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Day 1, 2022-08-12, Friday I'm not really a tarp guy, and you can tell that in the photo below. I like to be on the move; tarps are for hanging around camp lacing doilies. My current "tarp" is the footprint from a 10x10 car camping tent I seldom use. Maybe one of these days I'll get a real tarp...

This trip was something of a sequel to the Millinocket Carry, same crew (me and Hope) and same watersheds (East Branch of the Penobscot and Aroostook). Immediately after this trip I had a furball of work/travel and didn't have a chance to write up a trip report, and then it was a warm fall and I...

Thanks guys. It's great to have fresh information on access, more than other places I visit the Downeast Lakes area sees a lot of change year to year.

Ah, gotcha. I missed "Upper" and was thinking of a port into the main body of Dobsis near Cranberry Cove. That might work, subject to Taylor Brook being navigable way up to the last piddly beaver pond. Not sure I'd bet on that, but a look from Depot Rd would give a hint.

Thanks @Benson Gray. I've read David S. Cook's book but not Micah A. Pawling's. I didn't know about that portage to Dobsys. Now that I look at it on Google Earth, Upper Taylor Brook gets within a mile of the lake, so of course there should be one there. I've paddled Nicatous Stream /...

No flatbeds on the portage trail, that's a rule! (Is that the Old Town factory store in the background?)

@Artistect, as long as you're portaging without wheels, your man card is safe. I don't know the answer to your question since I use the knucklehead method (canoe on my head with a closed cell foam pad), but I'm paying attention to this thread in case my head gets squishy.

Greetings from New England. A B-17 is very nice ride. Great that you can skip the Tupperware phase and start with a quality canoe. I don't know much about Missouri, but I've made a few pilgrimages there for the MR 340 race. Big Muddy's a nice river for people who like sand, but I'll bet where...

I'm glad someone put a decent bid on the collection of old Mad River catalogs. I thought of doing so myself but figured it would lead to an involuntary expansion of my fleet. Still, I could really use a TW Special ...

Those guys are all skinny! You can see why the tractor seats in vintage race boats are about 1.5 modern cheeks.

That sounds like an awesome trip. Honk when you come through Bangor! Five years ago it would have been hard to find campsites on the lower half of that trip, but now with all the work the Penobscot River Paddling Trail people have done there should be good options.

I've paddled from the "dirt road (5 3/4 mi)" in the AMC River Guide to Danforth in medium water (late May, ~1400 cfs at the gauge). Some wading was necessary, both in the stream to Baskahegan Lake and the stream from the lake to Crooked Brook Flowage, but it was no biggie. Should be a breeze in...

This is a tangent, but I was looking at canoerepairshop's image carousel and noticed this one: FlexEpox? I've used other TotalBoat stuff but didn't know they had a flexible epoxy. Has anyone used it? It'd be nice to have an alternative to G-flex, which is great but rather, um, top shelf.

I have a Wilderness and I do a lot of tripping and whitewater in it. I actually do some C3 in it, but only in front country canoe races where the risk is low. It's definitely fine for C2 and easy enough to turn for crowded / technical runs. I weigh 190# and tripping with 30-50# of gear it's...

Usually when there's a sliding bow seat there is a thwart close behind it ("... most installations ... one end attaching to a yoke or thwart"), and that thwart would be in the way of your thighs when you're sitting "backwards" paddling solo. Maybe there's a way to do it with a supporting cross...

On youtube I often see people lining canoes with painters attached to grab loops and almost pinning them because of the adverse roll forces a too high rope produces. Drill the hull to save the hull.

This morning, near Fifth Machias Lake in eastern Maine. The temperature at dawn was 62F, and the dewpoint not much less. It felt like a summer day when you'd hustle to get your travels done early before the afternoon thunderstorms.

Je ne parle pas yadda yadda, but I also enjoyed the video. Thanks for the pointer. It's interesting that youtube's deeply smarty pants recommendation algorithm never suggested that channel to me. They must think language matters more than it really does.

It's definitely a good looking boat. Usually a "playful" boat is more seaworthy than its raw specs would suggest, whereas a dumb flat bottom boat takes every wave on the chin. Most solos have a thwart not far behind the seat, sometimes too close, but Esquif seemed to put them well away from...

For any kind of dialog or discussion, twitter is more or less like the men's room wall with less latency. However, for mostly one-way communication of time sensitive facts it has some merit. My favorite feed is @NWSCaribou, the National Weather Service office that covers most of Maine. Right now...