Crossing Borders on the NFCT

Travelling across the international borders along the Northern Forest Canoe Trail (NFCT) can be a daunting prospect for some; especially if you are not from the US or Canada. This article is intended to give you some confidence, and basic information for this potentially tricky aspect of the trial.

Our experience is from our thru-paddle which we did in the traditional direction from Old Forge to Fort Kent. This means our border crossings were from the USA to Canada (at East Richford) and then from Canada to the USA (on Lake Memphremagog).

East Richford Heading North

When we were thru-paddling the Missisquoi River was in drought, and from as far back as Enosburg falls did not have enough water for us to paddle. We made the decision to portage along the historic Missisquoi Valley Rail Trail to Richford and then onto the border crossing at East Richford. There is then some interesting geology that happens to occur just by the border, where, seemingly out of nowhere, the river changes from being shallow and boney, to deep and wide. This meant that we approached the border crossing from the road but left by the river.

Upon entering the border crossing from the USA side we stopped, had a pleasant conversation with the USA border guards, and explained that we wanted to cross to Canada. We left our boats on the USA side, and with passports in hand, proceeded across the bridge to the Canadian side on foot.

We met a helpful Canadian border guard that came out to meet us. We explained that we were doing the NFCT and would be paddling up the river. After a few simple questions and passports stamped we were allowed to enter Canada. We then walked back over the bridge to the USA side. We took the boats off the portage carts, changed into water shoes, and put the boats into the water at a handy little put-in spot. After about 200 ft the river changed into a deep, slow, meandering river that was pleasant to paddle, particularly after so many miles of portaging.

Lake Memphremagog Heading South

This has got to be one of the strangest border crossings that we have ever done. We entered lake Memphremagog at Perkins Landing and headed south. There is a Canadian border post on the west bank of the lake near the border. This is not, however, a USA border post. This you have to wait for until you reach Newport approximately 8 km or 5 miles south of the border! When reaching Newport we had read that there was a virtual check-in point near the Harbour Master’s office.

We were chased down the lake by a weather system that was blowing wind and rain down the lake. We managed to stay in front of the weather system and reached a slipway just to the west of the Northern Star lake cruises. We wandered around to the east of the Gateway Center, where we were met by the Harbour Master who directed us to the little virtual border station. This border station was little more than a room with a tablet computer on a plinth and a few chairs around it. The instructions are clear and you enter your relevant information. A border guard a few miles up the road reviews the date you have entered and either lets you in or has a video call with you to ask further questions. That is it!

The questions we were asked during our crossing were the common ones that you can get asked at any border crossing and included:

• Do you have any weapons: knives, guns, etc?

  • We explained that we had sheath and folding camping knives for food and fire prep. This was acceptable.

• Do you have any cannabis or cannabis products?

  • We did not have any.

• Do you have any alcohol or drugs?

  • We only had basic over the counter pain relief, antihistamines, and prescription drugs which were acceptable in both countries, and we had all the official paperwork from health professionals.

• Do you have any pepper spray?

  • We explained that we had bear spray, which was clearly labelled as such. There were no issues with this, other than that we were advised by the Canadian border officer that we were not to have it openly accessible in the towns and not to use it on people.

• Do you have any fresh fruit, vegetables, or dairy products?

  • Nope. It was not conducive to the climate we were currently in. We ensured that we ate all the perishable foods before crossing the borders as we knew that we were able to resupply shortly after each of them.

General advice

Some simple general advice for crossing the borders:

• Make sure the border crossing you are going over is open when you get there. These two are NOT 24/7 and they can get awkward if you are hanging around the crossings.

• Have all your documents to hand, especially your passport.

• Be polite, even when the border force can be aggressive. We did get a little of this from the USA side on the way out, but nothing a little polite conversation could not disarm. We ended up having an interesting chat about horse-packing.

• Answer the question you know they are asking, not necessarily the question they explicitly state. For this one we’re looking at you, Robert.

• Check what you can and cannot take across the border.

• DO NOT try to take pictures or videos of crossings.

The first time we paddled across borders was a little different and maybe a topic for another article entirely…..