The Missing Boater

Dick Conant spent years of his life crisscrossing America by canoe, like a Mark Twain character. On land, he worked a variety of jobs and was often homeless, but paddling on a river, he was king. By chance, on a voyage which began near the Canadian border, on his way to Florida, Conant met Ben McGrath, a New Yorker staff writer, outside McGrath’s home on the Hudson River. McGrath’s piece about Conant appears in the December 14, 2015, issue of The New Yorker; here, he tells the story of a troubled man who found refuge in adventure.

See the rest of the story at newyorker.com