bear but I only heard them and couldn’t see anything.

The next landmark was “The Tubes”. I was expecting something exotic with a name like that but it’s only a couple of large culverts underneath a road. There were some wild irises along the bank and I spent some time taking pictures. The flowers on this trip were incredible. Maybe I hit it just right but it seems that there were wild flowers everywhere and lots of them. Nothing that I hadn’t seen before but the roadsides and fields were full of different flowers in bloom; I really enjoyed it and took lots of pictures. The weather was also perfect. Blue sky, puffy white clouds, low humidity, and a gentle breeze, perfect for canoeing.

I was now entering the rare intermediate fen mentioned on the map. The river bottom was covered with grass that slowly waves in the current and the banks gradually open up to reveal vistas of the surrounding hills and farmland. I can’t really describe how pleasant this was but I wish I could visit it at different times of day, different seasons and in different weather. The river meanders in and out and splits into smaller streams that rejoin each other as you head west. It was occasionally difficult to decide which channel to take. There were lots of birds including several Great Blue Herons, an Osprey, ducks, and many smaller birds associated with wetlands. I also saw signs of otters, beavers and muskrats. This area would be a great place to spend several hours exploring. I looked up fens on the internet when I got home and there is lots of interesting information for anyone who is interested.

After passing underneath the VT Rte 105 bridge the Clyde becomes more typical of other rivers I have paddled. The banks are lined with maples and there are pastures alternating with woods. I startled several duck families along the way and the mothers did excellent wounded duck imitations trying to lure me away from the ducklings. I rate wood duck mothers as the best at this. The ducklings eventually figured out how to hide along the banks instead of constantly scurrying downstream in an attempt to outrun me. I hope the hens had no trouble gathering them back up again.

The river began to meander more and more as I approached East Charleston, at one point I went in a straight line toward a distant church steeple only to do a U-turn and go in the opposite direction before turning again to head back toward the village. I took out at the bridge in town and walked the short distance up the road to the general store as suggested in the NFCT maps route description. I ordered a BLT on toasted wheat, bought a cold drink and a candy bar for desert and headed back down to the river bank to enjoy my lunch. This is a very civilized way to dine while on a canoe trip and I recommend it to anyone who paddles the section.

I contemplated a nap but decided to push on in case I encountered anything unexpected in the afternoon. As it turns out I did encounter several of the infamous Clyde River strainers two of which I had to drag my boat over. The others had a way through or around them although it is not always obvious until you got close enough and looked from different angles. I was very careful getting through and over these logjams because of the potential to twist an ankle or impale myself on the jumble of wet logs and sharp sticks. I think I would have been more aggressive in several parts of the trip if I had not been alone.

I passed a pair of guys in a canoe fishing as I entered Pensioner Pond, the only other canoe I saw on the whole trip. I saw two kayaks further up stream. It’s a pretty little pond that I sort of rushed though because I thought there was a toilet at the boat landing. I was wrong and had to wait until I reached some woods farther along. Vermont keeps very neat and clean boat launches and they are a pleasure to visit. This one had a NFCT marker on the bulletin board so I knew I was on route.

A short paddle from the boat launch let to a section of river that soon leads to the first real carry of the trip. There is a nice little clearing full of wild flowers to organize your gear in before starting the portage. I hid some of my baggage for the second trip in the bushes and headed over the bridge and turned left up the hill past the dam and gorge. After a short steep downhill section I followed the road to a parking lot and the trail a couple of hundred feet to the put-in and the campsite. I dropped the gear and headed back for the second load. If I had brought my cart I could easily have done this in one trip, this is a perfect portage to use wheels on.

I had both loads at the campsite at 4:30pm and spent some time looking at the map to see if it I should continue on to Salem Lake and finish a day early. I figured I had at least four hours of daylight and only about 5 or 6 miles left. I decided to spend the night so I took a nap for about an hour. This turned out to be both a good and a bad decision.

I will leave out the details but that evening there was group of local youths who had a loud party on a nearby island. They had to walk by my site to get back and forth with wood for their fire and everything else you can imagine. At some point past midnight they stole my canoe and dragged it up to the parking lot. I suppose I could have been brave but I was alone and they were young and very drunk. I was very happy to leave in the morning.

Day Two

After a nice but short paddle across West Charleston Pond I found the portage trail around the dam and rapids. This is an almost ideal take-out. There was a little stone step to put your foot on when exiting the canoe so your feet don’t get wet, after 50 feet there is a nice shaded grass clearing that you can use to organize your gear, and there are plenty of bushes to hide stuff. This probably isn’t necessary because the first part on the trail is on the edge of a farmer’s field and I doubt it gets visited much. There is a great view at the top of the field and I stopped and took some pictures. After following the road a bit I ended up at the put-in where I discovered a section of white water I was not expecting. On the way back with my second load I took lots of pictures of roadside wildflowers and waved at a couple of cars who I don’t think have ever seen a canoer before. The put-in is right next to an old electrical generating plant that I pretty sure has a skunk living underneath it.

I took a bunch of pictures and then headed down stream ferrying to river left. The map states that there is a river wide ledge here so I landed and lined it. This turned out to be a good decision. I am not a very good white water paddler and I don’t think I could have paddled this drop and stayed upright especially with a loaded boat. I decided to keep on lining mostly because I was in a Kevlar boat and there was no way I could do this section without banging on a lot of rocks. There is a second and bigger ledge right above a bridge which I also lined on the left. Below here are several hundred yards of class I or easy class II water that I lined in order to protect my boat. I read somewhere that there is a lot of limestone here and I can concur. It is amazing how sharp the rocks in this section of river are.

This is the first time I have done any extensive lining and I was surprised at how difficult it is. I shouldn’t have been surprised because I have done a lot of wading in streams while fishing and I am aware of how slippery it is and how much energy it takes to keep your balance. At one point I was on the edge of the river and I found an old rusted horseshoe. I thought it would bring me good luck but I almost immediately slipped, fell in, and got totally wet. I eventually got to a section where I felt comfortable getting back in the boat and for awhile I just drifted in the current admiring the scenery.

As the river flattens out I came to a section that has an incredible amout of old tires in the bottom. This was the first time on the whole trip where I saw significant evidence of the misuse of the river. It wasn’t too bad but I began to see more man made stuff under water and along the banks. As I approached Little Salem Lake I passed a motor boat headed up stream with some fisherman, only the 4th boat I saw the during the 2 days on the water.

Little Salem Lake is quite nice, as I looked west in my direction of paddle I saw only a wall of reeds with no sign of the outlet. The GPS and map pointed where to go so that’s where I went and soon found a channel that angled off to the west and was not visible from where the Clyde River entered. I spent some time paddling through the reeds just because it was fun. The short section of river to Salem Lake leads to a point of land where several young children had waded out quite far and were only up to there waists in water. This is the first time I really missed Brad and Sally, I knew they would have had a great time here. I got stuck on the sand bar but quickly dragged the boat to deeper water and was soon at the boat landing where I had left my car the previous morning.

After a brief conversation with the milfoil guard I was on the road and headed back south thinking of what section I would do next.