Planning an NFCT Thru-paddle

[MyKneesHurt]

Hey folks,
I'm new to the forum and, due to a massive influx of poor personal choices and divine castigation, I have it in my mind to go to the great buggy North for a few months and do the NFCT this summer. Generally I lack either the time, the money, or the inclination to do a long trip, but this year I have all three, so no reason not to try it. I have a good background of camping, canoeing and backpacking, but I've never canoed such a distance through unfamiliar territory before.
Having said that, I will be taking Robert Perkins's advice to heart: "We're not always here to succeed, but we are here to try." Worst that happens is that I bail.

I've read the guidebook and have studied the maps, but I still have a few questions, if local paddlers would be kind enough to lend a word of advice. I'm not out to micro-plan my route, because I think that takes some of the adventure out of it, but logistical questions are at the top of my mind. (For example - where's the closest stove fuel? Where do I leave my truck? etc.) The single biggest hurdle to planning in real time is that I don't have a smartphone - no internet access, no weather reports, etc. I still have a flip phone, which I will bring with a list of emergency numbers. I typically pack for 30 degree nights, even in summer, and expect everything to get wet.

-Is it absolute suicide to think about doing this in a forty-pound skin-on-frame canoe? I can either buy a decent synthetic boat, or afford this trip, but not both; I'm too old to lug an affordable 80-pound canoe down a rocky trail. I ran Old Forge to Saranac in a SOF last September with no issues, but there are zero rocks on that stretch. I've also done 220 continuous river miles in another SOF I built, and that ended happily, despite a few small leaks. I don't have any issues lining or portaging rapids that would endanger the boat. A low-water, slippery riverbed, though, or a mile of dri-ki, would be all-day obstacles, since I couldn't just drag the boat over it.

-Is it advisable to mail myself supplies to post offices, as I would do on a long-distance backpacking trip, or are supply stops frequent enough I can resupply every week or so on the fly? I've done the Allagash river, so I know most of northern Maine would be a desert in terms of resupply, and that the first few hundred miles of the NFCT are relatively urban, but don't have any more specific data than that.

-I am very scared of crossing Champlain in a 14.5 foot canoe. I got caught in the middle of Upper Saranac in high winds once and it was miserable - and you can see both sides of that lake. I know there are a few people who volunteer to paddle it with NFCTers, which I plan to take advantage of.

-I know crossing into Canada requires paperwork and a passport, which I have, and that some sections of Maine trail require permits and fees. Apart from the Canada crossing, is there any section where I would have to fill out paperwork or apply for a permit before I actually show up in a boat?

-Should I take some bug spray? (Kidding, kidding!)

I'll talk myself out of a great opportunity in a heartbeat, if I have the chance, so the more I know the more likely I am to give it a try.
Any advice at all would be greatly appreciated. I'm happy to buy a round, or meet up for dinner if anyone is up for chewing the fat, come this summer.
-MKH

 

[yknpdlr]

I have not done the NFCT in total, but I have done the NY segment, actually beginning from a location 30 miles west of Old Forge, ending by crossing the Cumberland Bay arm of Lake Champlain. As you know, food and other supplies are readily available in OF, Long Lake, Saranac Lake and Plattsburgh, all not far from the water. Maplefields convenience/gas station in Redford has an amazing array of food and supplies, as you are carrying around the boulder field shallows of the river. My boat was a 10.5' Hornbeck with a home made spray cover, which got me across the windy big lakes without issue, including 3 foot broadside rollers while crossing Cumberland Bay. My entire trip was 185 miles long, including 62 miles of carries, due in part to a long road stretch and a planned backcountry bushwhack west and south bypassing the village of OF, not entering the formal canoe trail until arrival at 6th Lake. Since it was a hot low water week in July, I also did extensive carries around several sections of exposed boulders and low rapids below Saranac Lake, until reaching the dammed impoundments and deeper water nearing Plattsburgh.

 

[billconner]

I've studied this, would like to try, have only done little bits so far (though a lot in BWCA and Quetico), have done volunteer work weekends (and scheduled to do 2 in June), and am a member of the organization. An active Facebook group for NFCT trippers and wanna-be-trippers with good info. (And I detest Facebook but this one's worth it.)

I do not believe you need to go the general delivery route but obviously can.

The biggest challenge may be how to you get out of Fort Kent ME - no rental cars last I heard and hard to get to nearest in one.

You may want to splurge on a smart phone and Far-Out app and NFCT map - reported very helpful - and a good portage cart for your canoe.

But, I'm convinced, you'll not regret trying.

 

[yellowcanoe]

Best to have a repair kit.. I know most of the Maine section. The Dead River is rocky above Eustis. There are portages where needd
Permits? If you are camping on Umbagog NH State Parks is in charge
Richardson ; South Arm Campground https://www.northernforestcanoetrail.org/itinerary/upper-richardson-lake/ runs the remote sites. Must reserve
Mooselookmeguntic seems to be public lands now but its best to check with the Bureau of Parks and Lands

The North Maine Woods is where you start to require a permit for travel and camping in the Penobscot River Corridor and the Allagash. I know you can call the office in Caribou from either Northeast Carry or Seboomook Campground NW Carry as I have gotten cell signal in both places
The rest of the rivers in Maine requires no camping or travel permit.
Be advised that if you have the book "The Northern Forest Canoe Trail" that things do change One section mentions a road that is currently being destroyed by the Canadian Pacific KC railroad as they try to dismantle their derailed railroad cars. The Demo Bridge is going to need repairs and there is series of serious rapids starting there. Who knows what the port will be like. ( we use the Demo Road to get to camp)

You can get surprisingly good cell service in Eustis Stratton. Also Jackman. You will be close to resupply in Jackman and a bit of a walk to Stratton for very limited groceries ( a couple of miles)
Moosehead Lake is big so do not underestimate it. And Chesuncook, which you will be crossing is long and funnels winds nicely.. Many a canoer has had trouble there.

 

[MyKneesHurt]

Thanks guys, that's exactly the sort of local information I can't get (or simply don't know to ask for).
I'll give it a try, and try to feel my way through it. The biggest part will be slowing down, and remembering it's not a sprint.
I have the NFCT maps, guidebook, and will make sure I've got ranger station numbers and some sort of emergency contact.
Now, to build a seat for my boat...

 

[billconner]

The Dead River is rocky above Eustis

Being the part of the trail I've done, Flagstaff Lake and the Dead to Grand Falls is easy paddling. It's the branch of the Dead from Grand Falls to Spencer Lake you'll probably have to walk.

Overnight and resupply in Eustis, and camp on the island right before Grand Falls. I helped clear that site! Then prepare to walk and pull your canoe.

 

[Boatman53]

My wife gave me a couple books on the NFCT, now that I think about it she might be trying to get rid of me for a while. One was Paddling the Northern Forest Canoe Trail by Dan Tobyne and Eric Alexander, the other is called Upwards by Laurie Chandler. She was the first woman to solo paddle the route. I’ve skimmed the first and haven’t started the second.
Jim

 

[yellowcanoe]

Being the part of the trail I've done, Flagstaff Lake and the Dead to Grand Falls is easy paddling. It's the branch of the Dead from Grand Falls to Spencer Lake you'll probably have to walk.

Overnight and resupply in Eustis, and camp on the island right before Grand Falls. I helped clear that site! Then prepare to walk and pull your canoe.

It is but we paddled up the Dead from Eustis and about two miles from the launch starts some rocky stuff with no visible port
We were paddling upstream and finally the current was too strong
east from the launch is delightful through Flagstaff. port around Long Falls and the Dead is really dead till Grand Falls

 

[billconner]

It is but we paddled up the Dead from Eustis and about two miles from the launch starts some rocky stuff with no visible port
We were paddling upstream and finally the current was too strong
east from the launch is delightful through Flagstaff. port around Long Falls and the Dead is really dead till Grand Falls

Got it. "Above Eustis" is upstream, not north. Yes, I've heard the Dead flowing into Eustis is also rocky.