How I came to kayak the NFCT in 2009

Written in 2009

My name is Mike Stavola. I was born in Philadelphia 59 years ago in a small part of town on the Delaware River called Fishtown. Coincidentally, but probably not by chance, I’m also a Pisces. My father was a carpenter and cabinet maker and together we built canoes when I was young and he taught me to fish and hunt and respect the land. When I got older I got married, had a family of my own, and was blessed with my first grandchild. Between then and now however my father always remained my best friend. I missed him dearly when he passed away in 1997. That fall I was pleased to climb the Grand Tetons with my current best friends and left one of his prized hand carved duck decoys hidden between boulders on the summit. Over the next 12 years I became passionate with the Adirondacks and Appalachians Mountains of the northeast and have been peak bagging them slowly with my mountaineering partners Bob Homan, Juan Carro, Craig Dombrosky and Jim Morris. I now live in the small South Jersey town of Medford Lakes – the largest community of log homes east of the Mississippi River. Two years ago (2007) I took up kayaking by shear chance since I wanted to fulfill a 40 year old dream to paddle a canoe across South Jersey. So together with Juan Carro, we planned, explored, and cleared 6 ½ miles of the Rancocas Creek and upper Mullica River. We did in fact paddle our kayaks 90 miles from the Delaware River all the way to the Atlantic Ocean. In the process over that summer adventure, we took along over three dozen friends and two dogs. Five people paddled the entire trail. Last year we invited interested parties to join us on a summer long trip down the entire freshwater stretch of the Delaware River (Balls Eddy, NY to Trenton, NJ). When I first read about the Northern Forest Canoe Trail, I was fascinated by its history and it just naturally became my next challenge to be attempted. However, I never planned or dreamed of paddling it in one continuous thru-paddle.