Great Loop Lifestyle -Paducah, KY

For many Loopers—both those planning and those already underway—the Great Loop is often thought of as a single 6,000-mile route through a connected system of waterways across the eastern United States. It links the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, the Great Lakes, inland rivers, and the Gulf of Mexico. It doesn’t take long, however, to realize that the Loop is far from a single fixed path. In fact, there are numerous alternate routes within the Loop itself. This flexibility is one of the reasons many Gold Loopers continue cruising in pursuit of the Platinum Burgee—they discover there are far more ways to complete the Loop than they originally imagined.

Greetings, Loopers! As you cruise north along the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (AICW), an unforgettable culinary journey awaits—one delicious bite at a time along the East Coast.

We recommend creating at least a ballpark budget as early in the planning process as possible. For most future Loopers, one big question looms: Can we actually afford to do the Great Loop? Understanding the potential costs upfront helps answer that question and shapes many of the decisions that follow.

A couple of years ago, we created a planning guide email tip series to help take some of the mystery out of “Where do I start?” when planning your own Great Loop adventure. We’ve decided to share the series in the next ten issues of Great Loop Link because (even if we do say so ourselves!) it’s great information.