For the past 10 years, the Androscoggin River Source-to-Sea Canoe Trek has been one of the summer's premier paddling events. Intended to spread the word about the river's remarkable renaissance from its polluted past and to promote recreational use, this year's edition has been downsized to four days and morphed into one of those "A-Thon" fund-raising events. It is the chief public face of the Androscoggin River Watershed Council.

Jon Luoma's beautiful artwork for the Androscoggin River Source-to-Sea Canoe Trek posters and tee shirts is one of the event's signature visuals.

Returning for 2006 is the raffle to win a new kayak from Lincoln Canoe & Kayak, the Freeport manufacturer and retailer that has long been a mainstay sponsor of the Trek.

I was among the 46 canoeists and kayakers who pushed off from Mexico on Saturday and paddled about 10 miles downriver to Dixfield. Along the way we had several eagle sightings and passed a few fishermen. Weather was hot and humid and quite a few of us swam in the river.

A few of the 46 canoeists and kayakers who paddled on Saturday, with the NewPage paper mill in the background.
ALL PHOTOS SCOTT ANDREWS

Paddling past an island through a side channel.

Fran Dragoon and Deano Gilbert, representing the Pulp & Paperworkers Resource Council, have been mainstays of the Trek for many years.

We stopped near the Webb River in Dixfield, where NewPage paper company, a Trek sponsor, provided box lunches to all participants. NewPage employs about 1,000 people -- not counting suppliers and contractors -- at its Rumford Mill. Its primary product is fine coated printing papers for a variety of markets. It has been a mainstay of the western Maine economy for more than a century.

Two mill employees, Fran Dragoon and Deano Gilbert, demonstrated how paper is made, and kids got a chance to make a sheet of their own. Fran and Deano have represented the Pulp & Paperworkers Resource Council on the Trek for many years. The purpose of the PPRC is to seek a happy balance between the region's environmental health and its economic well-being.

Kayakers were a minority on Saturday, but they were definitely in high spirits!

The 2006 Androscoggin River Trek-a-Thon concludes Satuday, July 22 on the section known as Gulf Island Pond, a large impoundment created in the 1920s by the construction of a major hydro-power dam north of Lewiston-Auburn. Because of its lack of shoreline development, it's central Maine's largest "wild" lake. I will be among the participants who will meet at Center Bridge boat launch in Turner.

To partipate, check out the ARWC's website or call coordinator Dave Govatski at 603-586-7776 or email him at pondicherry@wildblue.net.

E-mail this entry to a friend