Many thanks to Uconn Outing Club

I want to say how much we appreciate Andrew E., Dan C. and the rest of the Uconn Outing Club for their help and for letting us borrow their canoe and other gear for the trip. Thanks for everything guys! Without you, this trip wouldn't have been possible.
Forever grateful,
-Nick and Arthur

Here are the sites we stayed at each night:
Day 1: Lean to north of Eight Lake
Day 2: Plumley's Landing on Long Lake
Day3: Lean to between Lower Sarnac Lake and Oseetah Lake
Day 4: Union Falls
Day 5: Cadyville
Day 6: North Hero State Park Campground on Lake Champlain
Day 7: "Dickey's Campsite" before Sheldon Springs Dam
Day 8: Davis Park in Richford, VT
Day 9: Mansonville, Quebec
Day 10: On Clyde River 1 mile past Little Salem Pond
Day 11: Nulhegan River 1 mile before Wenlock Crossing
Day 12: Intersection of Connecticut and Upper Ammonoosuc Rivers
Day 13: Base of Thirteen Mile Woods on the Androscoggin River
Day 14: Spalding Cove Camsite in "The Narrows" between Lower and Upper Richardson Lakes
Day 15: Lower Dallas Bridge at the base of the South Branch of the Dead River
Day 16: Savage Farm Campsite on Flagstaff Lake
Day 17: 1 mile north on Spencer Stream
Day 18: Spencer Rips campsite at the base of the Moose River
Day 19: The Boomhouse campsite on Chesuncook Lake
Day: 20: Little Eagle campsite on Eagle Lake
Day 21: Five Finger Brook North campsite on the Allagash River
Day 22: Trail Completed! Blockhouse canoe campground in Fort Kent, ME

Stay tuned

Hey everyone,
We're planning on getting some more cool stuff on the blog as soon as we settle back in and get around to it. We hope to tell some funny stories from our trip as well as provide some good tips and tools for future paddlers. Also, we'll be sure to get some pictures up. Take it easy; we know we will be.
-Nick

Fort Kent

Arthur and I reached the eastern terminus at Fort Kent last night. We arrived at the sign with our canoe at 5:57pm, which made for 22 days, 4 hours and 59 minutes; a little earlier than originally expected. Low water levels on the rivers and strong winds and 5ft. swells on northern Maine's lakes slowed us down a bit but we decided to just make up for it by paddling longer hours.

Croc and I made a good team. We both like to push ourselves pretty hard. Especially in the last week our days were filled with little more than eating, sleeping and paddling. We cut into our sleep time in the last few days so that we could be on the water for 12-14 hours. It might not have allowed for the maximum amount of enjoyment but we still had fun.

All in all, we're glad to be done paddling. Right now we're hanging out in Fort Kent just glad to not be constantly moving our arms. I was pretty pumped to get some fresh produce and I think Croc was excited to replenish his skittle supply lol.

My uncle, Art, has made the very kind offer of coming to pick us up today. He's pretty awesome for deciding to spend the time to come all the way to Fort Kent to come get us and I plan to make it up to him by doing some work for him. The plan is to stay at his place for a couple days before coming back to Connecticut so we should be home relatively soon.

My parents have been awesome for their help and for keeping up with the blog. No matter how crazy my ideas are, they're always super supportive. Thanks guys, I love you.

To everyone who followed us on our thru-paddle, thanks for reading and for the encouragement. Take care.

-Nick

We heard from Nick once on our vacation. It was on Tuesday or Wednesday, he had reached Maine. The wheels they use for the portages broke so they hid the canoe and walked into a town to get them fixed. I haven't heard from him since so hopefully they got fixed. He is ending up way up in Maine so he had alittle ways to go still. He is hoping to get there Friday night on July 30. It is a ten hour drive for us so we will leave Friday after Bryan gets out of work and drive for quite a while so we can pick him up Saturday morning. He said most of the time they have had a good weather. If I hear from Nick this week I will write again otherwise I'm sure Nick will write when he gets home. Hope everyone's summer is adventurous as Nick's is

I heard from Nick today. He's moving along, he will be in North Stratford today. They are looking forward to being on the Connecticut River. They had a really hard day yesterday. They usually do 4 miles in an hour but yesterday it took 4 hours to go 4 miles. The river was very narrow with fallen trees and a few beaver dams they had to get out and go around. They won't be coming at all to willoughby now because they are past that point and want to keep going. The trail has only been around since 2000 and has only been completed by about 30 people. There is a woman in charge of the trail and gave NIck this information. The fastest the trail has been completed is 29 days and Nick hopes to break this. We will be leaving for Willoughby tomorrow so I will update this when I get back. I hope everyone is having a nice summer and we all hope Nick finishes this present adventure safely.

Saturday July 10

The weather in upstate New York has been dry just like in southern New England so what was thought to be a day of rivers and rapids turned out to be a day of shallow streams and dry river beds. Nick and Croc had to drag the canoe about thirty times but they still made 25 miles for the day. Saturday morning saw them on the western shore of Lake Champlain. The next couple of days shouldn't be so dry, anyway. They were headed to the grocery store, probably hitchhiking, and in good spirits. No issues with the canoe.
They should meet up with us in Willoughby on the first Saturday. We'll be sure to pick up a bunch of fresh veggies and fruit for Nick and some beer for Croc so they can rest up and get back to the rivers.

Thursday July 8

Nick called in this morning and said everything is going well. So far they are one day ahead of schedule and spent most of their time canoeing through lakes although they did go through some rivers with class 2 and 3 rapids. No issues with the canoe and they are enjoying the scenery. The towns are right along the waterways and they just need to beach the canoe and walk in. One drawback...the first maildrop of food didn't make it their in time so they had to forward the package a few days downstream.

Launching Tomorrow

Hello everyone and welcome to our Northern Forest Canoe Trail thru-paddling blog. Arthur (AKA Crocstar) and I (AKA UCOC) will be attempting to paddle the complete length of this 740 mile water trail.

I think we've both been itching for another long term adventure ever since our AT hike last summer. I know personally, that I'm excited to get back into the simplistic lifestyle that comes with living in the woods for long periods of time. Back to having only the primal concerns of what there is to eat, where we will sleep, and how the weather turn out. After only 10 months of living in the "real" world, I already feel that I can use another oportunity to declutter my life and get into a more peaceful state of mind. Just can't wait to get out there and discover myself!

Everything seems to have come together and we spent today getting all of our mail drops and gear organized. With very little left to do to prepare we've decided to leave a bit early and so we will be waking up bright and early tomorrow to make the 5 hour drive to the start of the NFCT in Old Forge, NY. Our hope is to grab lunch and then cast off all before 1pm, but we'll see how it goes.

We probably won't be stopping in towns too often but I will try to post if I get the chance. My parents have been kind enough to agree to update the blog with any info I give them along the way. Whenever we have cell service or find a pay phone I can give them a call and hopefully provide them with some interesting stories to fill the blog with.

At the end, I hope to post photos and possibly even some other cool stuff like a gear list for future paddlers to referrence. Until then, check back for updates and info as we paddle from New York to Maine. Enjoy!
-Nick