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Hi, Mark here.
So happy to have found this site.
I live in Hollis NH, in the southern part of the state.
About 10 years ago I met the father of one of the kids my boys went to school with and he had a canoe. That led to many, many early morning canoe trips. Unfortunately, he moved to Cleveland in 2010 and that left me with no paddling partner. After a few years of not paddling much, the past three I've been out as much as is possible for a parent with an 11 and 13 year old.
The boat I always use is a 15'8" Old Town Discovery. I love it, except for the fact that it's about 70lb (holy crap, I just looked it up, it's 87lbs!!!)
For years I looked at craigslist for a wood/canvas canoe. While in a canoe store about 3 miles from my house, I saw a brand new Old Town. It was $7800. While admiring it, the sales person said 'come back to the store at 6pm.' He then walked away from me. I was so confused. So I came back at 6pm. On the rack was a restored 1938/9 Old Town. It was so beautiful. Turned out that an older gentleman who came in the canoe store often could no longer use it. He was friends with the canoe store person and asked that he find someone who would appreciate it. I braced myself for the price. It was 1/4 of what I was expecting. So, I ended up with it! It was restored in 1985 and it doesn't look like it was even in water since then.
The bad part of that story is that it's been in my friends barn for over a year because I've been waiting for a special trip to try it out.
This is that canoe store now:
Burned down a few months ago. Very sad day.
We're in a drought right now so most of my spots are too dry, but I did do the Maine Bow Loop in June. Last June I did 66 miles of the Connecticut.
This fall I'd like to do 2 days and 3 nights on the upper Connecticut starting probably around Caanan. I was up in that area this past weekend and was next to the river again and again and all I could think about was canoeing it. Hope to get some info about that stretch on the site here soon.
Anyway, hope to learn what I can here and enjoy reading about other's trips.
So happy to have found this site.
I live in Hollis NH, in the southern part of the state.
About 10 years ago I met the father of one of the kids my boys went to school with and he had a canoe. That led to many, many early morning canoe trips. Unfortunately, he moved to Cleveland in 2010 and that left me with no paddling partner. After a few years of not paddling much, the past three I've been out as much as is possible for a parent with an 11 and 13 year old.
The boat I always use is a 15'8" Old Town Discovery. I love it, except for the fact that it's about 70lb (holy crap, I just looked it up, it's 87lbs!!!)
For years I looked at craigslist for a wood/canvas canoe. While in a canoe store about 3 miles from my house, I saw a brand new Old Town. It was $7800. While admiring it, the sales person said 'come back to the store at 6pm.' He then walked away from me. I was so confused. So I came back at 6pm. On the rack was a restored 1938/9 Old Town. It was so beautiful. Turned out that an older gentleman who came in the canoe store often could no longer use it. He was friends with the canoe store person and asked that he find someone who would appreciate it. I braced myself for the price. It was 1/4 of what I was expecting. So, I ended up with it! It was restored in 1985 and it doesn't look like it was even in water since then.
The bad part of that story is that it's been in my friends barn for over a year because I've been waiting for a special trip to try it out.
This is that canoe store now:
Burned down a few months ago. Very sad day.
We're in a drought right now so most of my spots are too dry, but I did do the Maine Bow Loop in June. Last June I did 66 miles of the Connecticut.
This fall I'd like to do 2 days and 3 nights on the upper Connecticut starting probably around Caanan. I was up in that area this past weekend and was next to the river again and again and all I could think about was canoeing it. Hope to get some info about that stretch on the site here soon.
Anyway, hope to learn what I can here and enjoy reading about other's trips.
