This past year I greatly enjoyed seeking out and paddling sections of several historic water trails. Thankfully, each search proved successful. There was, however, one particular on-the-water moment that stands out as my favorite of the year. It was mid-March and I was coming to the end of a winter-escape trip to Virginia. After having paddled to the Native American Powhatan village of Werowocomoco on the York River, I was returning to where I'd launched from at Cappahosic. It would be the final in-boat moment of my trip and, before landing, I stopped paddling to savor it. The sun was shining, the temperature was 60 degrees F. and a warm breeze kissed my face. Looking out towards Chesapeake Bay I knew that Old Man Winter was losing his grip...
Historical marker for Werowocomoco...
I'd gone to Virginia to experience first-hand some of the water-routes taken by Captain John Smith in 1607...
Retracing a small part of his route up the Chickahominy River...
This statue of Captain Smith stands at Jamestown Fort...
In June I ventured to the opposite end of the compass...the Canadian Province of New Brunswick...
...where, on the hottest day of the year, I dipped my paddle into the Saint John River for the first time...
Back in 1775 Col. John Allan persuaded several hundred Maliseet people to undertake an exodus via canoe with all of their belongings...
I paddled bits of the route they followed on both sides of the border:
North Lake and the Thoroughfare in the St. Croix watershed...
Further to the south and in the State of Maine was Big Lake and its Kuwesuwi Monihg Island, recently reacquired by the Passamaquoddy people ...
...and Crawford Lake leading to the East Machias River...
Finally, in late August, in recognition of the American Revolution's 250th, I paddled the stretch of the Merrimack River where the 1100-man Arnold Expedition in 1775 disembarked from Newburyport, MA...
Imagining the sight of the 11-ship fleet exiting the mouth of the Merrimack River and sailing northeastward towards the Kennebec River...
At the height of summer while visiting in Guilford, CT I was afforded the chance to paddle into Sachem's Head Harbor...
...named for a Pequot sachem's misfortune. He swam for his life across a channel only to be captured and executed at the hands of his enemy.
Got in several car-camping/paddling trips. One included my first-time glamping in a yurt-tent at Cold River Campground in Eddington, ME (not bad). The others were more traditional tent-camping done at Cape Ann Camp Site in Gloucester, MA, Barton Cove Campground in Gill, MA, and Salisbury State Park in Salisbury, MA.
Memorable "eye-to-eye" wildlife encounters for me included:
This white-tailed deer along the Sudbury River...
This northern water snake on the Nashua River...
This mink on the Sudbury River...
Knocked one item off my "Bucket List" this past March by driving my car with boat on the roof across the mouth of Chesapeake Bay via the 17.6 mile long Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel...
With it being a windy day I had some anxiety as to whether vehicles with roof-top cargo like mine would be allowed passage. Only upon reaching the southern tip of the Delmarva Peninsula was I relieved to find no restrictions, and onto the bridge I went praying that my tie-down straps would hold.
As I was driving across I saw a US Navy vessel preparing to enter the bay...
Rather than elevating the bridge to accommodate such vessels, there are, instead, two places where the roadway descends via tunnels beneath the waters of the bay thus allowing sea-going vessels to sail
above them.
2025's trash consisted of the usual mostly plastic suspects with the miniature liquor bottles aka "nips" being the only ones I keep count of. Total "nips" for 2025 was 2,278. By comparison "nip" counts for the past 4 years: 2024 = 1,649; 2023 = 3,553; 2022 = 1,453; 2021 = 1,765
Two of the more unusual pieces of trash to come aboard my vessel:
One was this "BuzzBalls" container...
...which had been repurposed as a fishing bobber. No longer connected by fishing line to the shore it drifted about in Lake Quinsigamond.
The other was this plastic bag stuffed with bubblewrap...
Happy 2026 to all fellow waterway travelers and to those folks whom I had the pleasure of meeting while out and about in my boat!
