Northern Forest Canoe Trail: the "Wrong" Way presentation by Peter Macfarlane.

Five years after through-paddling the Northern Forest Canoe Trail, a story presented at the Salisbury Public Library in 2014, Peter Macfarlane set out last spring for another through-paddle. To avoid merely repeating the same journey, however, as well as to augment this already significant challenge, he chose to attempt to become the first person recorded to paddle from east to west, from Fort Kent, Maine, to Old Forge, New York.

Bucking the trend for through-paddling, he deliberately chose a route with far more upstream than downstream, including white-water. And, whilst blessed with far better weather than on his previous rain-sodden journey, the elements added to the magnitude of the challenge. Although he was expecting the prevailing winds to be largely against him, their strength and perversity raised the bar for both the physical and the mental toughness required. This reached its acme on Lake Champlain.

Of course, he used the same cedar-strip canoe as last time, self-designed and -built, and planned the same 28-day schedule, an ambitious undertaking.

This presentation takes the audience through some of the planning and on a vicarious roller-coaster ride of overcoming challenges, loss, joyful paddling, exhaustion, despair, and some sublime moments, all illustrated with photos and snippets of video.