LINCOLN COUNTY NEWS • September 20, 2021
Name a river in Maine, and odds are that Newcastle’s Zip Kellogg can tell you how to navigate it. A retired librarian with a tireless passion for exploration, Kellogg knows his state in a way that few people do. The legend of Zip Kellogg is rooted in the annual Kenduskeag Stream Canoe Race. Kellogg, who has participated nearly every year since the race’s inception, is known for descending the race’s most notorious stretch, Six-Mile Falls, while standing in his canoe clad in white dress clothes and a dapper red bow-tie. There are 31,806 miles of waterways in Maine. Kellogg admits that, after 50 years, it takes effort to find those he hasn’t paddled. In the 1980s, he wrote a series of canoe guides for the DeLorme Mapping Company. Kellogg’s passion for maps, stories, and exploration led him to his career at the Library of Congress. Then, over 30 years was spent at the University of Southern Maine’s Glickman Library in Portland. Kellogg’s advice for those who are interested in canoeing is to find people who love it and learn from them.