Powered by paddle and peddle, canoeist completes Portland-to-Portland journey

Cross-country paddler completes 4,300-mile trip

PORTLAND, Maine — An extreme paddler who launched a cross-country canoe trip in Portland, Ore., has completed the journey 4,300 miles later in Portland, Maine.

Alexander Martin paddled the final stretch down the Presumpscot River Friday and arrived at Portland’s East End Beach, where family waited.

The 24-year-old from Kensington, Conn., completed the trip in three two-month segments starting in April 2009. He says it included using a bicycle to haul the canoe 800 miles over land to cover parts of the country that aren’t connected by water.

And he’s thinking about his next waterborne adventure, possibly Siberia’s Lena River. He says it’s described as one of the longest rivers in the world that’s not obstructed by dams.

Chris Stec of the American Canoe Association says it’s unclear if Martin’s feat represented a record because there are no comprehensive records for cross-country paddles.