Participants should be ready for 4-6 hours of canoeing each of our five days on the river, plus the camp chores involved with breaking down and setting up camp. Participants are invited to join in camp chores as much (or as little!) as they desire. Participants should be ready to sleep in tents and eat at picnic tables or on their laps. Days begin early, and involve moving camp each day, pulling into each night's site around mid-afternoon.

No additional or special physical conditioning is required, and no prior camping or canoeing experience is expected or needed, but participants must be able to get safely into and out of a canoe.

Canoe trips in Maine in September have highly variable weather.  Highs range from 50 to 70 degrees with lows between 30 and 50. Below is a packing list to use as a checklist; do not bring extra stuff! All of your gear, including your sleeping bag, need to fit into one large dry bag, plus one small dry bag that will serve as your day pack for items like your hat, rain gear, sunscreen, camera, etc. To start, we suggest packing in two bags: a small, overnight bag for our hotel nights in Orono before and after the canoe trip, and a large duffel or suitcase with all of your canoeing gear in it. You do not need to bring your own sleeping bags, sleeping pads, or dry bags, as they are included in the trip.

• A small, separate overnight bag for our two travel days and two nights in the hotel in Orono
  • 2 pairs of “regular clothes” for travel days
  • Sneakers or other travel shoes
  • Anything else you need for our hotel overnights
• Personal Clothing
  • 1 wool or pile (fleece) hat
  • 1 hat with visor, like a baseball cap
  • 1 unlined nylon windbreaker jacket 
  • 1 pile jacket, wool jacket, or heavyweight wool sweater
  • 1 lightweight wool or fleece sweater
  • Fully waterproof raingear, top and bottom
  • 1-2 cotton shirts (long sleeved and lightweight)
  • 2 pairs of long pants (loose fitting and quick-drying, not jeans or corduroys)
  • 1 pair long underwear (tops and bottom, polypropylene or wool)
  • 1 pair wool or fleece pants
  • 1 pair shorts
  • 1 bathing suit
  • 2 t-shirts
  • 2-4 sets of underwear
  • 3-6 pairs of wool socks
  • 1 bandana
  • 1 pair wool or polypropylene gloves
  • 1 wool or felt hat with brim
• For Your Feet
  • 1 pair of waterproof rubber boots at least 16 inches high
  • 1 pair of camp shoes or boots
• Personal Equipment
  • 1 pair of sunglasses
  • 1 chapstick
  • 1 tube of sunscreen
  • 1 flashlight or headlamp with extra batteries
  • 1 pocketknife
  • Toothbrush and paste
  • Water bottle
• Optional Items
  • 1 small towel
  • 1 bottle of insect repellent
  • Tampons or pads as needed
  • Fishing gear (artificial lures only)
  • Camera, binoculars
  • Any necessary medications
  • Reading material (1 small book)

Transportation: We will travel to and from Orono, Maine in NBNC’s comfortable 15-passenger van. From there, we will travel to and from the river in the Mahoosuc Guide Service’s vehicles. On the water, we will travel in traditional wood canvas canoes. 

Accommodations: We’ll spend the first and last nights at a hotel in Orono. The nights in between will be spent on the river in nylon tents, with 4-person-sized tents for couples and 2-person tents for individual guests. Our last night, we will return for a night at the hotel in Orono.

Food: On our two travel days, North Branch Nature Center will cover sandwiches for lunch, dinner and breakfast at local restaurants in Orono, and travel snacks. On the river, we’ll be treated to excellent open fire cooking and baking and will be very well fed. We will provide ample opportunity for guests to share information about any dietary restrictions.

Naomi Heindel is the Executive Director of North Branch Nature Center and has guided canoe trips in Maine, New Brunswick, Quebec, and Labrador, as well as other wilderness trips such as winter camping and backpacking, for more than two decades. Naomi holds a Wilderness First Responder certification and a Swift Water Rescue certification. Naomi first paddled in Maine as an 11-year old camper, and became hooked on canoe trips through the boreal forest. When not in the NBNC office, Naomi enjoys exploring the woods and waters of central Vermont with her husband and two young children. 

Polly Mahoney is a recipient of the Legendary Maine Guide award from the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. Polly is also a dog musher, Wilderness First Responder, and one of the 2021 MaineBiz “Women to Watch.” She runs Mahoosuc Guide Service, one of Maine’s preeminent canoe, dog sled, and fly fishing guiding services. 

We will also be joined by one of the Penobscot guides that works for Mahoosuc Guide Service.

What’s included

• All meals, starting with lunch on Day 1 and ending with lunch on Day 7.
• All lodging, including hotels in Orono, ME before and after the canoe trip.
• One NBNC staff guide, who knows the region and wilderness canoeing well.
• Two expert guides, including one Mahoosuc Guide Service owner and one Penobscot guide.
• All transportation between Montpelier (or points enroute) and Maine.
• All canoes, tents, sleeping bags, sleeping pads, dry bags, and cooking and camping gear, excluding personal items.
• A pre-departure virtual orientation session, including help with understanding and finding the items on the gear list.
• A selection of resources to read or watch ahead of time, for those who choose.

What’s not included

• Incidentals on travel days.
• Travel to and from Montpelier (participants living enroute to Maine may opt to be picked up along the way).
• Gratuities.

NBNC is proud to announce that all of our trips from 2025 onward are 100% carbon-neutral. This includes each traveler's flights to and from this destination, as well as carbon emitted during the trip.

How it Works: The voluntary carbon market has come under intense scrutiny in recent years as the legitimacy and effectiveness of many carbon offsetting projects have been called into question. That's why we're proud to be working directly with the Northeast Wilderness Trust's Wild Carbon program. The carbon credits we purchase to offset our carbon emissions are used to permanently conserve forestland as wilderness. Why wilderness offsets?

• It's Permanent: Unlike most contracts in the voluntary carbon market that have a lifespan of just 10-20 years, wilderness conservation is forever. 
• It's Additive: Acreage purchased and conserved through wild carbon offsets would not be protected anyway through another mechanism later.
• It's "Leakproof:" Forest protection often just shifts and concentrates timber harvest elsewhere. But wilderness conservation is different–wilderness protection here doesn't just move carbon emission over there. That's because old forests function very differently than young ones. Big trees and old soils capture and store vastly more carbon than a young forest of the same acreage. Growing an old forest is like building a natural carbon sequestration factory!
• It's More than Carbon: With wilderness protection comes additional co-benefits like biodiversity conservation, flood resilience, and habitat connectivity. This way, going carbon-neutral isn't just negating our carbon footprint, it's also actively helping conservation in other ways.

Want to learn more?: 

• Read The Ecotourism Dilemma our article on how we think about carbon emissions in the context of nature travel.
• Check out this FAQ for NBNC travelers about Northeast Wilderness Trust's Wild Carbon Program.
• To learn more about forest carbon storage, please watch Understanding Forest Carbon by climate forester Dr. Ali Kosiba.

• Please see our COVID-19 page for NBNC's full policies surrounding COVID and other illnesses.
• All participants and instructors will be required to affirm negative test results from a self-administered Covid-19 rapid antigen test taken prior to arrival on the first day of the program.
• Participants on NBNC’s Adventures Afar and multi-night overnight trips must be comfortable with the possibility that someone on the trip may contract Covid-19 (or other contagious illnesses) during the trip, even if they test negative on the first day as required. NBNC will attempt to limit exposure and isolate any such participant, which could include that participant incurring additional expenses such as hotel rooms, meals, or transportation, and missing out on group activities. However, isolation may not be possible at all times on all trips, so all participants should be aware that circumstances may require that a participant with Covid-19 continue to travel with the group.
• Participants experiencing respiratory symptoms will be required to wear a mask at all times when around other travelers.
• Failure to comply with the health and safety instructions of the trip guides will result in dismissal from the trip.
• NBNC encourages all Adventures Afar participants to be honest and transparent about their symptoms, for the sake of their health and the health of those they are traveling with.
• NBNC encourages all Adventures Afar participants to secure individual travel insurance.

Ready to go paddling? If you are interested, please email [email protected] to sign up!

Payment Schedule

• A $500 deposit is required to reserve your space on the trip.
• 50% of the trip balance will be due 6 months before the departure date.
• The remaining trip balance will be due 3 months before the departure date.

All payments can be made via check to: North Branch Nature Center, 713 Elm Street, Montpelier, VT 05602

Cancellation Policies

We understand that incidents and emergencies arise that may force you to cancel your trip. However, NBNC invests considerable time and, in many cases, non-refundable payments to lodges and local contractors to secure our rooms and programming. NBNC aims to be as flexible as possible in our refund policy, but a full refund of your payments may not be possible after the dates indicated. All cancellations must be made via email to NBNC.

• Cancellation more than 180 days before the trip: Full refund of all payments.

• Cancellation 90-180 days before the trip: Refund of any payments minus the $500 deposit. If your space is filled by another traveler, we will also refund your deposit.

• Cancellation 30-90 days before the trip: No refund guaranteed. If your space is filled by another traveler, we will provide a full refund minus the $500 deposit.

• Cancellation less than 30 days before the trip: No refunds guaranteed.