With just a couple days remaining before I start my trip, I'm feeling both excitement and apprehension. It will be very nice to be out traveling by kayak. There is stuff you see when traveling slowly like this that is completely missed when traveling by car even if you stop often. It is just a different experience.
I'm also feeling apprehension at the physical and mental difficulty of this trip. I have done enough wilderness solo canoe and kayak trips to know what to expect. The wind and weather often turns against you, and I will be pushing myself to the limits of physical endurance on many days. Being alone for 5 weeks is going to be challenging enough without all of the other potential problems.
There is also so much that can go wrong. Taking a rapid the wrong way in a fully loaded kayak can have disastrous consequences. Being on the open water during thunder storms is one of my greatest fears as is high winds and waves. There are also so many little things that can happen to your boat during a trip. I build all of my own canoes and kayaks. I once followed the fiberglass & epoxy manufacturer's recommendations for materials to build a light canoe only to have nearly catastrophic consequences. It turned out the recommendations were exactly the opposite of what they should have been. I bring a boat repair kit so that I can fix nearly anything that is less than a catastrophic failure.
I'm also going to keep the emergency stuff that I would need to walk to the nearest road with me in a back pack. That way if I get separated from my kayak, I have the means to walk and / or swim to safety.
As I mentioned before, I have limited time to do this trip if I intend to stay employed. I've very grateful that I can take off this time from work. However, I completely understand that the completion of the NFCT in the time I have will be difficult. Everything is going to have to work perfectly. I can't have any weather delays or injuries. I give myself only a 1 in 3 chance of finishing the trail in the time I have. If I am close enough to the end, I can probably do another week on the NFCT later in the summer. However, I am really hoping not to have to do this.
I think you know it's good to be a bit nervous. The rapids are a legitimate concern, I'm not as concerned with thunderstorms and high winds. There are few mandatory crossings on the trail that are more than a mile across. You may have to do them at dawn or dusk or even in the moonlight but you can always wait until it's safe. Thunderstorms rarely sneak up on you, if you suspect one is coming than paddle close to shore and get out if you have to. Once you reach Rockwood on Moosehead Lake you'll need to decide, from there you'll be out of cellphone range and are pretty committed to going to at least Allagash village, a good week away.
ReplyDeleteGood luck at Mud Pond Carry.
I'm rootin' for ya.