We begin by traveling to the Maine Local Living School where we will harvest and carve our own poles for upstream canoe travel.  While on the homestead we will harvest and preserve food, use the solar dehydrator, and process acorns into flour for our expedition to the cultural heart of the Penobscot Nation.  Departing the homestead, we begin our travel with rocky, shallow, technical upstream paddling and poling. Our journey follows an ancient canoe route used by Wabanaki tribes to connect the Penobscot and Kennebec River watersheds. We face challenging navigation through the thin headwaters of two rivers, and encounter abundant wild foods, giant turtles, friction fire, and the same difficult portages that have been done for thousands of years. As one river meets another, we find our way to the Penobscot River where we will join Penobscot tribal members on Sugar Island. The next several days are filled with learning about tribal history and world views, contemporary issues facing the Penobscot Nation, and what it means to be Penobscot in 2025. With deeper understanding and even more questions, we depart once more: downstream this time, following the largest river in Maine to the salty sea.