Darrin is quite possibly the most extroverted introvert you may ever meet. In his extroverted life, he is talkative and gregarious, and will share snippets and snapshots of his life experience with everyone around him. In his introverted life, he values solitude, and all that it brings him. For me, this blog has been a joy to compose, and has allowed me to nearly paddle right along with Darrin. For him, the blog has provided a journalistic, extroverted, account of an introverted experience. The blog reflects my retelling of the stories, not Darrin’s. It certainly would have a [View Full Entry]

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Monday, October 1st, 2007. St. John River, Maine. Only thirteen miles - about 3 hours of paddling - remained before Darrin would reach Fort Kent and complete the NFCT in its entirety. With the whole day ahead of him, and relatively little paddling to do, Darrin had to kill time. He took everything out of his portage packs. He hung things up. He dried things. He cleaned things. He went to the campground store for coffee three times. He meticulously packed everything back into his portage packs. Finally, at about 12:30 p.m., he loaded his canoe and left his last camp [View Full Entry]

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...but the blog is not. Darrin successfully completed the Northern Forest Canoe Trail at about 5:30 p.m. on Monday, October 1, when he pulled into shore along the St. John River in Fort Kent, Maine. He was still in one piece, and looking better than ever with a deep tan and slimmer physique. (If you're interested, he will happily explain that although he still has a belly, all of his "back fat" has melted away.) The two of us, plus Addie, had a great reunion and journey home as we weaved our way through New England over the next week. We [View Full Entry]

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Sunday, September 30th, 2007. Allagash Falls, Maine. Darrin left his campsite at Allagash Falls, paddled over Allagash Rapids, and then out of the Allagash Wilderness. He stopped and had lunch in Allagash Village - a hamburger steak, mashed potato, green beans, coleslaw, and coffee - all for just $6.40. From Allagash Village, Darrin made his way onto the St. John River, the last distinct waterway he would paddle on the NFCT. He encountered some nice class two rapids on the St. John, and eventually settled at Pelletier campground for the night. After settling in camp, Darrin checke [View Full Entry]

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Saturday, September 29th, 2007. Darrin awoke to clear skies and mist over the water. Thanks to two days of steady rain, water levels were now ideal for paddling, having gone from 300 to 1,300 cubic feet per second in just 48 hours! Darrin set out onto Round Pond, running some small rips while blanketed by a patch of isolated fog. (“Rips” is a Northeastern word for mild whitewater.) He paddled beside shores illuminated by fall foliage, ended up in calm water, and then looked up to see a bull moose swimming across the river. The moose at first swam straight toward [View Full Entry]

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September 29, 2007. 12:30 p.m. Monona, Wisconsin. Greetings friends. Just thought I'd check in with a few words about life back at home in Madison. I'm a bit behind on Darrin's blog, because while he's been off adventuring, I did a little traveling of my own - a week in the Grand Tetons of Wyoming with my good girlfriend Heather. It was grand! Upon returning home, I discovered that our dear little cattle dog Addie had a whopping case of FLEAS. For the past two weeks my life has been consumed by vacuuming, bathing Addie, sanitizing bedding, etc. Addie has been [View Full Entry]

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Friday, September 28th, 2007. Allagash River, Maine. Darrin awoke around dawn and was instantly relieved to acknowledge the fact that both his tent and body were still in one piece. He groggily unzipped the tent fly to find moose number 14, a cow moose, IN his campsite. After escaping the overnight trampling that could have been, now he figured he might as well try to get a good close-up picture. He emerged from the tent, camera in hand, and suddenly saw moose number 15, the cow’s calf. He instantly retracted - cow moose can be aggressive when protecting their calves - [View Full Entry]

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Thursday, September 27th, 2007. Churchill Lake, Maine. Darrin left camp in daylight, but under cloudy skies. It started to rain just as he got on the water. He had left camp late the past couple of days because he was about to approach the Churchill Dam Portage. Water levels on the other side of the dam were dictated by dam releases, and 8 a.m. was the first release of the day. As he paddled across Churchill Lake toward the dam, he saw three moose in the distance, plus three otters bobbing next to his boat. Darrin arrived at Churchill Dam to [View Full Entry]

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Wednesday, September 26th, 2007. Eagle Lake, Maine. Darrin rose before dawn to avoid paddling in heavy winds. With the exception of a 20-minute downpour, the paddle was uneventful. He made it the Jaws Campsite on Churchill Lake just before lunchtime. He had eaten his trail lunch as a quick pre-dawn breakfast, so now he prepared himself a hot breakfast before setting up camp. After this brunch, the sun came out and dried his wet tent and gear. It wasn’t long, however, before a thunderstorm rolled in. The cloudburst was brief. It was followed by a welcome drop in the humidit [View Full Entry]

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Tuesday, September 25th, 2007. Chamberlain Lake, Maine. To avoid paddling in heavy winds, Darrin rose before dawn and began the day’s paddle in the dark. He set out across Chamberlain Lake, and felt fortunate to view a molten copper sunrise on the water before the sky became a continuous sheet of clouds. His first portage was Tram Portage, and getting to it proved to be much like the Mud Pond Portage. Chamberlain Lake had been drawn down for winter, leaving 300 yards of exposed mud flats between the water’s edge and the portage trail’s beginning. Darrin set out, bar [View Full Entry]

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