There are still spots open in the Northern Forest Explorers program, which sends children aged 10-14 years old on five-day paddling trips in the Adirondacks.
The trips are organized by Raquette River Outfitters in Tupper Lake and Adirondack guide Matt Burnett, in collaboration with the nonprofit Northern Forest Canoe Trail. Participating children are provided all of the essential camping and paddling gear. » Continue Reading.
The Northern Forest Canoe Trail’s 14th annual Online Auction kicked off November 1st, offering paddling enthusiasts a variety of outdoor-related items and experiences to bid on.
The auction is a fundraiser for the Northern Forest Canoe Trail, a nonprofit organization that manages the 740-mile water trail between Old Forge and Fort Kent, Maine. The nonprofit provides stewardship along the trail and promotes paddling in the Northern Forest region » Continue Reading.
There are still open spots in the Northern Forest Explorers program, which sends children aged 10-14 years old on 5-day paddling trips in the Adirondacks. Partial and full scholarships are given to children who cannot afford the cost ($500) of the trip.
The Adirondack trips are organized by Raquette River Outfitters in Tupper Lake, in collaboration with the Northern Forest Canoe Trail. Participating children are provided all of the essential camping and paddling gear. » Continue Reading.
The Northern Forest Canoe Trail is currently recruiting to fill four stewardship intern positions: two roving crew positions that will work in New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine, plus two positions that will concentrate on stewarding Maine’s iconic Bow Loop Trail.
The program is 10 weeks, running from June 12 to August 18. Interns will receive four weeks of training in the areas of leadership, paddling, and trail construction. They will then spend the remaining weeks taking turns leading volunteers on stewardship projects, ranging from campsite installation to water access and portage construction. » Continue Reading.
The Northern Forest Canoe Trail’s 12th Annual Online Auction is now live until December 1, 2016. Proceeds support the nonprofit’s mission to maintain and protect access to the longest inland water trail in the nation.
The auction includes name brand paddling and camping gear made by ExPed, Kokatat, Mitchell Paddles, Patagonia, Seattle Sports and Pelican watertight cases. Paddle craft include an Advanced Elements inflatable kayak package, an NRS inflatable SUP package and a 16-foot Wenonah Adirondack Ultralight Kevlar canoe ($2,699 value). » Continue Reading.
Last month, Northern Forest Canoe Trail (NFCT) staff and volunteers spent a day replacing bog bridging and repairing a pedestrian bridge on the Indian Carry, a portage that connects Stony Creek Ponds to Upper Saranac Lake. The improved path helps deter trail widening and makes carrying canoes and kayaks safer.
Six volunteers removed a deteriorating bridge and replaced it with 60 feet of boardwalk. Lumber and materials where provided by the New York Department of Environmental Conservation. The Adirondack Land Trust, which was instrumental in conserving this property and constructing the portage trail in the 1980s, provided funding for this project. » Continue Reading.
The final week of a month-long celebration of paddling and water-based activities kicks off this weekend in Saranac Lake with the Adirondack SUP Festival at Lake Colby beach.
The SUP festival, which is organized by Adirondack Lakes and Trails Outfitters, starts Friday and continues until Sunday. The festival will feature tours, clinics, gear demos, and races. » Continue Reading.
John Connelly became the first Northern Forest Canoe Trail (NFCT) thru-paddler this season when he reached Fort Kent, Maine on Tuesday, May 24. He left Old Forge on April 16th, on the first leg of a 1,500-mile journey that combines the 740-mile Northern Forest Canoe Trail (NFCT), the Maine Island Trail, and the waterways that connect them.
Founded in 2000 and officially opened in 2006, the 740-mile Northern Forest Canoe Trail consists of 22 rivers and streams, 58 lakes and ponds and 63 portages that stretch from Old Forge to Fort Kent, winding through Vermont, Québec and New Hampshire. The trail follows traditional travel routes used by Native Americans, early settlers and guides. It is one of the longest inland water trails in the United States. » Continue Reading.
The second annual Paddlers Freshet Fest will take place June 10–11 in Saranac Lake. Organized by the Northern Forest Canoe Trail, the festival celebrates the kickoff of the summer paddling season and provides a setting for thru-paddlers—those who have paddled the entire 740-mile trail—to gather.
Already this season, one thru-paddler has completed the trail. John Connelly of Maine finished the long-distance journey on Tuesday. He started on April 16. But he’s not done yet. Connelly is following waterways from Fort Kent, Maine to the Atlantic Ocean, where he will paddle the Maine Island Trail. He hopes to paddle 1,500 miles over 75 days. His trip is dedicated to inspiring other people to get outdoors. » Continue Reading.
The Northern Forest Canoe Trail and Adirondack Lakes and Trails are co-hosting the Reel Paddling Film Festival tonight, April 8, at 7 pm at the Lake Placid Center for the Arts. The award-winning films tell stories about canoeing, kayaking, and the privilege of having wild places to paddle.
Film themes include kayaking the Aleutians and a multi-sport adventure on Baffin Island. One of the feature films, Paddle for the North, tells the story of a six-man expedition team and their 1,500-kilometer journey through the Yukon and Peel river watersheds. » Continue Reading.
The nonprofit that founded and organizes the Northern Forest Canoe Trail (and shares its name) is celebrating its 15th anniversary in 2015.
The longest canoe trail in the nation, the 740-mile Northern Forest Canoe Trail starts in Old Forge and ends in Fort Kent, Maine. It goes through Vermont, Québec, and New Hampshire following Native American travel routes.
The organization was founded when Vermonters Kay Henry and Rob Center, former owners of the Mad River Canoe company, first heard the idea of the trail from a group of paddlers researching the route. They loved the idea of the adventure, but were compelled by a larger vision. “We knew that the region had been through decades of decline in the forest products industries that had been the economic driver for generations,” Henry said. “We saw this trail as a means to help support the development of nature-based tourism across the North Country and an opportunity to diversify the economy.” » Continue Reading.
Big changes are planned for the Imperial Dam on the Saranac River in Plattsburgh.
On Friday, the state Department of Conservation announced that it is taking comments on a plan to modify the dam, which is located a few miles upstream of Lake Champlain. The proposal calls for decreasing the height of the spillway by 8.5 feet and constructing a concrete fish ladder on the left bank, or northern side, of the dam, which the DEC owns. The other side is privately owned. » Continue Reading.
For more than a century, paddlers traveling between Utowana and Raquette lakes have used a trail known as the Marion River Carry — a portage around rapids in the Marion River. In recent years that access has been threatened after the owner announced plans to build several homes along Utowana Lake.
A fierce opposition to development near the carry was raised by local residents and outdoor enthusiasts and today the Open Space Institute (OSI) has announced that it has acquired 295 acres surrounding the Marion Carry. » Continue Reading.
The Proposed Final Draft of the Taylor Pond Wild Forest Unit Management Plan (UMP) was released today for public comment by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and the Adirondack Park Agency (APA).
DEC staff presented the Proposed Final UMP to the APA Board at their monthly meeting on December 13, 2012. At noon, the State Land Committee heard an informational “first reading” of the UMP. The Agency will now hold a public comment period to solicit comments related to the proposed UMP’s compliance with the Adirondack Park State Land Master Plan (SLMP). APA will accept written comment on SLMP compliance for the proposals contained in the draft UMP until noon on Tuesday, January 2, 2013. The APA Board is scheduled to render a determination of SLMP compliance for this UMP at the January 10- 11, 2013 Agency meeting. The final step in the process is approval of the UMP by DEC Commissioner Joseph Martens. » Continue Reading.
The Northern Forest Canoe Trail’s film festival in Lake Placid on Friday night will feature footage from all over the world, from Russia to Hawaii, from the Grand Canyon to the North Atlantic. But for many Adirondackers, the highlight will be a movie made by Saranac Lake resident Mike Lynch.
Lynch, an outdoors writer for the Adirondack Daily Enterprise, canoed the 740-mile Northern Forest Canoe Trail last summer—from Old Forge to Fort Kent, Maine—and has created a 37-minute film about his adventure titled Through Paddle. Click here to read my earlier interview with Lynch on Adirondack Almanack. » Continue Reading.
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