LOCALadk Magazine

Fall 2015 LOCALadk Magazine 35 LOCALadk strangely dressed, wet people, hauling two canoes, one with a wild paint job, both on wheels, decorated with American flags and pennants, with rock music thumping on a portable stereo. "Coming to camp in a town near you!" We got a lot of waves from friendly people and con- siderate drivers, some in disbelief that we were miles from what they thought to be navigable water. Our wheels were crucial in allowing us to cover the miles with less energy. Mike and I, on our second set of wheels, were doing fine, but the boys, Nick and Chris, had an ongoing problem with their wheels. It took field repairs, i.e. sticks and duct tape, to get the wheels across the nine or so miles of the Grand Por- tage to Lake Memphramagog. Luckily, our resupply in Newport, Vermont would include new wheels for the Phoenix. When we reached Lake Memphramagog, the wa- ter was deep and clear, and we started to see loons again. Unfortunately, it was only a brief rest before we headed upstream again. Back in Vermont after our one night stand in Canada, we found our way onto the Clyde River, a pretty little river with nice sections of whitewater, for those traveling downstream. We were going upstream, so we put the boats back on the wheels and around we went. We were able to paddle again in the upper reaches, and the bird life was out- standing. This brought us to the town of Island Pond, Vermont. We spent a night in an old Victorian hotel, where we were the only occupants. With no one else around, we took advantage of the opportunity for a major gear explosion. We draped the halls with tents and things like wet, smelly river shoes in hopes of dry- ing out our supplies before we got back on the trail. Island Pond actually drains in two directions, and we were able to descend the Nulhegan River toward the Connecticut River, and head towards what we called the Land of the Big Names. Names like the Androscog- gin and Upper Ammonoosuc rivers, and Umbagog and Mooselookmeguntic lakes. The first challenge was to pronounce the name-- we butchered them, bad-- and next challenge was the winds, and the seas they pro- duced on the large open lakes. Everything seemed to be in a bigger scale in this part of the trail. The dis- tance between towns also got bigger; the portage be- tween the Rangeley Lakes and the town of Stratton, New Hampshire is over 22 miles. The Northern Forest Canoe Trail is a true mix of en- vironments and experiences. Some of the best mem- ories of the trip were made meeting and interacting with all the different people along the way. They are called "trail angels", the folks that seem to materialize

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