Intro

"I'm off then." With this quote from comedian Hape Kerkeling, I'm embarking on the greatest adventure of my life. In 2025, I'll have been on this planet for half a century and will be embarking on a longer journey. For years, I've been following travel reports from people who cover long distances under their own steam, usually on foot. Hiking or cycling aren't really my thing, at least not for hundreds of kilometers.

From mid-May to the end of June 2025, I decided to complete the NORTHERN FOREST CANOE TRAIL, perhaps its most challenging iteration, in an open-top canoe. I'll be alone, in a single direction, and without outside assistance. The Northern Forest Canoe Trail follows traditional travel routes of Native Americans and early settlers; it's the longest inland waterway in the United States.

The trail starts in Old Forge, New York, and ends in Fort Kent, Maine. It takes me a total distance of 1,200 km through 45 communities, four American states, and one Canadian province. 59 lakes and ponds, 23 rivers and streams must be navigated or crossed. Of these, approximately 250 km are paddled, pulled, or pushed upstream. 65 times, the canoe, all the gear, and food must be carried overland or pulled by a canoe cart, so-called portages. Some of them are several kilometers long, adding up to a total of over 150 km on foot.