Northampton native Eva Gerstle isn’t one to shy away from long outdoor excursions – four years ago, a then 19-year-old Gerstle completed a five-month solo thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail, covering more than 2,000 miles. 

Recently, Gerstle had the itch to embark on another big trip – canoe the entire length of the Connecticut River. Sounds daunting to most, but to Gerstle, her desire to sail the Connecticut River’s waters was very personal. 

“I grew up in Northampton, like right on the river, and I grew up with a relationship to the river… I grew up swimming in it, boating on it, canoeing mostly, some kayaking. The river was very much… part of my childhood ethos,” Gerstle said. “And as I got older, I feel like my relationship with the river just kept growing.” 

Gerstle got a taste of a long-distance trek on the river in 2020, when she canoed nearly 100 miles with a friend. That lit a fire for her, and she added the idea of canoeing the entire length of the river to her bucket list. While hiking with her friend Anya Steele this past February – the two met while working as caretakers for the Green Mountain Club – Gerstle threw out the idea of canoeing the Connecticut River. Would Anya be interested in joining her on the trip?

Steele didn’t need any time to make a decision – they immediately agreed, and the two started planning. 

“I hadn't really considered doing a thru-paddle of a river, source to sea. But it was just such an exciting and an intriguing idea, and I was really inspired by Eva's passion for the river and for embarking on this journey,” Steele said. “I had to say yes.”

Steele grew up on the water, but was more of a kayaker than a canoer – they lived in southern coastal Maine growing up, and were more likely to be found in a kayak on the ocean than a canoe on the river. But Gerstle’s passion and knowledge was enough to convince Steele.

Most of the planning of the trip consisted of looking at maps of the river and figuring out how many portages they’d have to do. Canoeing the entire river meant they’d inevitably run into dams, and would have to carry their canoe and any gear they had from one point to another to navigate impassable parts of the river. They used an app called Far Out, which has a number of maps for long-distance treks, to plan where they’d need to stop, relying on comments from other paddlers who’d made the trip before them.

They gathered up their gear, most of it similar to what they’d use for a long-distance hiking trip, and Gerstle borrowed a canoe with some sentimental value from her parents, a Wenonah Royalex. The pair didn’t have a specific timeline set in stone, but they both had summer jobs that started three weeks from their start date, so they had an end date they’d need to finish by – or at least get as far as they could. 

The two set off on May 23, starting at the headwaters of the river at Fourth Water Lake near the New Hampshire and Canadian borders, more bog than lake. Their trip ended up taking 18 days, with the pair averaging just over 22 miles a day. 

“I'd never paddled so consistently for so long before. Canoe camping, as I've done it in the past, has always been a more casual form of backcountry experience than what I've done with hiking or even backpacking, so this was definitely more intense because we had miles to do,” Gerstle said. “The beautiful thing about paddling in May and June is that we have a lot of daylight. So we were in the boat for pretty long periods of time…. we had a few really long days.”

Those long days clocked in at about 12-13 hours during their trip, most often when they had to portage around dams. There were a couple that were particularly arduous – the pair used a canoe cart to help quicken the trips, but in one of the earlier portages, the road they wheeled the cart on was so hot that the wheels began melting into the pavement. It wasn’t until they called a friend who they borrowed the cart from that they realized what had happened.

But besides the difficult portaging days, the two enjoyed the long outings they spent on the water. Steele mentioned how enjoyable it was to get to know Gerstle better, and Gerstle heartily agreed. They would post up overnight at different camping sites along the river, and frequently go into towns to stock up on food and water along the way, where they’d interact with locals who had plenty of stories to share about the river.

“It was nice to stop in these towns and talk to folks who live there and kind of get a glimpse into these little towns along the Connecticut River,” Steele said. “We learned a lot about how people are connected with the river in various ways.”

The final day the two spent on the water was both one of the most difficult and also one of the most rewarding. As they got closer to the Long Island Sound, which would mark the end of their trip, Steele noted it felt more like they were paddling on the ocean than a river. Gerstle agreed, and noted how that change marked a full-circle moment. 

“It felt very exhilarating. There's quite a few bits of whitewater on the Connecticut, but they're mostly really close to the source. We hit pretty much all of the whitewater on the Connecticut in the first two, three days after the headwater lakes,” Gerstle said. “So it was fun at the end, it sort of felt like we were ending the way we began.” 

The two didn’t have much time to reflect on their trip before whisking away to their separate summer jobs, but the friends will remember this trip for years to come. For Steele, it forged a connection with the river they didn’t have before. For Gerstle, it was a reminder of why she loves the river so much in the first place.

“I think it's something I'll probably keep carrying with me throughout the rest of the summer and fall and just be thinking about as I continue interacting with this river,” Gerstle said. “It's cool to just feel like ‘oh yeah, there she is. She's still here, right?’ We finished, but the river isn’t going anywhere.” 

Hannah Bevis can be reached at hbevis@gazettenet.com. Follow her on Twitter @Hannah_Bevis1.]]>