Safety

I've been thinking a lot about what I will need to safely do a long distance kayak trip. Because I plan on starting in the middle of May, I expect drowning and hypothermia to be the biggest risks. Because this will be a solo trip, I need to be able to deal with both on my own. My best guess is that the worst case scenerio is capsizing about a mile from shore while being about 10 miles from the nearest road. This means that I need to survive and remain functional in cold water for up to an hour, and then be able to navigate on land to the nearest road.

I've done many internet searches on cold water safety, and have not found much in the way of how long one who is dressed for cold weather can stay and remain functional in cold water. Because I regularly do cold water canoe trips, I've done experiments with wetsuits and different clothing in ice covered water to evaluate my options for safety and self rescue. I've found that I lose the ability to do much with my hands after a very short amount of time, but I can stay submerged for tens of minutes without becoming hypothermic. I always wear a life jacket that fits tightly. I've found that even without a wetsuit, the life jacket prevents a lot of cold water from circulating around my chest. The wetsuit adds an extra layer of safety in the water that should give me nearly unlimited time in 50F+ water.

The other advantage of a wetsuit is that it can keep you warm (but not necessarily comfortable) above the water even if you are wet. This might mean that once out of the water, I will not need a set of dry clothes. Yeah, this will be uncomfortable, but it will prevent hypothermia.

My thought for emergency travel is to keep everything I would need to navigate with me at all times. I was thinking I could buy a small backpack that I could keep a set of maps, compass, lighters, food, head lamp, space blanket, cell phone, knife, and some first aid supplies. This pack should be small enough so that I can comfortably wear it while kayaking. This should give me the ability to navigate to the nearest road where I can either hitch a ride into town or call for help.

I also believe in practicing everything so that you do not have to think much during the emergency. I will practice the cold water emersion during my New Year swim. I will also see how well I can function out of the water while wet. I'll keep my wetsuit on to see if I am able to start a fire or travel after getting out of the water.

Finally, I need to be in very good physical condition before I begin. I will start running at the gym after the new year. I worked my way up to a 10 mile run before starting the trail in 2008. I would expect to do the same before starting the NFCT in May 2012. I would want to be able to travel a long distance in rough terrain if needed.

My goal before leaving is to make myself as drown and hypothermia proof as I can. I would welcome other ideas.

Strain

I just went to the physical therapist this afternoon about some pain I've been having in my left arm. My doctor thought it might be tennis elbow, but I only talked to him over the phone. I decided to see a physical therapist so that I could start doing strengthening exercises and stretches. Any little injury is going to be magnified when paddling 750 miles.

The good news is that the physical therapist thought that it was only a strain. She gave me some stretches to do for the next two weeks along with an ice message, and then some strengthening exercises to do the following two weeks. It sounds like this will mostly go away on it's own over the next few weeks.

I think I got the strain by working out too hard. I had increased the weight level on the weight machines, and noticed unusual soreness the following few days. The soreness has gradually diminished, but is still noticeable after about a month. The other advice she gave was less weight and more repititions with the exersize machines.

What is the Northern Forest Canoe Trail???

The canoe trail extends from the Adirondacks in NY to the Maine / Canada boarder. I think the route is about 750 miles long with about 50 miles of portaging. Portaging is when you unload your canoe or kayak, and carry it along with all of your gear to the next waterway.

For more information, check out the Northern Forest Canoe Trail link on this blog.

Charity Ideas

OK, I have this crazy idea that I can't get out of my head. Yeah, I know what those of you who know me are asking...to which of my crazy ideas am I refering. Well, I was thinking of using this blog in part to help raise donations for a charity. Part of my motivation is purely altrusitic and part of it is not. I got this idea from a coworker after I returned from the trail in August 2008. He told me that while I was on the trail, he read about someone who would hike two weeks a year on the AT to raise money of a charity.

Let's start with my selfish motivations. By doing this as some form of altruistic fund raising event, it will probably make it easier to get time off work or at least to have a job to which I could hopefully return. After all, I would simply tell my employers that I in no way want to do such a long and arduous kayak trip, it's just that I feel I need to do it for the greater good! How could anyone refuse such an altruistic request!?

As for my altruistic motivations...it would be very interesting and maybe even rewarding to see how many donations I could help raise for a worthy cause. The problem I am having now is on deciding which causes to promote. I've thought about something like cancer or diabetes because of the number of people these diseases affect. I've always believed that if the government wants to save lives, we should spend less on homeland security and more on cancer research. Nearly everyone will eventually be impacted by cancer either by getting it ourselves or having someone we know get it. My cousin's wife is currently suffering from pancreatic cancer.

Another potential cause I really believe in is wilderness preservation. There are many local scenic river preservation groups that raise money to buy land along rivers. I do not know of any national river preservation organizations, but one such organization might exist. I also thought about raising money for the Northern Forest Canoe Trail directly. I believe in all of the long distance trail organizations such as the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, which I am also a member.

I suspect that if I put some effort into this, I might be able to get significant exposure to this blog. I've seen how many people follow the AT blogs, and this is a little different. I think there are probably fewer than about a dozen thru paddlers on the NFCT per year. Many of my friends told me that they really enjoyed following my AT blog so maybe there would be interest in this NFCT blog. However, being mostly a private person, I am not quite sure how I would feel about getting exposure to this blog.

The main reason for this post is to get ideas for causes worthy of fund raising, and ways to raise those funds. Please feel free to post your ideas below.

Recon

One of the most difficult things about doing a long distance trip is understanding the logistics. I've done many wilderness canoe trips to the Boundary Waters in northern Minnesota and Quetico in Canada. I understand the logistics of travel in those places. However, I knew nothing about the NFCT until I did a recon solo kayaking trip in May 2011. My destination was the Adirondacks.

The weather was absolutely perfect for doing a recon trip...it rained every day. The portage trails were muddy and contained many downed trees. There was enough wind for me to realize that I would feel a lot safer in a kayak than a canoe. I could see ripple marks in the sand a couple feet below the water indicating the waves occasionally get large on some of the lakes.

With about 50 miles of portaging on the NFCT, I knew portaging would be my greatest challenge. I started by talking to outfitters about the best ways to portage a kayak. I was surprised by the lack of detail I received. Yeah, everyone said to use kayak portage wheels, but no one seemed to understand how to resolve problems such as downed trees and ankle deep muck nor did they even seem to understand that one might encounter such conditions.

I decided to find someone who could shuttle my car so that I could try out the portage wheels I bought for my kayak. I bought C-Tug brand portage wheels based on the product reviews and because they can be broken down and stored in the haul. These strap onto your kayak with a tie-down strap. They are fast and easy to put together. The problem I had was that any rocks on the portage trail will cause the kayak wheels to become skewed, which would cause my kayak to veer off the trail, which is a very frustrating experience. To make these wheels work, I will need some I-bolts in the kayak to which I can securely fasten the wheels.

As an alternative, I saw the outfitters are using Portage Boy brand kayak wheels. These have a metal bracket that fits over your kayaks. The metal bracket might help to your kayak wheels from becoming skewed after hitting rocks.

The muck was another problem I thought much about. I decided that I would pack my gear into small dry bags that can be easily unloaded at each portage. I would use a Duluth pack to carry my gear on my back. This should make the kayak light enough to pull through muck, and it would help in pulling the kayak over downed trees...another common problem. A shoulder strap might also help in pulling the kayak. That would take some of the stress off my hands and arms.

I had wanted to build a new light weight kayak for this trip, but I have a solo canoe that is half done. I keep meaning to finish it so I can start on the kayak, but I've been slacking. I will most likely take one of my other kayaks, which weigh about 53 pounds.

I suppose the only other logistics problem would be resupplying. I think the NFCT goes close enough to towns so that I can probably walk or hitch rides into towns. I'm a little less concerned with the weight of food on this trip than I was on the AT. If I remember the portage distance correctly, I think that there is only about 50 miles of portaging on the NFCT compared with 2176 miles of walking on the AT.

Why

I suppose it is only appropriate that I start this blog with the question of why would I want to do another ordeal (oops, I mean trip) especially after knowing the hardships of long distance travel. This is an especially hard question to answer. Just as the desire to hike the AT steadily built over a period of several years, my desire to paddle the NFCT has also steadily built since returning from the AT in August 2008.

I can not seem to think about my pending NFCT trip without also thinking of my AT experience. The two seem to be connected. I once had a dream after returning from the trail that I could never go back to the trail, which is not to mean that I could not physically return. It just meant that the experience would be entirely different if I did go back, and I would need entirely new reasons for going back. Maybe this is partly why I have such a strong desire to paddle the NFCT. The NFCT will be an entirely different experience.

On the last night on the trail, several of us thru hikers discussed what kept us on the trial through record rains. None of us could explain in words why we stuck out the last 250 miles of daily rain and ankle deep muck. All we could say was that in spite of the misery, it was a very good trip. Even now , I still can not answer what it was that kept me on the trail through all of the pain and hardships after so many others left the trail. Only that it was a very good experience. I hope to have the same experience with the NFCT.

The AT was a life altering experience in ways that are hard to explain. I left for the trail with the fear of hiking alone or not knowing what I would do in certain circumstances. After a few weeks on the trail, I felt completely comfortable being alone for days. I also felt completely comfortable not knowing what to expect around the next bend or in the next town. That part eventually became what I most enjoyed about the trail.

The kindness of strangers was also amazing. I remember walking into Dalton, MA not knowing where I was going to stay the night only to have someone call out to me from his front porch asking if I wanted to camp in his yard. Another time I was hiking in 90F+ temperatures when a local city worker who was eating his lunch near where the trail crossed a road gave me a frozen bottle of water. What a wonderful experience it was to have cold water on such a hot day. Stuff like that happened often on the trail.

However, I also understand that the NFCT will be a completely different experience. Few people along the way will have any idea that I am doing a long distance kayak trip. With so few thru paddlers, I don't think there will be any trail angels. I will most likely be mostly on my own during the entire 750 mile canoe route. I expect the NFCT to be mostly a solitary experience.

I suppose the two ways the trail has changed me is that I no longer worry much about anything and I enjoy the sound of the rain while in a warm bed more than I ever could have imagined before the trail. I suppose I understand now how little I require to be truly satisfied. I suspect that I will continue these changes with my experience on the NFCT.

The AT was probably the closest thing to a religious pilgrimage that one can experience in the modern world. Mount Kathidin was always so far away that I could never imagine actually ever seeing it, but I kept walking day after day until one day in the Hundred Mile Wilderness, I actually saw it in the distance. It was only at that moment that I could feel the near end of my journey. I wonder if I will experience anything similar with the NFCT.