As he paddled his 16-foot red Old Town Penobscot canoe up the Allegheny River in mid-2021, Neal Moore might have passed our cabin eight miles north of Tidioute.

If I had been at the place at the time, I might have waved to him as he passed, or even might have exchanged pleasantries with him if I had encountered him while out on the river in my own canoe.

If either had been the case, I would have been mystified by the sight of a weathered 50-year-old man making his way upstream in a laden canoe that was probably weathered-looking as well.

But I’m not sure just how Moore reached Lake Erie from the Allegheny and he could have left the river well south of our cabin as he continued on his journey to New York City.

He did not respond to a query on just how he traveled from the river to Lake which I posed to him on his website.

When he paddled up the Allegheny from the Ohio River, Moore, as a story in the New York Times by Corey Kilgannon recently revealed, was on the last legs of an epic, almost two-year journey he started on the Columbia River in Oregon on Feb. 9, 2020, during which he covered 7,500 miles.

An average day’s travel for him was 20 miles.

Although he is many years younger than I, his journey still impressed me immensely, since just a two-mile canoe trip upstream from our cabin (which does involve some wading and canoe pulling) and back downstream leaves me rather weary.

Moore ended his trek at the Statue of Liberty in New York on December 14. In 22 months, he had canoed 7,500 miles, and visited 22 states

He did spend a month in Demopolis, Ala., on the Tombigbee River due to flooding and tornadoes.

He camped along shorelines and ate at restaurants at towns he passed when he could.

After leaving Colombia, he paddled the Snake River for five days. He then proceeded through Idaho and Montana to the Continental Divide which he crossed by using a set of attachable wheels he carried for transporting the canoe along the side of the road when waterways did not connect or proved unnavigable.

He then headed down the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers to the Gulf of Mexico, paddled east along the Gulf’s shore, (where his canoe was nudged by a shark) and by early 2021 was headed back north. He paddled up various rivers to the Ohio before entering the Allegheny at Pittsburgh.

His long trip up the Allegheny must have been an arduous one.

This portion of his trip sounds like a monumental challenge by itself, and I haven’t heard of anyone making this upstream passage since the days of the early explorers

Once he entered Lake Erie, rough waters caused him to capsize once on his way to entering the Erie Canal at Buffalo.

He crossed New York State to the Hudson River at Albany on canal, but was forced to pull the canoe along the canal for part of his trip across the state when the canal was temporarily closed (The canal’s locks would not have been operating.)

My canoe trips over the years have been numerous and varied, but I never would have dreamed of attempting anything along the scale of the trek taken by Moore.

I have paddled the Allegheny in various segments from the Kinzua Dam to Tionesta, and enjoy frequent short jaunts both upstream and downstream (river conditions permitting) from our cabin at Althom.

My wife, Judith, has been my companion on many of these trips, but age is now curtailing her canoeing, as it is mine.

I Have also enjoyed canoe trips in the Erie area.

One of my favorites of these has been to launch at the marina on Presque Isle State Park and then enter the park’s lagoons, following these scenic waterways to Misery Bay. There I enter Presque Isle Bay and then paddle west along the park’s shore back to the marina.

I have also paddled along the shore of Lake Erie from the mouth of Walnut Creek to the park’s first stretch of beach. (I made this trip on a day when the lake was choppy. I would like to try it again on a very calm day, paddling close to the scenic beach area with its numerous cottages.)

I once paddled (and rowed) my canoe around the state park, entering the bay at the eastern tip of the park through the shipping channel.

However, it rained heavily during the last half of this trip, and I often had to stop along the shore to empty the canoe by tipping it partially over.

This ordeal proved too much for my physical system, and I ran a low fever for a couple of days thereafter as my body apparently fought off a respiratory infection.

I should have checked the weather forecast prior to this trip!

Robert Stanger has lived seasonally for over 40 years along the Allegheny River and has the stories to tell about it.