Meghan's first post

Hi everyone!

This is my first ever blog post so we’ll see how this goes.

So the other day we finally got down to some serious business, a.k.a. planning our menu and doing a bit of grocery shopping.  We already decided that we were going to be eating the freeze-dried, Mountain House packets for most of our dinners just because it would make things less complicated.  Chris originally wanted to have two more detailed menus with more variety but I decided to put my foot down on that one.  I graduated college two weeks ago, and since I probably wasn’t going to be going back to Burlington anytime soon, I made one last trip to Eastern Mountain Sports to stock up on Mountain House.  In other words, I pretty much cleaned them out and had to have two employees help me carry them all to the register, BUT thanks to my discounts I ended up with 21 freeze-dried meals for roughly $5 a piece which I am considering a pretty good deal.  Since then we have been slowly accumulating more so we have about 36 which leave only about 2-3 dinners per week that we actually have to plan out.  But anyway, now that we had most of our dinners all that was left to do was to do lunch and breakfast.  Our breakfasts are going to consist of two packets of oatmeal a day.  We are going to be gone approximately 50 days so that would be 200 packets.  We did not want to spend a ton of money so we made a trip to Walmart and bought 17 boxes of oatmeal.  The lady at the register must have thought we had a few problems but we had fun trying to choose as many different types as possible, including the ones with Dinosaur Eggs that Chris picked out, in the hopes that we will not be oatmealed out by the end of the trip.  We are still trying to decide on some easy lunches and/or snacks and slowly compiling our stock of food.  Yesterday we also finished detailing our itinerary with daily objectives, start, finish, and our distance goals.  Our to-do list still includes:

-          planning a mail drop in Maine

-          making a list of phone numbers/contact information

-          directions for people planning to meet us at some places

-          list of possible fees for stays at campgrounds

-          …and more food

I’m getting really impatient now and just want to get this show on the road!  But, there is still one more week of work and possibly one more week of final preparations.  Although it was not my life’s ambition to do this like it was Chris’ I am excited to try something new, for all the things we will see and to be spending weeks outside sleeping in a tent!

That’s all for now!

 All of our oatmeal and our food packaged up by week.

New Gear!

This weekend Meghan and I visited EMS (Eastern Mountain Sports) in Williston Vermont, and got some needed, new gear for the trip.

Meghan had been using an old external frame pack that worked good enough. It was a bit small, didn't fit that well, but it worked. Decided it was time to purchase a quality pack that fits her properly, as it will get alot of use over the years. She decided to go with an Osprey brand pack, based mostly on how well it fit her, but also their "Any reason Any era" guarantee. I also have an Osprey and it's worked quite well for me. She got the Osprey Aura 65L model, in green. She's happy with it. I'm sure it will be a fine choice for this trip, and future backpacking\canoe tripping excursions.

We both purchased a new pair of sandals. Since we are on a canoe trip, we will be in and out of the water, quite a bit. Walking upstream, in low water, and on short portages will require something a bit more rugged and supporting than a pair of crocks. We opted for the Keen Newport models, they seemed ruggedly constructed with a good sole, and a closed rubber toe which is important. We may well wear these new sandals out on this trip, so it's good to start with a fresh pair!

I purchased a few items I think are pretty neat pieces of gear also. We will be taking cell phones (for check-ins, safety, emergencies, and meeting people) they will be off most of the time, but they'll need to be charged at some point. Our digital cameras will need charging as well. What to do?
Solar charger!
Goal Zero solar panel- the panel charges a battery pack (compact) which charges your electronics. I also bought a Brunton power pack, which can be charged with the goal zero solar. The Brunton, at 100%, will charge a smartphone 4x fully! That's impressive for a power pack the size of a medium cell phone. Between these, I don't think we will have any issues keeping the phones and cameras fully charged, the latter of which will get used the most. The solar panel is ideal for a canoe trip, as when you're out on the water, the panel is in full sunlight most of the time, unlike hiking, where it's spotty through the trees. 6-8 hours on the water, on a sunny day, this will work great!

So, an expensive weekend, however it was gear we needed and will see plenty of use this summer. We were lucky enough to get 25% off everything that day, which made things a little better.

We are still going to get a spare stove (MSR pocket rocket type, butane canisters).

Ice is nearly 100% out on the lakes\ponds in the area, so we'll be out paddling as soon as we can.
Getting even more excited to start as things are warming up, melting, and getting green.
A little over a month to go!

First post, planning and thoughts

The Northern Forest Canoe Trail is something I have been intrigued with from the moment I found out about it. For the past few years I have been seriously considering through-paddling the trail since I started college. The hardest part has been finding the right time to do it. Summer jobs, school, and the lack of a partner that could also take the time held plans back.
Well, now I have graduated college, and am currently employed part time, with a flexible schedule. My girlfriend of the last four years, Meghan, is graduating college this spring, and has not yet lined up a full time job (oh the joys of graduating and job hunting). That makes for a good situation to have the time to do the trip! So, we both talked about it, and decided we would commit to the canoe trip this summer.
A little background on the Northern Forest Canoe Trail (NFCT) for those that may not know- The NFCT follows historic Native American travel routes through the northern forest. The trail begins in Old Forge NY and ends in Fort Kent Maine, covering 740 miles through New York, Vermont, Quebec, New Hampshire, and Maine. You can check out the NFCT website here- http://www.northernforestcanoetrail.org/

 Now maybe a bit about ourselves. I (Chris) have gone on numerous wilderness canoe trips with my father, brother, and friends from our Boy Scout troop. We have done some pretty challenging trips, but the NFCT will be the pinnacle of my canoeing achievements (for now).
Meghan went on her first canoe trip with my Dad, brother, and myself a couple of years ago. We paddled the Moose river bow trip in Jackman Maine, of which is a section of the NFCT. While she was a bit apprehensive at first, when we finished, she couldn't wait to go again, and she was hooked.

Right now, we are busy planning and preparing. We have already gone through the 13  maps (7 of which are for Maine!) and have a rough itinerary. We are looking at a minimum of 6 weeks, averaging about 16 miles a day. I do feel we might end up lengthening the trip, due in part to some of the difficult sections, upstream, low water conditions, weather, and just general fatigue, things you can't really plan for that well. The trip for us isn't about seeing how fast we can paddle it, it's about the journey, the adventure, the challenge. So if we have a few short days or zero mile days because we can't pass up that beautiful campsite, or the weather is a bit poor, or we just want a rest, so be it. We will get there when we get there, and that will be as soon as we please.
We already have alot of the gear we need. Meghan is getting a new pack, the one she has used in the past has worked, but is not the most comfortable thing. And with the amount of portage miles on this trip, a comfortable pack is a must!
The canoe still needs to be outfitted. New painter lines, add D rings for gear tie downs, etc. etc. We still need to plan a food menu, arrange pickups and drops, meeting places, organize all the gear, and the list goes on and on. For some people, like my Dad, planning is an enjoyable part of any trip. He revels in planning things out, and he's good at it. Me, not so much. I know there is so much left that we need to do. It's only April, and we're planning on leaving mid June, and that will catch up to us real fast. We will be ready though, without a doubt!
Every day I think about starting at the Western terminus in Old Forge. And what it will be like when we catch site of Fort Kent and take out at the Eastern Terminus. There is 740 miles in between. It will be hard, it will be challenging, but most importantly, it will be an amazing journey. A real modern day ADVENTURE!

-Chris

Meghan and I at Holeb Falls on the Moose river in Jackman Maine

The "crew" at the ruins of Augustus Low's great camp in the Adirondacks