Youth test out new paddling skills at the inaugural Youth Paddling Symposium in July 2024. (Provided photo — Northern Forest Canoe Trail)

WAITSFIELD, Vt. — The Northern Forest Canoe Trail celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2025, an occasion that will be marked with dozens of community events throughout the Northeast.

The NFCT is a mapped inland water trail tracing 740 miles of Indigenous and historic travel routes across New York, Vermont, Qubec, New Hampshire and Maine. The NFCT offers a chain of possibilities: day trips, weekend getaways, weeklong vacations or even an end-to-end thru-paddling expedition. The canoe trail starts in Old Forge and ends in Fort Kent, Maine, traversing 23 rivers and streams, 59 lakes and ponds, 45 communities and towns, and more than 65 portages.

Established in 2000, the trail and the nonprofit responsible for stewarding and promoting it have grown significantly over the last 25 years. What started as an idea to inspire paddlers to explore the historic waterways and communities of the Northern Forest has grown to an institution that maintains and enhances environmentally-sustainable outdoor infrastructure, promotes accessibility in paddlesports, hosts races and community events and fosters new generations of paddlers and outdoor enthusiasts.

“It is a tremendous privilege to mark this milestone with the paddlers and communities of the Northern Forest region,” said Warren Whitney, chair of the NFCT’s Board of Trustees. “We are grateful to all who have made the trail a reality: the Indigenous peoples who first discovered how these rivers, lakes, streams and ponds could be used to traverse the Northeast; the guides who worked to connect people to the wilderness; the communities that prioritized protecting these natural resources; and the countless people who helped our organization map, steward and celebrate this canoe trail. We can’t wait to join you on the water this paddling season.”

To mark 25 years, the NFCT will host its biggest slate of programs, events and activities to date.

“The NFCT was founded to be a destination for paddlers and an economic driver for communities along our route,” said Karrie Thomas, NFCT’s executive director. “In our early days we had our work cut out for us just to establish enough access points and campsites to allow people to paddle the route in its entirety. We have spent the past 25 years investing in infrastructure, navigational and inspirational materials and community connectivity. Today, the canoe trail is a jumping-off point for a wide variety of water-based adventurers, whether it’s an afternoon of fishing on the Missisquoi River, a day trip on the Raquette River with friends, a weekend on the Connecticut River or week on the Allagash Wilderness Waterway, or an end-to-end thru-paddle. Ultimately, we want more people to discover what’s available here in the Northern Forest — because any time spent on the water is time well spent.”

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Enhancing access, sustainability through stewardship

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Through a combination of staff, community partners and volunteers, the NFCT maintains and enhances infrastructure along all 740 miles of the canoe trail. This includes hundreds of access points, portage trails and campsites located on public and private lands.

“Stewardship has always been the foundation of our mission — access is the basis of everything else we do,” said Trail Director Noah Pollock. “Over the last 25 years, our stewardship of the trail has grown from a small team of volunteers to a full-fledged program that works with state agencies, private landowners and community partners. We aim to ensure that outdoor enthusiasts can access the remarkable waterways of the Northeast safely and in a manner that makes the surrounding environment more resilient. We can’t stress enough the power of the partnerships we’ve formed over the years.”

The NFCT will perform stewardship work in all four states in 2025. In New York, the roving crew will tackle projects along the Lower Locks Carry in Saranac Lake, the Brown’s Tract Carry in Inlet and on Lake Champlain’s Valcour Island. In Vermont, the roving crew will take on maintenance of campsites and portage trails along the Missisquoi River, and across the border in New Hampshire, the NFCT will establish a first-of-its-kind accessible campsite on Umbagog Lake.

In Maine, the NFCT fields a second stewardship crew dedicated solely to projects on the Allagash Wilderness Waterway. This year’s work features campsite maintenance, privy installations and access point work on Chamberlain Lake. Crews will also perform critical maintenance of a portage trail that connects Haley Pond to the South Branch of the Dead River.

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Races, programs for all skill levels

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The NFCT, in collaboration with community partners across the Northeast, will host an array of community programming this year. This includes races, instructional courses and community paddles.

The NFCT will host five races in three states this year. These races range from short, family-friendly challenges to multi-day stage races for more experienced paddlers. The lineup includes:

¯ ‘Round the Mountain Canoe & Kayak Race, May 10, in Saranac Lake

¯ Rangeley Oquossoc Adventure Rendezvous, June 21-22, in Rangeley, Maine

¯ Missisquoi Paddle-Pedal, July 12, in Richford, Vt.

¯ Adirondack Canoe Classic (90-Miler), Sept. 5-6, in the Adirondacks

¯ Long Boat Regatta, Sept. 20, in Long Lake

Additionally, the NFCT will collaborate with paddesports manufacturer NRS as well as local partners and outfitters to host the Adirondack Paddling Symposium, the Youth Paddling Symposium, and Northern Forest Explorers and Teens to NFCT trips. Finally, NFCT volunteers and business partners will offer free community paddles across the entire canoe trail this summer; details for these trips will be provided later this spring.

For more information, including registration and sponsorship opportunities, visit northernforestcanoetrail.org/get-involved/events-activities.

For more information about the NFCT, visit northernforestcanoetrail.org.