Here’s a fun way to while away a few winter evenings by the fire. Get out your map of North America and follow Matt and Lucie Clairborne’s guide to the Great Loop and all the alternative routes that go with it.
Most Loopers take about a year to 15 months to make the full. traditional Great Loop and that is an adventure in itself. But, if you have the time and inclination, that year can easily be expanded to two or three or more.
As most readers know, the 6,000-mile long Great Loop circles the eastern third of North America and takes you through more than a dozen states and into Canada.
Here’s a sample scenario. Starting in the Chesapeake Bay in spring, say, you’ll head north to New York and steam up the Hudson River to the Erie Canal. The traditional route takes you into the Great Lakes for the summer before you head south as the leaves turn on the Mississippi River or the Tombigbee River headed for the Gulf Coast. You should get to the salt water by Thanksgiving or so and then have the winter in Florida.
From there you head back north in the spring and close your circle in The Chesapeake. Of course, you can start and finish anywhere along the loop and in whatever season will provide you with the best weather along the way.
But that’s only the most basic Great Loop adventure. As you head north in spring, let’s say, you could opt to go North on the Hudson River to Lake Champlain and the St. Lawrence Seaway. Once there, you could spend all summer cruising what is called the Downeast Loop which takes you east and around the Canadian Maritimes and back to New York City.
And, as you get to Florida in the fall, you could spend a few months exploring the Florida Loop or head across to the Bahamas and make a circle of that beautiful country.
The options are innumerable and well worth dreaming about. Put another log on the fire, pour a glass of wine and have fun.
