When to Start a NFCT Thru-Paddle (and why we chose when we did)

When should I start thru-paddling the Northern Forest Canoe Trail (NFCT)? This is not necessarily an easy question to answer, but hopefully by letting you know the factors we considered, and the choices we made, we can help you decide when you’d like to begin.

Some factors are directly related to the condition of the trail, and these include:

• Expected water levels

• Ice-out (defined as the disappearance of ice from the surface of a body of water - such as a lake - as a result of thawing) and temperature.

• Flora and Fauna

When we were planning our adventure we looked back at the last 100 years of data for many of the settlements along the trail and mapped out what the water levels, temperature, precipitation, wind, and fog recordings were. Now we are not advising that everyone does this, however if you are interested, a few quick google searches and a spreadsheet can help. You too can lose a wintery afternoon looking at old weather reports.

Expected Water Levels

In general the highest water levels are earlier in the year. As the year progresses the water levels drop. The water levels tend to be highest just after ice out. However, this is not always the case, with flooding possible at any time through the year. In general, if you leave it later in the summer to start then you risk there not being sufficient water for you to paddle. The sections that often get pointed to as potentially problematic in July and August are the Upper Ammonoosuc and South Branch Dead River. Low water levels can result in many more miles portaging along roads.

Ice-Out and Temperature

Paddling and living in the cold is a bit harder, because you would need more kit and need to have a high proficiency in canoeing, to reduce the risk of cold related injuries and death (a worst-case scenario, but still sensible to have in mind for the cold). It is also worth considering going with a group, as if you go for an unintended swim you’ll need to get out of the water and get dry pronto. Paddling when it is above +10°C is much safer, as if you fall in and manage to get out you are much less likely to have complications due to hypothermia. It is worth noting that the water temperature of some of the large lakes can still be dangerously cold, even in the height of summer. To put how long it can take for the whole of the NFCT to thaw into perspective, during the past 100 years ice-out on Moosehead Lake (one of the later ice-outs on the trail) has varied between April the 15th and May the 12th, so it can be quite late before all of the water on the trail is liquid!

A beautifully warm and clear day at the edge of one of the lakes along the NFCT.

Flora and Fauna

The big ones in this category to consider are actually quite small, and that is black fly. These small flying bugs bite, and they can cause allergic reactions in some people. They can be voracious in swarms, they’re small enough to get through any small gap in clothing, and then they like to feast on your flesh. The blackfly season typically starts some time in the middle of May and runs through to some point in July. This is all dependent on rain and temperature.

Robert celebrating his birthday with a Tunnock’s wafer (a taste of home) with a storm match as a candle. Note the bug shirt and baseball hat. These are worn to keep the mesh away from his face to stop mosquitoes biting through the mesh. A Thermacell was being used under the tarp to keep the worst of the bugs away during the celebration.

When We Started

For us we had another factor, and this was time. It was unlikely that our jobs would give us another extended sabbatical in the coming years, so we wanted to maximise our chances of success, even if we were delayed by a number of weeks due to inclement weather or illness (such as COVID-19). We decided to start relatively early on the 27th May and did not have our return flights booked until the middle of August.

Water levels were the part that surprised us the most. It turns out that 2023 had a rather dry start in the North-Eastern US, which meant that once we got past Saranac Lake we did run into low water most of the way to Plattsburgh. This resulted in some rather extended portages, in excess of 14 miles at a time in places. Then the weather changed and it became an extraordinarily wet June and July. There was so much rain that some parts flooded! This worked both for and against us. It was beneficial as some sections that are normally un-runnable became smooth and passable, but unhelpful on the upstream sections as they became impossible to paddle up; resulting in, you guessed it, more portaging! We estimate that we ended up portaging well over 100 miles of the trail due to not enough or too much water.

Katrina contemplating the fact that we have yet another day of walking rather than paddling. By this point in the trip the excitement of road portaging was starting to wear a little thin.

At the start of our trip there was still frost on the ground for a couple of mornings, but after that the trail was ice free, and by the second week some days were in excess of 30°C(86°F)! For most of the rest of the trip we were in temperatures no lower than 20°C(68­°F). Some weeks we were all drinking in excess of 7l a day in water just to maintain a good level of hydration. When we did the Mud Pond Carry it was like spending most of the day standing in an indoor shower with all your clothes on. We are not used to warm rain in the UK, so that was a very weird experience!

The unseasonably warm start to our trip did mean however that the black flies were bad from the beginning. By the time we got to Saranac Lake we found a newspaper with the lead story being that it was a record year for blackfly, with the greatest number in 10 years, so we feel quite justified in saying there were a lot of black fly around! Thankfully the day before we got to Saranac Lake it got exceptionally warm, and the next day we found a mat of dead black flies all over the surface of the lakes. We could paddle without wearing face nets and bug shirts after that point, which was nice.

Mosquitos were also present throughout our thru-paddle. We didn’t notice them so much to begin with (but this might have been because of the black fly), but in the warm weather following rain you definitely did. The most likely areas for there to be greater quantities of mosquitos were campsites that had standing water, so we tried as much as we could to find those without. We would also have a bug check of the tent as soon as we got into it each night, to make sure we didn’t get bitten in our sleep. One positive of dealing with so many is that we have come home with a brilliant ability to accurately swat bugs when needed. Didn’t think it was possible, but it seems you can learn this skill with a summer of practice!

We did experience some delays on our trip caused by forest fires, minor sickness, minor injuries, and post office opening hours. We were glad that we started when we did as despite the bugs it did mean that we had plenty of time to complete our journey without feeling any pressure to push at the end to make our flights and get back to work.

Useful sources of information

One of the best sources of information on this topic is the NFCT website. The resources have been vastly improved since we were researching our trip, and now there is a cracking page titled “Best Time to Start a Thru-Paddle?” which has plenty of information and other peoples experiences.

Regarding black fly there is a good article called “Dealing with Black Flies in the Adirondacks” produced by the adirondack.net which if you are not familiar with them is probably worth checking out.

Whenever you choose to start your NFCT through paddle we wish you the best of luck!