First Paddle!

Noah our oldest son is paddling the Northern Forest Canoe Trail this spring from Old Forge New York to Fort Kent Maine. As part of his project he built a cedar strip canoe last fall and has been putting on the finishing touches in the last couple of weeks. Yesterday was the big launch, Argy and I drove to Bar Harbor with a canoe of our own, we met Noah and launched the new boat.
It was cold and windy but luckily the shore of Eagle Lake was well protected allowing for the trials in relative calm (but not warmth). The boat is beautiful and paddles well; in fact it is more stable than I anticipated. A great day in spite of the weather!

Noah is planning to leave on his adventure next week and hopes to have paddled all 740 miles of the trail by early July. He is maintaining a journal of his trip. He is also using an interesting piece of technology called Spot that allows him to send messages with his location via e-mail which are posting to his journal via Twitter. Pretty amazing stuff and of course comforting to the parents. Who are very proud of the accomplishment of building a new boat and his taking on the adventure of the trip.

Oh by the way yesterday was the first canoe trip of the spring for Argy and I as well. It was great to be back on the water if only for a few chilly minutes.