By M. Lisa Monroe

Express Editor

A local couple, Catherine and Ryan Thompson, undertook an epic trip over the summer, they canoed the 740 mile Northern Forest Canoe Trail north to Maine, followed 130 miles of logging roads to the Northern Terminus of the Appalachian Trail and then took the trail to the Southern Terminus in Georgia. They have been invited to give a talk about their journey at the Annual Trout Unlimited banquet that will be held at the Roselawn in New York Mills on February 19. The presentation will include video. For reservations contact Dave Corr at dkcorr@netscape.com.

The Thompsons have done big trips like this one before, they have walked the Appalachian Trail before too. Ryan says that every trip they’ve taken has been life-changing, so when they were drinking coffee one day and looking at a map and noticed that a paddle up the NFCT and then a walk down the AT to Georgia were possible, they started planning.

Catherine and Ryan are ultra-light backpackers. They make their own tent, backpacks, stove and the challenge of the trip really appealed to the pair.

“This time, we wanted to thru-paddle the NFCT before going sobo (south bound) on the AT; we felt that we could apply the knowledge from hiking to long distance canoeing. The prospect of walking down the street in Old Forge, putting in at the pond (the start of the NFCT) and paddling all the way to Maine had a neat appeal in its own. We had always had the dream to hike the AT again in our lifetime, and it seemed really neat to us that we could paddle from home, and travel all the way to Georgia on two long distance trails without any vehicle support,” said Ryan.

They planned on no vehicle support but they got plenty of help and support from the crew at Tickner’s Canoes, Dan and Natalie Tickner, Dan Jr.,  and Phil Freese; and also from community members Lawrence Bartel, Sherry Grimm, Bill and Vonnie Kinney and Paul and Kathy Rivet to name a few.

The NFCT was challenging—they had snow and rain and paddled upstream for long stretches at a time, at times they got out of the canoe and did jumping jacks just to warm up. But the adventure of it all kept them going.

“The unknown was the best part of the trip. Being on the water, we were at the mercy of the weather, water conditions and even our own skill.  It is freeing and overwhelming at the same time. Traveling the NFCT forced us to concentrate on the ‘now’ and not get tied up with tomorrow. We had to take each hour as it came because wind shifts direction, and on the NFCT you can be on a trickling stream one minute, and in the middle of a two mile lake crossing the next,” said Ryan.

Calm lakes were one of the most welcome sights because paddling against the wind across a lake is exhausting, but the scenery was beautiful.

“Within a couple hours of each other, we saw an Osprey dive from the air and catch a fish, then we saw a Bald Eagle 30 feet away dive and catch a fish and devour it on a branch next to us.  On the West Branch of the Penobscot, we also saw the brightest rainbow we’ve ever seen after a thunderstorm rolled through,” Ryan said.

It took them 26 days to complete the NFCT. Then it was time to put on their walking shoes.

Since they had almost completed the Appalachian Trail twice before they thought that it would be the easier portion of the trip, but it ended up being the most mentally challenging part of the trip.

“It turned into a mind game a lot because we lost the anticipation (and excitement) of what lies ahead on the trial but we just had to push on—even though the longevity of the trip can be wearing,” Ryan said. “Our favorite part of the hike ended up being the last 700 miles when we got over our mental slump. We took a couple of zero mileage days and cleared our heads in central Virginia. We had to take a step back and refocus. After that, we stepped back on the trail and never looked back or questioned our purpose for being out there. It was an amazing transformation once we got our heads about us and stopped dwelling on the mental challenge of it all.  We hiked strong and happy the last 700 miles (it was like a runner’s high) day after day. It was amazing,” he said.

For all but the last 100 miles they didn’t have any walking companions. Everyone they met was headed north instead of south. But during the last 100 miles they met two brothers who helped keep them company on the last part of the walk.

They went through three pairs of running shoes on the trail. (They prefer the shoes to hiking boots because the shoes are light-weight and strengthen the ankles.) Keeping the weight down in their packs was of primary importance to the pair, which lead to some interesting laundry days.

“We only wear one pair of clothes, so we had to get creative when we did a wash because we didn’t want to carry the extra weight in clothes just to do laundry in. Some hikers get into their sleeping bags to do laundry, but that’s frowned upon. Or you can wear your rain gear.  But, as our rain gear consisted of a $.99 cent clear poncho that wasn’t a good option,” joked Ryan.

Along with an extra set of clothes there was one thing from civilization that they really missed—air conditioning.

“We had that really hot stretch from July to mid-August that lasted from New York to central Virginia for us. We could never get away from the heat, we would sweat all night long,” said Ryan.

Now that it’s all over the two say that they would do it again, even though it’s a little hard for them to believe that they did it once. Right now they are focusing on making a home in Old Forge and settling in and looking forward to talking at the Trout Unlimited dinner.

“We enjoy being able to share our experiences with others. It spurs on so many neat conversations and connections and also helps us further process our trip as we remember the many details about it. When we share, we hope that we can inspire others to seek out their own adventures. However, we are the ones that get inspired from others as they share their own experiences and knowledge with us,” said Ryan.