Waterway Work Trips

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Explore the natural world, meet people with similar interests and help complete meaningful work along the Northern Forest Canoe Trail this summer! Join our staff, interns and other volunteers for a weekend of field work. A small fee covers all meals, including Friday dinner, Saturday meals and Sunday breakfast. Trips begin Friday evening (Thursday, for Allagash trips) and wrap up after lunch on Sunday — and we always make time for paddling, exploration and relaxation.

Here is a list of Frequently Asked Questions. If you have any additional questions or want to be added to a waitlist for full trips, please contact Stewardship Director Noah Pollock at [email protected] or (802) 496-2285 ext. 2.

June 20-23, Scofield Cove, Churchill Lake, Allagash Wilderness Waterway, ME: Join our new Allagash crew to help stabilize an eroding bank plantings and rocks, install stone steps, and transplanting trees at one of the finest campsites along the Allagash Wilderness Waterway.

June 21-23, Lower Locks Carry, NY: Join fellow paddlers and our roving stewardship crew to completing maintenance along Saranac River’s Lower Locks Carry Trail leading into beautiful Oseetah Lake. Work involves replacing timber steps, signage, and levelling a steep and slippery section of the trail.

June 29-July 1, Lake Champlain’s Valcour Island Campsites, NY: Help complete critical maintenance at a campsites and foot paths on Valcour Island, one of the most scenic and historic islands in the lake. Work will primarily involve replacing a rotting boardwalk.

July 4-7, Scofield Point, Allagash Wilderness Waterway, ME: Get your hands dirty rebuilding stone steps, upgrading a privy to a mouldering design, leveling tent pads, and fixing a stone retaining wall at this spacious campsite on a prominent point.

July 5-7, Five Fauls Lean-to, NY: Help replace bog bridging and construct a floating dock at the NFCT Five Fauls Lean-to along the upper Saranac River, just downstream of Saranac Lake.

July 12-15, Missisquoi Paddle Pedal and Upper Missisquoi Access, VT: Learn how to install stone steps at a new access to the Missisquoi River in the town of Berkshire, and help beyond the scenes at the Missisquoi Paddle-Pedal, a wonderful community event in northern Vermont.

July 19-21 Cedar Stump Campsite and the Rapid River Carry, ME: Help upgrade an existing privy to a composting design at the Cedar Stump Campsite and complete maintenance along the history and remote Rapid River Carry, which provides a connection between Umbagog Lake and the Rangeley Lakes region.

July 18-21, Jaws Campsite, Churchill Lake, Allagash Wilderness Waterway, ME. Help improve access path, tent paths, and improve accessibility at this deservingly popular campsite along the Allagash Wilderness Waterway, an easy paddle in from Churchill Dam.

July 26-28: Moosehead Lake “Little W” Campsites, ME: Help establish two new campsites on beautiful Moosehead Lake’s northern shore, by joining clearing down trees, constructing tent pads, assembling privies, signage, and tables.