July 10, 2015 Allagash Lake to Tramway to Lost Spring Campsite

I was up at 2AM and again at 4AM. I am convinced that salty camp food is directly related to how often I get up at night regardless of my state of hydration. Up again at 5:45 and started the coffee. I woke my youngest up so he could get in some early morning fishing. We came back for coffee and decided to try our luck in the canoe. We were back into camp by 7 to make egg and cheese and bacon sandwiches. As always we did our dishes and packed before cleaning the campsite. We hit were out on the water about 9:30. We bumped, dragged, and scraped our way down Allagash stream. My father and oldest son had to line their old fiberglass canoe at one point. My youngest and I were able to push and prod the Tripper. It was hot and sunny. We fished a bit in the pond before Little Allagash Falls. We portaged river left half of the way and stopped for lunch of PBJ and bananas. I managed to find the spring but it was pretty dirty. Many times on this trip I wished I had a pair of small binoculars so I could better see the wildlife. I resigned myself to just enjoy the peace of the river as we worked along about a quarter mile where we had to go over a ledge on river right after a small island. About .4 miles after the portage we had to line over a ledge. At the bridge, I poled the tripper down a quick drop and we lined the old fiberglass barge through the same. The kids found a massive fish skeleton here. With quick water and a tailwind we quickly made it down to the tramway. Rounding the point we headed for Tramway Carry. We changed course around gull rock to the right and saw a massive bull moose. The GPS coordinates from the NFCT map took us right to the tramway. It was very interesting to revisit the locomotives from this side. Gramp was able to find the geocache with the kids who climbed all over the locomotives again. The bugs were eating us alive so hurried back to the tramway and the canoes. We pulled out about 6pm and stopped into Crowes Nest at 6:30 and Lost Spring at 6:45 having a very good tailwind. I really wished my GPS had campsite waypoints loaded into it. My oldest son and father set up tents and hammocks while I got dinner cooking. We boiled lake water for 10 minutes and then cooked the noodles in it.  By this point we're rationing our water and there is NO SPRING at Lost Spring site. I believe we found where it used to be. We plan to boil our water and then filter it in the morning. We made Boy Scout noodles and it was just delicious. It consisted of two beef patties, a can of cream of mushroom soup,  a can of tomato soup, fat ribbon noodles, and a bunch of cheddar cheese on top. After dinner, the boys fished. They brought in some massive white fish (20+ inches was the biggest). We set up the tarp and did the dishes. It was getting really dark and everyone hit the sack. I tended the fire and boiled a bunch of water and wrote in the journal and checked out the guide books.