Northern Forest Canoe Trail Guidebook: Enjoy 740 Miles of Canoe and Kayak Destinations in New York, Vermont, Quebec, New Hampshire, and Maine

I bought this book in the summer of 2015, studied it, and then traveled the first 60 or 70 miles of the trail (from Old Forge, New York to Long Lake, New York) with my 19-year-old son. We had the trip of a lifetime, traveling at a leisurely pace in two kayaks, and I would strongly recommend this book and this journey to anyone interested in canoe and/or kayak trips. I plan to continue doing additional sections of this lovely route each summer -- it's that good. The Adirondacks are pretty, full of wild places and cute towns, and the swimming and fishing were tremendous. We caught fish every day, swam in every lake, and found ample camping everywhere we were.Before stumbling upon this book, I'd never heard of this route. I was surprised by how little publicity this route has had, since I've read quite a lot about many of the other through-paddling-routes in North America. As for hiking routes, the Appalachian Trail and Pacific Crest Trail have so many books written about them, and kayaking routes through the San Juan Islands and canoe routes in the Boundary Waters are known by many. This NFCT is a lesser known trail, having been pioneered just in the past 20 years. This newness is not a detractor, however, as the trail is very well thought out and sign posted along the way. Small towns have nice sign boards marking the route, complete with info bulletins and maps, and the various carries are well marked.The book is composed by multiple through-paddlers, all of whom offer various insights about the route, fishing, plants, wind, etc. It's a great joint-venture and a substantial, interesting read.A note on the carries/portages: As two pretty strong guys, we found some of the carries quite challenging. Partly, this was because we didn't bring wheeled-carriers with us. It was also partly because we insisted on carrying both boats in a single trip. However, let me just suggest that you plan your route with attention paid to the length and number of carries on your trip. You can easily find sections of this route with very few and short carries. You can also find sections with many .5 to 1.5 mile long carries. So planning is crucial if you don't want to carry your stuff too much. Of course, the entire route requires about 50 miles of over-land travel, but if you're doing the entire route you're tough and ready for that, right?Note that there is a very detailed NFCT website that you can access online. On that site, detailed maps and route information is easily accessible. The book is more of a narrative about the trail, however, and I see the book as a very valuable supplement to what is online.A note about maps: After studying my copy of this book, I went out to EMS to try to find some detailed maps. Yes, there are detailed paper maps that correspond to every leg of this journey. However, I found the maps for the New York State portion of the trail to be a bit expensive for me. If you have the money, buy the maps -- they're nice. If you're a bit cheaper, you might end up doing what I did which was to buy a copy of the  New York State Recreation Atlas (National Geographic Map) . I simply tore out the pages that covered the part of the route we were doing, then carried those pages in a couple of ZipLoc bags. These maps were great and we never got lost.Any problems with the book? We found the book very useful. In fact, it was indispensable. However, there were of course things we discovered for ourselves along the route. For instance, one carry early on in the route (just 12 miles from Old Forge) ended up being unnecessary to do, as we were able to scoot and push our boats up a little beaver-dammed creek, walking via the stream in a spot that the book's authors told us to carry our boats. This ended up being very fun for us, but I share this just as a reminder to any reader that this book is a guide that should be taken as something other than a 100% perfect "how-to" for this trip. Lakes that are described as windy ended up being calm for us, and vice-versa -- but that all added to the adventure and sense of discovery. Cross reference your reference materials and you'll do great.

Find a comfortable chair because as soon as you open this book, you will be dreaming about and planning for the next trip. The Northern Forest Canoe Trail Guidebook is good enough for arm chair travelers and through paddlers alike.It is rich in information for preliminary trip planning. Historical context and anecdotes are weaved between area attractions, navigation tips, terrain charts, pictures, maps, and itinerary recommendations. There are also segment profiles for quick reference to access points, services, contacts, and trail features.The section maps (13 in total, sold separately) are a fantastic addition to the book with visual depiction of the trail, mileage markers, and service locations.And there is the NFCT web site at [...]with full directory of services, their contact information, itineraries, and events.This is where the book falls short. I wish it included the contact details for the groceries, bakeries, B&Bs, and other services it refers to, so they are readily available while off and on the trail.I enjoyed reading the book and planning for my first trip on the trail. I encourage you to plan a trip too. Stay safe and wear a life jacket.

It was helpful to read about the portion of the trail that I was going to be paddling. The one issue I had was that the description didn't reveal any challenges with rocks and rapids during lower water levels in an upper portion of the segment described as a "family paddle". My canoe took quite a beating on the rocks.

Now that the detailed guide is out and in conjunction with the NFCT maps and on-line assistance a trip to plan and meet your customized needs or preferances has become a lot of fun. While all this information may take a little of the wilderness out of the trip, it allows the experience to be both safer and rewarding: as long as you do it.

Excellent 'must read' companion to the 13 map series covering the entire 740-mile route!

I have hiking guides for the AT, and this book does the same for the canoe. excellent. Gives me something to read and then plan from.

Great maps and notes on the routes

poorly organized and no maps- not even basic ones