May the Goddess Bless Your Journey

June 4, 2024

Mile 22.9-38.1 (2.9 miles of portaging)

Woke up a few times last night, once at 4 am because we heard waves crashing on shore and Henry wanted to get up and move the boat up onto the shore so it wouldn’t bash against rocks all night. Back in the tent I had a pretty bad headache so I popped two Aleves and hit the weed pen to fall back asleep. When I woke up I felt better and we went for our morning swim. I sat on a sunny rock to warm back up after. This is becoming my favorite part of our mornings 🌞

We slowly packed up and were out of camp and paddling by 11:30. I felt nauseous as soon as we started out and my mind immediately went to how I’ve been kind of lazy about filtering water but reminded myself it would be too early to be feeling symptoms of any water borne illness. Plus not filtering for over half of the Arizona Trail has led me to believe I have an iron stomach 😆

My headache came creeping back as well so I figured I might be dehydrated. I drank a full liter with some electrolytes and just like that I was cured.

The 6 miles to our first portage went by quickly especially with a tailwind. Our first carry was only 1/2 mile down a dirt road. At the end we reached a concrete dock and a muddy shoreline. It was hot so I forced myself to wade into the squishy mud and swim. The flies were bad on shore so we packed the canoe up quickly and pushed off to paddle away from them.

Back on the water we were both bonking hard. I remembered I had packed out a C4 energy drink in the cooler and we excitedly popped that bitch open and split it.

Paddled through Forked Lake to our next portage around some rapids in the Raquette River. There was a water pump at the day use parking lot so I filled all of our water bags so we wouldn’t have to filter water later (this is one of our least favorite camp chores). Black flies swarmed around me but I figured I’d grab my headnet when I was finished. By that time those fuckers had feasted on my neck and behind my ears. I pulled on my headnet and sprayed down my legs with bug spray and we headed off down the dirt road on our portage.

Back in the river at Pinebrook shelter where we lined the canoe through some too shallow rapids then hopped in and paddled some absolutely beautiful flat water. The air smelled so good- a certain sweetness I couldn’t name and cedar.

We were in awe, we both said “this is what you think of when you think of paddling the NFCT”. We snuck up on a deer on the bank and got a glimpse of a beaver before it disappeared under water.

Another portage to avoid Buttermilk Falls. We walked a paved road down to Deerland Shelter. The map wasn’t quite clear if there was a trail from the road to the shelter so when a man in a construction vehicle stopped to see if we had broke down and needed help, we asked. He said he wasn’t sure and we thanked him for stopping to make sure we were okay. He drove off and a few minutes later turned around, reached out the window and handed me a small gray feather and said- “May the Goddess bless your journey”. It made me so happy :-) I tucked the feather in my pocket to keep.

Thankfully there was a trail down to the shelter and we carefully maneuvered the canoe down the rocky, steep path. We had planned on staying at the shelter but for some reason we both agreed the vibes were off. There was nothing wrong with the spot at all, maybe it was just the fact that we’re both leery of camping so close to a main road where any weirdo can park and walk down.

I was exhausted but agreed when Henry said we should keep paddling. We tossed our gear into the canoe not even trying to organize and paddled into Long Lake at golden hour. It was magical.

I sat back and scanned the shores with my binoculars, soaking everything in, while Henry paddled. We had read in the guidebook that there was state land you could camp on across from Moose Island so we paddled the bank keeping an eye out for a good spot. We found the perfect site with a huge rock outcropping with one flat spot just the right size for our tent. I set up camp while Henry fished from the bank and then relaxed in my hammock swinging in the breeze while he cooked dinner. Fell asleep almost as soon as my head hit the pillow and woke up in the middle of the night to a beautiful melody of coyotes howling.