Paddling – Page 10 – Laurie Apgar Chandler

A dot in the wilderness (my new SPOT GEN 3)

Update (September 2015) – My SPOT completed the 53-day trip requiring only one battery change, around day 35 or 40. I now have a supply of AAA batteries to last a while!

Let me introduce you to Bernie. At least he started life as “Bernie.” I don’t usually name my equipment, but the online account asked for a name for my new device and that seemed like a good one. Just like a St. Bernard, a SPOT satellite transponder will help you get rescued in the wilderness (and let friends and family know when you are fine).

However, it evolved that with my first test message all of my friends and family got a message that someone named Bernie was paddling the NFCT! There ensued some confused emails asking who is Bernie? My old SPOT is named Laurie so I will christen this new one Laurie C.

Comparison of old and new units:

Old: SPOT Satellite Personal Tracker – purchased in 2011 for about $50 after rebate – annual subscription of $99 – weight 7.2 oz with two AA lithium batteries – its three buttons could (a) send an email message showing that I had safely arrived somewhere with the time and coordinates, (b) send a help message to a small previously-chosen group of email addresses, and (c) send a 911 message far and wide, activating a rescue process.

New: SPOT GEN3 – purchased in 2014 for free after rebate – annual subscription for SPOT Basic Service is $149.99 – weight 4.1 oz with 4 AAA lithium batteries – does everything that the old one did, plus includes tracking (where my position every 10 min. is sent to a private page) – the emergency button is now called an SOS button and sends a message to the GEOS International Emergency Response Center. Here’s hoping I never need to push it!

Feeling awfully good

Those who have seen me recently will be amazed at this photo taken this lovely morning (in the yard in the sun without sunglasses). I woke up after nine hours of sleep with no more light sensitivity and proceeded to set up my new Sierra Designs Flashlight 1 UL tent for the first time (outdoors) and seam seal it. Although the seams are taped inside, Sierra Designs recommends seam sealing the inside and outside of the rainfly and center floor seams to fill in all the tiny holes from the stitching. Another job finished !

Thanksgiving in May

Just a quick post to let everyone know that thankfully I am on the road to recovery. Yesterday evening, the light sensitivity made a dramatic improvement and even the vision in my right eye is better. So let the trip preparations resume at lightning speed…SPOT setup, yoke construction, packing, creating a custom pot cozy with materials from Katina, and just a bit more shopping. Thanks for all the well wishes!

Christmas morning in May (my canoe arrives)

Well, I am still among the living, although the final outcome of my health challenge still hangs in the balance. Right now, the vision in my right eye is blurry (among other problems), although I can’t imagine that stopping me from going on my adventure if I am otherwise recovered.

Enough of that topic and on to a fun glimpse into the long-awaited arrival of my new canoe Saturday a week ago. Above are Jordan and Ed bringing her out at Maine Sport Outfitters in Rockland. It was love at first sight and I could easily carry her out to the car. We talked yokes and portaging and paddles and other fun details. Skip Ciccarelli had talked about the importance of a foot brace, so I was glad to see that my canoe did indeed arrive with one.

For those of you just tuning in, my boat is a 13-foot Wenonah Fusion Kevlar canoe, with skid plates on both ends (adding about 3 or 4 pounds). One thing I haven’t done is to take an actual weight, which I will do. The green removable seat that you see in the photo above came with the boat. So far, I have paddled her 3 times, with her fastest average moving time of 3.3 mph on a roundtrip lake paddle with light winds, about 0.8 mph faster than I would have gone in my kayak!

Traveling partners…my canoe travels well on my RAV4

Health challenge

A challenge has come my way, one that hopefully will not impact my through paddle of the NFCT. Last Wednesday evening, my right eye started to water and turn red. Five days, six medical professionals, and several ineffective medicines later, I was diagnosed with EKC. Most of us haven’t heard of this viral (not bacterial) type of conjunctivitis or “pink eye.”

It’s really fun…very contagious, usually lasts 1 to 2 weeks, has to run its course with only steroid drops, Aleve, cold compresses, and sunglasses to alleviate the symptoms, which I will not list here. Between blurry vision and light sensitivity, reading and computer work are limited, but I wanted to post something so you would know the latest. There is a small epidemic locally.

The good news is that most everyone has a full recovery in several weeks, including normal vision. I am allowed to exercise, so tried my new canoe twice and enjoyed walking, mostly with my eyes shut. Promise some cheerful posts soon!

Old friends and new at the NFCT Freshet Fest

The NFCT held their first-ever Freshet Fest this past weekend. Here are old friends, Katina and Sam, sharing their delicious breakfast with me at our campsite in Grand Isle State Park. This was my first look at Lake Champlain and first taste of the fabulous baked goods from Hero’s Welcome, on North Hero Island, which I hope to paddle to this summer. Katina and I talked for hours and Sam was very patient, while making us an endless quantity of delicious coffee.

051315 2 Arrowhead Mt Lake — Our group paddle on Arrowhead Mountain Lake on the Lamoille River

051315 3 osprey nest on water — Have you ever seen an osprey nest right at lake level?

The evening gathering at the Splash Boathouse in Burlington was a great chance to meet lots of kindred spirits, including Dan and Michele Brown, on the left, with Sam and me. Talking with folks from the NFCT staff and fellow paddlers who I only knew through blogs or emails was very neat and they all expressed their confidence in me and my planned trip. That meant a lot!

The through-paddlers who shared their stories definitely helped me visualize the trip and made me realize that they just went out there and took a day at a time. Here we have Mark Fromm (2012), Skip Ciccarelli (2011), Dan Brown (2014), Katina Daanen (2011), Paul Heintz (2008), Nicole Grohoski (2006) and Peter Macfarlane (2013). Just a sample of the advice I came home with: paddle from your torso, travel light, don’t be afraid to knock on doors, and stop along the way for some chocolate milk and Milanos. I’ll close for tonight with flowers and a sunset.

051315 7 flower — Yellow trout lily at the campground

051415 8 trillium — The trillium were thick in the campground woods.

051315 6 sunset Splash Boathouse — Sunset over a quiet Lake Champlain…a fitting farewell to a wonderful day!

A few things to know about the Northern Forest Canoe Trail

With Team Moxie on the day they finished in July 2011…Moxie was the first dog to complete the NFCT

1. The Northern Forest Canoe Trail is ancient and, yet, it’s quite young. Its rivers, lakes, and portages carried America’s native peoples from summer fishing camps to winter hunting grounds since times now lost in history. When the voyageurs and settlers arrived, they, too, knew the same fir-clad banks and steep portages. Thoreau did, too.

2. Now the NFCT is both a recreational paddling trail and a non-profit organization, headquartered in VT. There you will find wonderful maps, tons of paddling resources, and your membership will support everything from building new campsites to negotiating new portage routes to amazing paddling adventures that introduce kids to paddling. This coming weekend I am going to the NFCT Freshet Fest in Burlington, VT, to paddle the LaPlatte River, attend a panel discussion on through-paddling and more.

3. Moxie, a 4-lb. Yorkshire terrier, was the first (and so far only) dog to brave the entire trail, sleeping in her own adorable little tent, and finishing in Fort Kent on the same day as me! The photo above with Justine Jarvis and T.K. Kiernan, the rest of Team Moxie, was taken at the Northern Door Inn in Fort Kent, Maine.

4. The NFCT travels through 4 states and one province: New York, Vermont, Quebec, back to Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine.

143 - Playing engineer — Fun in an abandoned locomotive of the Eagle Lake and West Branch Railroad in the Allagash

5. Follow the entire route and you will go through locks (as in the Erie Canal), paddle under a hotel, discover relics of logging history, and maybe even see an Alligator.

6. Although the NFCT is widely described as a 740-mile-long trail, those who through-paddle go only about 710 miles. The difference comes from some short areas of the trail where two possible routes are maintained, such as the Northeast and Northwest Carries at the north end of Moosehead Lake. The through-paddler chooses just one, but the mileage of both are counted. My spreadsheet plan (which I’m sure will be accurate to the tenth of a mile) totals 710.8 miles.

7. The fastest anyone has ever solo paddled the entire trail was 25 days.

8. The ghosts of the past will speak to you. One day, on a rocky bluff, forested and remote, you will find a metal ring imbedded in a mighty boulder and sit for a time, pondering how and why it got there. The answer will forever remain a mystery…

The wheels on the boat go round and round (my old kayak cart)

Portaging to Biscay Pond May 14 cropped — First time on the road in May 2011…this photo was in the local newspaper with the announcement of Paddle for Hope. I vividly remember how amazed I was to discover that a well-balanced boat would roll along fairly effortlessly on the flat and downhill sections of a paved road or even the gravel shoulder. (Photo by Bill Bausch)

Trying the wheels with the demo Fusion just before returning it to Maine Sport Outfitters…note the kickstand is down in this photo. Our neighbor’s lobster boat and stacks of traps in the background are another sign of spring!

Happy day, it’s another package from REI, although this one is for my father. It’s another Wheeleez Tuff Tire Kayak/Canoe Cart. After reading often about wheel breakage and meltdown on other paddlers’ blogs, we were very pleased to find that this exact model was still available. The price had gone up slightly, from $129 in 2011 to $135 now.

I chose this model initially for its weight (9 lbs.) and the solid, foam-filled tires which gave me one less thing to worry about. It has carried my kayak on about 50 miles of portages since 2011, with no problems. Even such places as the last third of a mile of the Demo Road portage on NFCT Map 10, which is basically just a rocky trail through the woods. Does it help that I walk so slowly? And my load is well under the cart’s 176-pound capacity.

In my kayak, the cart rode upside down behind my seat, fully assembled. The wheels can be taken off, however, and the marine-grade aluminum cart folded up. Last weekend the wheels were very squeaky, so we greased them, and I will take a bit of grease and some spare pins with me this summer. The cart comes with two 13-ft straps, which traveled across Maine with me in a small Rite Aid bag, tied to the frame! Not very professional, but they were always handy when needed. I think this time, though, I will get a small dry bag that can be clipped on more securely.

Gettin’ lots of love (the NFCT through-paddler’s guide)

Katina and I 2011 — Katina and her husband Sam stopped by my house to visit on their way home to Wisconsin in 2011, just after Katina completed her NFCT through-paddle and before she became an author!

“You’d get lots of love,” Katina wrote, if I put my blog out there for the public to read. I’d been wavering. Posting that first post is a statement…hey world, look what crazy thing I’m going to try to do! And that funny, unbelievably varied group of people called “the public” that would become my readers. Who would they be? Was it safe to put my story out there?

Well, last time, back when I was writing my blog for Paddle for Hope in 2011, one of “the public” turned out to be Katina Daanen. I first saw her name when she donated to the Maine Children’s Cancer Program through the Paddle for Hope website. At the time, hers was just a name on a financial report, but I sure was excited to have a donor who had found us through our online presence. Later, I discovered her blog and realized that Katina was planning a through-paddle. It was fun to leave notes for her in the trail journals along the way, including one that she found on Hurricane Island in Flagstaff Lake.

Later, using her super-detailed trip notes, Katina authored The Northern Forest Canoe Trail Through-Paddler’s Companion, first published in 2014 and already updated with a 2015 second edition. Invaluable as a planning resource, this book describes the over 160 miles of upstream paddling (or portaging, praying, and persevering) from the perspective of someone going in the wrong direction. The NFCT maps and guidebook (logically) assume that most sane paddlers are going downstream.

Those going the right direction or just for a day or weekend will still learn much. Wondering how “wheelable” a portage will be? Hankering for a cheeseburger or a real bed along the trail? Then this resource is for you. And, as you’re munching or tucked up under the covers, you can discover a bit more about the crazy world of through-paddling. In the months to come, you’re sure to hear more about Katina, who continues to send me great paddling encouragement and advice!

Where the rubber meets the road or river (my new shoes)

Did I mrntion how much better my new shoes smell? At least for now…

Goody, goody…my package from REI is here. A visit to a real REI store has always been a treat, going all the way back to the days when my kids were little and the Timonium, MD store was the carrot (at least for Mom) on the long drive from VA to PA. Last weekend I discovered one just on the outskirts of Richmond, in Short Pump!

I spent lots of travel time researching shoes and thought I had found the ones…Chaco Outcross Evo 1 water shoes … a brand I have never owned before.

But they’re light (their 1 lb. 2 oz. weight saves 7 oz.), with good padding, support, traction and a totally closed heel. Plus the color is simply lovely. The biggest debate was not whether to buy them, but in what size. Finally, going by the “true to size” reviews and the saleswoman who said Merrells and Chacos run similar and looking down at the well-loved size 8 Merrell trail shoes on my feet, I chose 8’s. Not sure how much I will wear them barefoot or with liners or Smartwool socks.

The old hat and shoes at work on the Oquosset carry in 2011. My friends were surprised that I really wanted to wheel my boat when they could have easily shuttled me. Grandson Joshua made a pretty cute companion, though!

Then there’s my hat. I am stubborn, and last summer I lost my favorite paddling hat. Sometimes it can just be incredibly difficult to find a replacement for something! This is true, of course, not just for hats but for all manner of things. The difficulty, I believe, is directly proportional to how much you loved the item. I simply wanted a baseball style tan cap, quick-drying and WITHOUT a stiff brim. Finally, in the Short Pump REI I found one. Happy day! It does have mesh ventilation on either side but that is all to the good. So now a new hat for the top of me and new shoes for the bottom and most of the stuff in the middle will not be new.

(This is my first post composed on my iPad rather than my laptop!)