is it possible? eight rivers: first attempt to canoe across RI
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Trio Will Attempt to be First to Canoe Across R.I.
By ecoRI News staff Sunday, June 8, 2014
This July a trio of experienced canoeists will attempt become the first to canoe across Rhode Island, north to south, using a primarily inland route. Their journey will start in North Smithfield, and they will paddle and portage their way on a meandering route that will take them through 17 of the state’s 39 cities and towns, ending in Westerly.
North Scituate resident Chuck Horbert, seen here paddling the Pawcatuck River, will be joined by Jim Cole of Charlestown and Bill Luther of Seekonk, Mass., next month, when the trio attempts to canoe across the Ocean State. (Photo courtesy of Chuck Horbert)
Their route will take them along eight different rivers, as well as a portion of upper Narragansett Bay. An attempt to do the same trip was thwarted last year by floods associated with the arrival of tropical storm Andrea last June.
The idea was hatched three years ago by Chuck Horbert, 46, of North Scituate.
“While paddling down the Blackstone River, I jokingly asked a bystander how far I had to go to reach Westerly,” Horbert said. “It was a crazy question intended only to get a laugh, but I then thought to myself: Was it possible?”
He pulled out some maps, consulted Google Earth photos, and found that it was. Since then, he has been researching the details, such as identifying portage routes around obstacles such as dams, and scouting out potential campsites.
Early on in the planning, Horbert started pitching the trip to friends, hoping to find at least one or two other canoeists skilled and crazy enough to accompany him on this expedition.
Horbert has managed to entice Jim Cole, 67, of Charlestown (who was also part of the team last year) and Bill Luther, 62 of Seekonk, Mass., to join him. Cole is an American Canoe Association certified canoe instructor, and author of “Paddling Connecticut and Rhode Island” — a paddling guidebook published in 2009.
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CAPTION: North Smithfield, adjacent to Woonsocket at the top of the map, is the start. Westerly is on the southwestern coast at the bottom.
Luther has more than 30 years of canoeing experience, paddling rivers and lakes all over the country. All three are members and former presidents of the Rhode Island Canoe & Kayak Association.
During the past six years the trio, along with other canoeists, has been paddling sections of the Northern Forest Canoe Trail, a 740-mile-long water trail stretching from Old Forge, N.Y., to Fort Kent, Maine.
“It was this experience that gave me the confidence to make this attempt to paddle across Rhode Island,” Horbert said.
Having realized the potential to use the trip to advocate for improved river access, Horbert brought a proposal before his fellow board members at the Rhode Island Blueways Alliance to develop and coordinate a number of events along the route to highlight the many new paddler access projects created by various municipalities and watershed groups.
The original short list of events has since morphed into multiple programs, ranging from educational presentations with youth groups to a major event intended to highlight the potential designation of a National Park along the Blackstone River.
“This canoe trip, and the planned interaction with so many cities, towns and watershed groups, seemed a perfect way to promote our goals to develop water trails throughout the state and to promote recreation and economic development by reconnecting communities with the rivers that flow through them,” said Keith Gonsalves, president of the Rhode Island Blueways Alliance.
The trio, with one or two other canoeists who will accompany them for a short segment of the trip, will meet in North Smithfield (adjacent to Woonsocket at top of the map) at the state border, and head down the Blackstone River. They hope to reach Cumberland on the first day.
They will camp each night of the trip at pre-selected sites for which they have obtained landowner permission. They will practice leave-no-trace camping principles, leaving all campsites in as good or better condition than when they arrived. All but one planned campsites are on publicly owned land.
The most difficult segment of the trip will likely be an upstream paddle on the Pawtuxet River watershed over two days, from Pawtuxet Cove to the Big River Management Area.
“This will present a significant challenge, especially if the water levels are high, but I think we’re up to it,” said Cole, who grew up along the Pawtuxet River.
One segment of the South Branch of the Pawtuxet River, which features seven different dams in a short stretch of river, will be bypassed by walking along the Washington Secondary Bike Path. The longest portage, 9.5 miles, will bring the canoeists out of the Pawtuxet River watershed into the Wood-Pawcatuck River watershed, mostly via state highway. Folding canoe carts will be used to assist in this and other portages.
On Sunday, July 13, if all goes as planned, a tired group of canoeists will be pulling onto a public boat ramp on Little Narragansett Bay, having reached Westerly.
Updates on the planning for the trip, and during the trip itself, can be viewed by going to and liking a Facebook page created for the trip.