Saturday, July 6, 2013

NCFT Days 10-15

Hey all

It's been a long time since we last posted and so much has happened! We last left you at the end of day 9 and it's already day 15. Let's recap the past few days for you.

Day 10
We were still on a high from the nice weather on Lake Champlain and our visit with Buzz and Laurie when we left early from N. Hero. We battled a headwind until the Missisquoi Nature Preserve (the beginning of our upstream paddling). We loved the easy paddling and the variety of birds. We saw osprey, bald eagles, herons, and what we are pretty sure was a golden eagle. Very cool! We resupplied in Swanton, VT mid day and finished at a campsite right below the Highgate Center dam.
22 miles.

Drying out our gear on N. Hero
Missisquoi Refuge
Nap? Don't have to ask twice.

Day 11
Woke up to rain. Major bummer after being tricked into thinking we'd left our rainy streak behind! We got a late start because of the rain and decided to treat ourselves to breakfast in Highgate at Joey's Junction. The food was ENORMOUS and delicious and Joey and El (the owners) were a riot. Definitely a destination. We met and chatted with some nice folks in this intimate little breakfast joint. As we were finishing up, El informed us that our meal had been paid for by one of our new friends. We're forever being reminded how lucky we are. After breakfast, we started paddling but were quickly frustrated by how fast the current was. We attempted to track over our first rapid and after an hour of hard work with little distance gained, we put on the portage wheels and decided to walk. Luckily there's a bike path that runs along the Missisquoi and we took this all the way to Abbey Rapids. Ugh. We had a difficult time finding the campsite near the rapids and so we phoned a friend, Uncle Josh. Josh and Steph (Allie's uncle and aunt) live in Burlington. They wanted to pick us up and have us for dinner, showers and a bed to sleep in, but we had to find a place to store the canoe before we could get picked up.  By the Abby rapids is a very nice pub at The Abby Group.  We talked with the very nice people and they let us store our stuff and canoe there! We were off to Burlington!  Once we got to Burlington we started talking with Josh and Steph about our adventure, had a great dinner, and wonderful times!  It was nice to feel rejuvenated and were ready to hit the trail again the next day. 13 miles
Joey and El at Joey's Junction

Day 12
We started walking down the road with the canoe at 8:30, planning to get on the river quickly after the rapids.  We did so and realized quickly that there were only a few sections that you could paddle without too much effort.  We did our best until frustration over came us and we pulled the canoe out of the river and through a corn field back to the road.  This seems to be a trend.  Long story short we basically ended up walking into Richford. We did not feel comfortable staying in the public park so splurged and got a hotel room.  We slept well.
22 miles

Canoe in the Crossings (the hotel in Richford)


Day 13
We got up and were really excited about making it into Canada! We put in right outside of Richford ready for a good day of paddling.  We paddled hard for an hour and got nowhere. Ugh.  So guess what, we dragged the canoe through another cornfield and back up to the road. This is becoming a trend. On the road we walked into Canada. Before the boarder we met some really nice folks (The Coon family), who brought out iced tea and chatted with us about the trail.  They offered to let us sleep in there back yard, but we declined because we had a long was to go still. Once over the border the river looked nicer, and once we found a place to put in, the paddling was more reasonable and we could actually move!  We arrived at Carrefour Campsite around 6pm.  There were docks on the left hand side of the river, which made it easy to pull the canoe up.
16 hard miles
At camp after a tiring day

So Excited!

WOOO
We can't believe we are here
Canadian customs

Doesn't the Canadian water look nicer?

Day 14
The rest of the paddling on the Missisquoi was very pleasant, a little buggy at times.  We did the portage around the rapids and stopped in at the bakery for some goodies and coffee, which was much needed.  Then it was back to the river again to finish the Missisquoi! What a great feeling it was to find the bridge to pull out at and to start the Grand Portage!  Shortly up the road however, we were not as excited do to the guide book not explaining that the Grand Portage goes up and over a mountain range. Ugh, and it was so humid we were both soaked with sweat.  3/4 of the way up the mountain range a car passed us and Graham passed us and invited us over to his house for cold beers and lunch. What a nice treat! Thanks again!  We finished the rest of the portage with full bellies and were thankful to get to Lake Memphremagog a little before 4.  We were feeling good and got our clean boat pass and hit the lake.  It was nice to be back to lake paddling again.  However, we ended up biting off a bigger chunk than we could chew easily anyway.  We decided to make it all the way to the campsite by Newport VT, and didn't end up arriving until 7:30.  We were wet from a surprise rain storm, tired and hungry, but content to have made it so far.
23 miles
The start of the Grand Portage
Graham and Family after we've had our nice lunch
Lake Memphremagog
About to cross back into the US!
Before the rain storm

Day 15
Today we woke up ready to start heading up the Clyde, but after resupplying we have decided that it is time for a zero day.  We are about to head back to our campsite and rest.  We are SO excited to have nothing to do.

NEWPORT!






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