2015 Hike to Baxter State Park

August 10, 2015 Home to Wilderness Edge Campground in Millinocket

Up early and packed for the hike. Left mid afternoon to make it to Millinocket at 6PM. We bought Subway and sat in the McDonald’s parking lot to use Wi-Fi. We stayed in tent site 49 for $10 at Wilderness Edge Campground because it was close to the bath house but not too close. We took our showers and got a flint and steel campfire started. We checked the gear and were ready for bed at 8:15.

August 11, 2015 Wilderness Edge Campground to Russell Pond Shelters

We packed and checked our gear and put packs in the car. After a quick shower, we headed to McDonalds for a quick breakfast and a trip to Hannaford for last minute essentials: trash bags and bug spray. We headed to the gate at Baxter State Park and made a rest stop at the Rum Brook Campsite on the way in. We parked at Roaring Brook and hit the trail at 8:50AM. The Russell Brook Trail was fairly flat. We were able to use the rocks at the first river crossing and soon stopped for a quick exploration under a giant overhanging rock. At the second river crossing, we were able to go upstream a little and cross on rocks but still managed to get our feet a little wet. Just as 7 miles started to feel like a long way, we arrived at Russell Brook campsite at 12 noon. The ranger was out so we couldn’t check in. We ate PBJ bagels with banana and took a 90-minute nap in our lean to. Sometime during the nap, it had started to rain.

We filtered and UV treated the water from the pond, sorted out our food items, and played half a game of cribbage. We met the folks in the shelter next to us from Springfield, MA. We made chicken tacos (in soft burrito wraps) for dinner and then did the dishes. We took advantage of a bear pole and hung up our food items for the night in a trash bag. We finished the game of cribbage and brushed our teeth. My youngest son who had been fiddling with his cell phone, somehow managed to get a couple text messages out to his girlfriend.

August 12, 2015 Russell Pond Shelters to Davis Pond Shelter

Up at 6AM and my oldest used the stove to boil hot water for instant oatmeal. We went to purify water and the UV treatment has already stopped working giving us a red blinking light. It is a good thing we have the filter and enough fuel to boil our water. I will return the UV Treatment to LL Bean and wait for a better design. We packed up and hit the trail.

Once we crossed Annis Brook, we found a bunch of cool iron relics from the past when this part of the world was a town before time moved on. Now we were in the wilderness and would likely not see anyone all day. We were walking up what seemed to be an old road or railroad bed. There were lots of fir trees and a gentle grade until we came to a river crossing.

We took our time and tried to pile rocks before giving up and taking off our boots. My oldest shuttled all the packs across the river jumping rock to rock while my youngest and I picked our way through the rushing river.

We left the river at 10:15 and headed up a much steeper grade. The boys kept fantasizing about riding the natural water slides. As we came into views of Lake Cowles, mother nature was urgently calling my youngest and he literally was running for the shelter and the outhouse. I went to get water for lunch and slipped, completely soaking my right boot. I set my boot out to dry while my oldest boiled water for rice. My oldest and I ate rice and cheese tacos for lunch. My youngest ate another PBJ and banana bagel. We napped at 1PM only to have my youngest wake us up at 1:45. We played cards until my oldest won 4 hands of Crazy 8s in a row. A lot of our gear was damp, so we hang it up around the shelter. We went exploring and I made it to the top of the hill in the middle of the lake under the cliff walls. What an amazing place.

We sorted through our food and saved 5 power bars, 6 breakfast bars, a bag of bacon noodles, plus a breakfast and a lunch bag. We decided to feast on the rest and cooked and ate the remaining 3 bags of cheesy noodles with broccoli, 1 can of chicken, 1 tomato, and a bag of cheesy noodles with bacon.  We even followed that up by splitting a power bar for dessert. We had to take turns eating since I only brought one pot and no plates.

First, the bag of cheesy noodles with bacon went to my youngest. Second, my oldest ate the first bag of cheesy noodles with broccoli. Third, it was my turn to eat a bag of cheesy noodles with broccoli. It was so good, my oldest had a second bag of cheesy noodles with broccoli. The chicken and tomato went into leftover burrito wraps to eat with our noodles. We ate very well. We cleaned up and then went up to explore the hill in the middle of the lake. The boys fiddled with their cell phone and thought they got a text message out. The weather is still unsettled, and we watched the clouds as they moved quickly across the sky. Back at camp we got another bottle of water sterilized. The UV Pen works intermittently, and we get a bottle sterilized every hour or so. I boiled a pot of water so we could pour it into our bottles in the morning. We put up a bear bag for the food, more to keep the mice away than the bears. We tucked ourselves in about 8:30. Unfortunately there were too many clouds to see the meteor shower. Besides, we had a long day planned the next day.

August 13, 2015 Davis Pond Shelter to Baxter Peak to Knife Edge

We were up at 5AM to a red squirrel who we called Genghis Khan because he was so full of rage and anger. We refilled the water bottles from the boiled pot and got ready for breakfast. My oldest managed to treat another bottle of water with the UV pen before it failed again. I ate oatmeal first, then my oldest, then my youngest. We washed down our oatmeal plus additional raisins with coffee and cocoa. We packed our gear, put away the ladder and shovel, swept the shelter and the outhouse, and picked up other people’s trash. We were ready to go by 7:20.

Immediately the trail was almost vertical to the tablelands. The fog and clouds came and went teasing us with fantastic views. We pushed on to caribou springs and then on to the saddle. There we net a group from camp Keoka from Keene NH.  They were heading to Russell Pond after having stayed at Chimney Pond the previous night.

We pushed on to the summit and made it to the top about 10:30. There were 20 people there all celebrating completion of the AT. Someone in the group was smoking so we left as soon as possible and headed across the knife edge. After complete isolation the day before, we were shocked at how many people we met. We met a high school girl on the knife edge from Lincoln, ME who was hiking solo on the knife edge in the opposite direction. Once up to Pamola Peak we decided to go down Dudley and worked our way down slowly. We found some rocks to scramble up and got some great pictures. It was after 1 when we finally arrived exhausted at Chimney Pond. It started to sprinkle and we jumped into vacant shelter 4 to eat our lunch. We got going again at 1:15.

We got faster as the trail got better. The girl from the knife edge who was from Lincoln, ME caught up to us and the boys chatted away with her as we went even faster down the trail to Roaring Brook parking lot. We made it out about 2:40 and headed to McDonalds for WIFI and a snack. We fueled up and made it home by 7PM. This was a fantastic trip.

In Review, Things that Worked Well:

Slowing down to a Leisure Itinerary

Cribbage and Cards

Including Plastic Knives in the lunch bags

Reading Trail Descriptions to the Kids the night before

LOTS of Clif Bars

Lots of water

Extra fuel canisters

Extra Noodles

Fresh Bananas and Tomatoes

Cheese

Using my hat for a cozy for the hot cookpot/coffee cup

Wrapping headlamp around thermarest pad

What didn’t work well:

Not easy to share one pot

Need Ropes on Pack tarp

Need metal not plastic sporks

Need metal coffee cup with insulation

Steripen was not reliable

Forgot sour cream

We carried a large can of bug spray and only used it once

We needed a cutting board

The cribbage board is heavy

July 15, 2015 Loon Lodge to Home

Up at 4AM to a heavy downpour on the roof. We were snug, dry, and warm in our bunks in the cabin. That wind from the South yesterday was blowing in the storm. We made coffee and reluctantly packed up. We took hot showers and made another huge breakfast of banana pancakes and bacon.

We did our dishes and cleaned up the cabin. Once we got everything packed in the truck, we got a tour of the lodge and officially checked out. The boys threw a ball for the dog a few more times and we climbed into the truck and got rolling around 11. We all knew this would be an especially tough reentry. We stopped and picked off a few more geocaches on the way out of the North Maine Wilderness.

We met an SUV with some ladies in it at the Telos gate. Though they had left 2 hours before us, they had had a flat tire and had to stop and change it. They were being very careful and slow after that because they only had one spare tire. We followed them slowly to be sure they made it out. I was a bit worried because we hadn’t even checked our spare before we left. Fortunately we had 10 ply tires and didn’t need to find out if the spare was good or not. We stopped for a few geocaches along the way and ate lunch at McDonald's in Millinocket. Home by 7PM.

Though I made it back to Baxter State Park again, regretfully this was my last trip to the Allagash at least for a while. I got a new job that has taken me all over the world. My kids have grown up and headed off to college. I'm escaping a cold winter day 4 years later but typing this journal entry in so that hopefully our trip can help someone else plan an adventure this Summer.

I'm going to reach out to Loon Lodge and make sure they are still helping the adventurous canoe tripper on the Northern Forest Canoe Trail. I can't recommend them enough. Please go and visit them. They are a friendly oasis in the middle of the wilderness and not enough people visit anymore.

July 14, 2015 Canvas Dam Campsite up through Caucomgomoc to Round Pond and Loon Lodge

We slept until 5:45AM and had coffee and oatmeal. We packed up everything and hit the river early at 7:30. There was a nice tailwind that pushed us upstream to the first riffles of the horserace of Caucomgomoc stream. At one point, moving at full speed, a bumble bee cruised past my head buzzed around, and moved on. It seemed effortless for him to cruise a bit faster than 5mph. We began to push and pull the canoes upstream through ever increasing rapids. It was very slow progress and we had hoped to stop for lunch at the dam.

We never saw the horserace campsite. (four years later as this is typed, I notice that horserace campsite is no longer on the map) As a note if you attempt to traverse Caucomgomoc stream wear river shoes with ankle support. Our ankles were all beat up in the water shoes.

We hoped to eat lunch at the campsite or the dam. Eventually, we came to a ledge falls where a portage was necessary. We ate a quick snack and went for a walk to assess the portage. The portage was NOT desirable. We worked together to move the gear 20' and lifted the canoe over that section of ledge. We poled and paddled the remaining stream up to the dam at Caucomgomoc Lake. We didn’t make it to the dam until 2:30.

There was a group of kids swimming in the outflow from the dam. They watched as we landed and carried our gear, and then the canoes, up and over the dam. A quick geocache and we headed out onto Caucomgomoc Lake and into Ciss Stream. The waves were quite defined and there were white caps. We didn't have to paddle as the wind pushed the canoe at 3mph and it was difficult to steer. We were pushed over grass sand bars and it was difficult to stay in the channels. As we progressed, we saw a moose cow and her calf. My son's sail was working great and he was making more than 5mph sometimes. We crossed under a bridge so I knew we were close to round pond. The channel opened up and the waves increased to full white caps. My youngest and I were surfing the canoe and I was catching it on video when my son and Gramp sailed by at high speed. We quickly crossed the pond and arrived at Loon Lodge at 4:30pm. Folks saw us coming and there was a group of folks on the dock admiring the sail as we arrived.

We unloaded and were rewarded for our hard work with popsicles and then a pie. Our hosts were so appreciated by the kids we decided to stay an extra night and head for home the next day. While a huge chicken and stuffing meal cooked on the stove, we took hot showers and cleaned up. I

really thought everyone would pass out asleep but they threw the ball for the dog and played crazy 8s. By 9PM we couldn't keep our eyes open. The cabin was heaven on earth.

July 13, 2015 Thoroughfare to Chesuncook to Canvas Dam Campsite

Woke up at 6 and got the fire going from a coal that was left from last night with birch bark, twigs, and some well placed bad breath. Pancakes, eggs, and bacon for breakfast this morning. We are all set with food for 2 more days. We cooked and ate all of a 1qt container of eggs, half a box of pancake mix, and a whole box of precooked bacon. As were were almost all packed up, a couple of guys showed up from Winterport eager to move into the site. We helped them unpack. In return, they gave my youngest a bunch of flies while we were down to Chamberlain Bridge. My boys discussed the best way to catch a salmon on Chesuncook with Bernie Thibedeau. We unloaded at the bridge and waited for our shuttle. Gramp headed for a geocache a couple miles away inland, the boys napped on the lawn, and I connected to wireless at the ranger station and checked in on the homefront to let them know we were safe.

The guide from Loon Lodge arrived at 11:30 and shuttled us to Umbazooksus West campsite.In addition, he brought us a couple bottles of fresh ice for the cooler. We managed to hit the water again at 1:30 and paddled down to Longley site at 2. It was further down that the map led us to believe and we could actually see Chesuncook from there. It was the messiest campsite we saw on the whole trip and full of trash. After lunch, we decided it would be worth the trip to Chesuncook Lake House for fudge at root beer, even though there was a head wind. We landed at the cemetery point boat launch and walked past the "Freedom Bus" only to find the Chesuncook House store closed. Next time I will call ahead and make sure they know we are coming.

We paddled out with a nice tail wind and wound our way through a dead water. It was hard to find the right channel. One guide book described it as hugging the right shore- which is correct. It is the only shore that doesn't change year to year. There were many dead end deep channels. We arrived at Canas Dam site a little after 5pm. We set up the hammocks and the tarp and I made chicken tacos. We cooked blueberry muffins in the reflector oven for dessert. My youngest son fished a bit and I wrote in the journal. My oldest son did dishes and I calculated distances. We have less than 13 miles back to the lodge. We were all in bed by 9. I had pitched my hammock on a point with a beautiful view of the sunset looking straight down towards Chesuncook. I woke up to a strong wind blowing up from the lake straight to the North. I made sure all the flaps on the hammocks were tight and headed back to bed.

July 12, 2015 Mud Pond to Boy Scout to Thoroughfare Campsite

Last night I got a little damp but slept very well. Sometime in the middle of the night I went to the bathroom and something shifted in my hammock. I went right back to sleep. I woke up at 4AM with cold feet as they stuck out of the hole in the top of the upside down hammock.

Fortunately, I was dry. Unfortunately, no one was awake to help me out and I ripped the fly screen as I wallowed around trying to climb up and out of an upside down hammock because I desperately had to go to the bathroom. Since it was dark and I didn't want to further damage my hammock, I put on a head net and tried to sleep vertically at the picnic table. When that didn't work, I made coffee. The coffee bag broke and I got grounds in the cup. I decided to go fishing and the lure snapped off the line. I decided to go back to the campsite and count myself lucky to have seen the moon and sunrise and the lake was a mirror. Dad was already making berry pancakes. I would have suggested we leave early to cross the big bay while it was a mirror but he was already cooking.

We ate a ton of banana, strawberry, blueberry pancakes and bacon, had seconds, and then packed up camp while doing dishes while we dried tents and tarps in the sun. By the time we left, the wind picked up, and there were huge waves. We paddled over to gravel beach site and tied in all of our gear. We filtered a bunch of water while we waited for the wind and waves to die down. They didn't. My oldest son and Gramp passed rope through his ground cloth to make a sail. We pushed off in what we hoped was a lull and made progress down the shore with the wind.

The sail worked quite well and my oldest son quickly tired of holding it. He kept refining his design. While cruising along with the wind and waves, we met a couple from Washington paddling hard straight into the wind. It looked completely exhausting.

We pulled into Rocky Cove while Gramp and my oldest son literally sailed by. We pulled out to chase them. Fortunately, they pulled into the cove just beyond the cliff and we pulled into the shore and climbed up on the cliff. We could see North up the West Side of the lake and over toward the island with all the seagulls on it. We pulled out and headed South for a lunch place and I noticed a little island where I had lunch in 2006 (the GPS waypoint) but we decided to pull into Ledge Point for lunch. PBJ on English muffins and then we went for a swim. I jumped off the rocks and lost my hat.

We looked for my hat a bit and then sailed down the west shore to Boy Scout and Thoroughfare campsite. We liked Thoroughfare campsite best so we made camp there. We first set up the tarp and then the hammocks and then napped until 4:30. A fox kept pestering us at the campsite. We made a lot of noise and threw things at it. We assumed people had been feeding it. It left so we made dinner.

We fried the frozen mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, and cream corn. It was good enough that we all had seconds. After cleanup we sat by the campfire playing cards, wildlife trivia, and I sorted through gear trying to determine what could be left at the portage the next day. We freed up a crate and 2 coolers. while I wrote in the journal, the fox reappeared. This time we left it alone and it came right into camp near the fire.

It was after the giant pile of bear skat. One mouthful at a time it carried all of the bear skat away. We repaired the rips in the mosquito netting in my hammock with duct tape. Everyone went to bed at 9PM. I packed up a lot of gear in case animals came that night. I punched a bunch of estimated way points in my GPS from the map for tomorrow. We could hear the fox yipping in the distance in the middle of the night. I used a milk jug so didn't have to get up in the middle of the night.

July 11, 2015 Lost Spring to Donnely Point to Mud Pond Carry

Up and started the campfire at 5:30 to put water on to boil. We all agreed the water I boiled last night tasted like smoke and bug spray. So I filled a pot with lake water and used my tube and filter siphon system. It seemed to work very well. Although we tried to get an early start, we didn't get going until 9AM.
I had been fishing and only managed to catch one whitefish on a large lure. My youngest was trolling that lure while we paddled and managed to snag it and snap the line instantly. On a whim, we back paddled and easily found the lure floating on the mirror surface of the lake. There were no other fish caught the rest of the day.
We checked out Ellis Brook campsite which was in a nice secluded cove.  Shady campsite was very remote. We ate our lunch at Donnely Point in the hot sun and contemplated a nice nap but the boys were bickering so we pushed on to Mud Brook. The sun turned to clouds and we quickly set up camp. Just as we finished setting up the tarp, the sun came back out. Gramp and my oldest son napped while my youngest and I looked for a "Jesus Rock" and swam in the warm channel.
While my oldest stayed to fish, my youngest son, Gramp, and I paddled up the channel into the Mud Pond carry. Mud Pond channel is quite a rise over rocks and we paddled up a chute made of rocks. It would have been very difficult in a freighted canoe. The pond was all grown in with thick lily pads and weeds which made paddling difficult. We had a hard time getting to the shore to the carry.  It was much faster going back down the channel.
Back by 7PM, we cooked hotdogs and ate pistachio pudding. The cooler with ice on top and the cubes from Loon Lodge is the clear winner. After dinner, we rolled the canoes over, did the dishes with the boiled water, and played "UNO" with a modified deck of cards. Everyone went to bed and was instantly asleep while I wrote in the journal and watched an invasion of giant Bullfrogs. Just as I was getting ready to finally turn in about 10PM, it started to rain so I went through the camp making sure everyone's gear was under cover and then went to bed to the sound of raindrops on my hammock. Just as I was about to get to sleep, there was a violent thunderstorm and downpour. Despite being a little damp, I went right to sleep.

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.

July 9, 2015 Loon Lodge to Allagash Lake via Johnson Pond

Woke up at 5:30 for my morning potty run. Can you call it roughing it when you can use a flush toilet? The cabin bed called me back and I slept in until 7AM.

I wandered down to the pond and caught an 8" Whitefish and released it. After oatmeal and coffee we sorted our gear and talked with the host. Once we were packed and loaded up, we started to leave but some forest rangers came and their truck blocked the road. The oldest child (the grandfather) and the youngest teenager managed to play smoke on the water perfectly on the tensioned canoe strap. Like most moments of pure genius, they were unable to repeat this feat. Although it took us a while to get going, we did manage to geocache at Round Pond Landing on the way to Johnson Pond.

We unloaded and carried down to the water's edge in order to load up the canoes. We shoved off around noon and were eating lunch on Johnson Pond Stream around 1. We ran out of water and pushed, pulled, tipped and shoved the canoes down the brook over beaver dams, logs, and sand bars. Once we made it to Allagash Stream, it was smooth cruising down to the ledge point campsite. We stopped to talk to a couple of long term campers there, and they told us about an undocumented spring at Ledge Point.

We stopped and checked out a campsite at Sandy Point which is one of the nicest we'd seen on the AWW. We'll have to come back someday and stay there. We canoed over to ice caves campsite which has two entrances and found it to be a very nice campsite too. The ice caves proved to be colder than expected but a nice break from the mosquitos. There were tons of bugs this year. We all put on headlamps and headed down into the cavern for a quick look around.

The couple at Ledge Point told the teenaged boys about a second cave with snow and this proved irresistible.  Although you really should have a rope to enter it, the oldest teenaged boy managed to get down into it and climb out with enough snow and ice to throw a snowball at his brother. He saved other chunks of ice for dinner.

We loaded up and headed to Cove campsite which was secluded but not aa good site. We paddled to Outlet which was very nice. We arrived just after 5PM, unpacked, made dinner, and set up camp. Beef tacos hit the spot! We used the ice chunks and managed to make pudding for dessert.

We made a fire for the dishwater (conserve the propane). Once the dishes were washed we cleaned up ourselves a bit for bed. We were all ready for bed by 8:15 but it was still light out. The joy of early Summer! We decided to fish in the brook until it got so thick with mosquitos and dark enough for us to go to bed and then read aloud the descriptions of river rapids and portages for the next day before finally turning in.

July 8, 2015 Loon Lodge on Round Pond

We woke up at first light to our truck bed full of water from a thunderstorm the day before. A quick trip up a hill with the tailgate down solved that problem as the water all rushed out the back. We loaded the truck and filled two coolers with food and ice loading those in the truck last.

We hit the road while the boys' eyes were still sleepy and made it to the Millinocket McDonald's before 9:30 for breakfast. The first rule of camping is you can never have enough bacon. We decided we needed more and ran across the street to Hannaford to buy more bacon, bagels, and a car charger adapter to keep the phone/GPS working.

Soon we headed into the woods on the Golden Road to the land of no Internet and no cell phone coverage. We were free of all modern inconveniences except Moxie which we managed to buy at the Northern Maine Woods checkpoint. The simple life has its simple pleasures.

Dottie Brook

Though our goal was Loon Lodge, we wanted to do a little research along the way.  I had read a blog entry where a Northern Forest Canoe Trail paddler had successfully navigated Dottie Brook and I read another blog entry where a couple portaged their canoe 18 miles on wheels between Umbazooksus and Churchill Thoroughfare Bridge. We stopped at Dottie Brook to consider a possible portage up the road instead of the dreaded Mud Pond Carry.

Mud Pond Carry

We drove back and forth a few times before finding the Mud Pond Carry at the point where it crossed the Winter Road. The carry looked like a muddy snowmobile trail that sometimes was a stream. We decided that a 2 mile carry on wheels west to Umbazooksus Lake along the road from Dottie Brook was much more exciting than a 2 mile slog through mud on the Mud Pond Carry. There was no way we were doing the Mud Pond Carry or an 18 mile carry along the road.

We arrived at Loon Lodge at 2:30 in the afternoon. The owner's dog, a lab retriever, was immediately in love with the boys that would throw the ball for her over and over again. The boys spent pretty much the whole afternoon throwing the ball for that dog. Never mind that they could do that at home with their own dog, this was a vacation and we were unplugged. The poor dog was pretty close to exhaustion when my father, myself, and the lodge owner stopped catching up. In truth, I had barely spoken to the lodge owners on the phone, but it felt like we were family from away finally stopping in for an overdue visit.

Lounging on our cabin porch

Sometime mid-afternoon we grabbed a quick ham and cheese sandwich on the porch of the cabin and let the poor dog rest. Dad and I discussed water conditions, portage options, minimal politics, and amenities at the lodge with the owner. We were able to get fresh ice out of a freezer for the cooler and there was one electrical outlet in the cabin I could use to recharge my camera batteries. We discovered flush toilets, hot showers, and bedding. Fortunately, there were out houses available so we could still rough it if we wanted to. We didn't want to because this place was heaven in the wilderness.

 Allagash Lake Fire Tower View

At 5PM, we bumped along in the truck on the road toward Allagash Mountain until we got to a gate. It was only a mile hike to Allagash Lake and the Ranger cabin and then another mile up a steep trail to a fire tower at the top. We were rewarded for an hour of effort with hazy but incredible views of most of the Allagash Waterway north and down into Moosehead Lake to the south.

Cooking inside our cabin

When we returned to the lodge at 8 PM, we finalized plans with the owner of Loon Lodge who had never heard of anyone paddling out of Mud Pond into Dottie Brook. He would be out preparing for the fall bear and moose hunting season and would pick us up at noon on Monday at Chamberlain Bridge to portage us the 18 miles west to Umbazooksus Stream. No need for the Mud Pond Carry! No need to explore Dottie brook. Problem solved!

We cooked cheeseburgers on the propane stove in our cabin and then did dishes. We used the flush toilets and the running water in the bath house to get ready for bed. We wanted to play cards and tell stories but the boys and their grandfather were asleep and snoring by 9. I crashed before 10 after charging all the cameras and taking some notes in my journal.

Sunset over Round Pond

2015 Allagash Trip Preparations

Corporate life has consumed me most of my adult life, so when my company recently moved my office two hours south of my house, I accepted a severance package which allowed me to take the summer off. My last six months at work were not stop, but I would often add ideas to the list for what I could do with all of my impending leisure time. At the top of the list was another trip to the Allagash with my 70+ year old father and my two boys 15 and 16.

Over the last few years, I had purchased The Northern Forest Canoe Trail Official Guidebook, Quiet Water Maine, Gil Gilpatrick's Allagash, and the AMC River Guide and I had read all about the southern routes we could use to canoe north into the Allagash Waterway. In reality, I probably just looked at the pretty pictures.

My dream trip was to start at the Northeast Carry and canoe up into Chesuncook, up Caucomgomoc Steam and Lake, to Round Pond, then carry to Allagash Lake, and canoe down to Chamberlain to the Thoroughfare bridge. This is probably the same dream where we caught massive fish and rescued the drowning Victoria's Secret models. It would have involved all sorts of logistics about shuttling multiple vehicles that I decided to avoid for cost, risk, and time reasons.

I began to look at circular routes so that we could start and end in the same place. The tricky spot seemed to be the Mud Pond Carry and my books didn't have a lot to say. This is the same mud pond carry Thoreau described in 1857. I found great information on a couple of blogs the Gill adventures, paddling.net, and even Yankee magazine online. I decided this trip was possible, we would just have to endure one day of pain.

My last day at work was July 6, 2015 and I managed to wait until the last minute to make reservations with Loon Lodge for two days later. The evening of July 6 and 7 were spent packing frantically and trying to figure out what I might have forgotten. The canoes and the gear and crate with camping stuff had been packed the previous weekend. I was literally up until 1 AM working on the trip plans and grabbing screen shots from books so I could print the pages and leave the books at home.

Last minute activities included cleaning off memory cards and charging camera batteries, cleaning drying laundry (camp clothes), paying bills, returning library books, and grocery shopping. I had let my boys finalize the menu which meant that they also waited until the absolute last minute to decide what we would eat right up until we were at the grocery store.

After grocery shopping we separated each meal into bags in the food crate and I printed guidebook pages. We added 3 more crates and paddles and life jackets to the truck. We had a ton of mac and cheese left from a surprise party so we froze it and took it on the trip too. I finally crashed into my bed at 1 AM. The hardest part of these trips is getting ready.

 In the end, the plan was to start July 8 at Loon Lodge on Round Pond, climb the Allagash Lake tower, put in at Johnson Pond, paddle south to Allagash Lake and stay at the ice caves. We would paddle down Allagash Stream to Lock Dam, then paddle east across Lock Dam to Smith Brook Campsite. We would go west to the tramway and portage over to Chamberlain and paddle south to Lock Dam, then across Chamberlain to Mud Pond campsite. We would then paddle west into Mud Pond and do the Mud Pond Carry and stay at Umbazooksus. We would paddle south to Chesuncook and north past Canvas Dam to Horserace campsite on the Caucomgomoc Stream. Sometime around July 15 we would return northeast to Round Pond Loon Lodge and drive home.

2014 Presi Traverse with Teenaged Kids

Trip prep… I spent a lot of time trying to make a trip to Baxter State Park work. I considered a lot of combinations for 3 to 4 day wilderness loops trying to incorporate available sites. Since I had waited until only several weeks before the trip, there was just no good way to make this trip happen. Perhaps I’ll get another shot at this next year. The Presi traverse had a lot of things going for it. I had done the trip before and was familiar with the route. In addition, food and water is plentiful along the route so it is hardly a wilderness experience. It is also widely recognized by many folks and definitely has wow factor. Unfortunately, I had more time to plan the trip than I did to pack for it.

8/18/2014

Rt 2 to Valley Way Campsite, 3.2 miles

We spent the day unpacking from the Allagash trip and packing our backpacks. I had arranged for transportation to the trail head later in the afternoon. A quick trip to the grocery store was needed for taco shells, tomatoes, cheese, 2 cans of chicken, rice, snacks, bananas, and jerky. The rest of our food was made up of leftovers from the Allagash trip.

We left Standish at 1PM and stopped in Fryeburg at 2PM for lunch at Subway. We dropped my car at the Webster Cliff trail head on Rt 302 at 3PM. We made it to the Valley Way trail head on Rt 2 at 4PM. At the start our packs weighed: 32 lbs (my pack), 25 lbs (15 year-old's pack) and 15 lbs (13 year-olds pack). It felt like we were making good time up Valley Way but with our packs it still took us until 6:12PM to make it into camp.

The tent site was almost full when we arrived and we ended up on a hillside which really wasn’t a problem for our hammocks. The tacos we made for dinner tasted amazing even though the rice was a lot more like soup than rice. Dinner consisted of tortilla shells, Knorr Spanish rice, a package of Mexican cheese, a chopped fresh tomato, freshly shredded lettuce, and a can of chicken. Not typical backpacking food, but we love the stuff! Once we finished dinner, all food had to be put into a bear bag and hung up in the trees. We crawled into our sleeping bags just after 8PM as we wanted to get an early start. Alarm was set at 5:15.

8/19/2014

Valley Way Tentsite (Madison Spring Hut) to Nauman Campsite (Mizpah Spring Hut) via Mount Washington and Lake of the Clouds Hut, 14.3 miles

Up early and it was hard to crawl out of the warm sleeping bags.  My oldest son was hanging partially out of his hammock already. We were ready for our oatmeal, coffee and cocoa as we ate in our fleece clothing, hats, and gloves. We quickly broke camp and headed up the hill to Madison Spring Hut and the summit of Madison returning back to the hut before 8AM. We summited Adams just after 9AM and the weather was still clear and beautiful.

However, my 13 year old fell and scraped his knee and morale declined as the weather started to close in. We pushed on hard through heat and humidity as the clouds surrounded us. We stayed on the AT and skipped the peak of Jefferson and Clay. It seemed to take forever to get to the peak of Washington. Then we saw the Cog Railway as the clouds parted. We were very hungry and thirsty when we finally arrived at the peak of Washington. I couldn't believe all the people there. We couldn't even get near the actual summit sign because of the long line. We were tired, exhausted, and dehydrated. Most of these folks had arrived via car or train. I was beside myself.

When we couldn't find a seat in the dining room I just dropped my pack and got in the line for food. In retrospect, I must have been very dehydrated. I suddenly felt extremely weak and had to sit on the floor. I made the boys hold our place in the long line and sat on a bench for a minute. I had a Gatorade, a slice of pizza, chowder, peanut M+Ms, and a whoopie pie. I immediately felt better. As the group leader and the parent, I should definitely have not let myself get dehydrated to that point. The weather and the terrain can be very tricky in the mountains particularly in the Presidentials.

My youngest ate 2 Hot Dogs and a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. My oldest ate pizza, chowder, Reese's, Gatorade, and a danish. We finally felt like all was right with the world again. That instant oatmeal had not been enough calories for Breakfast!

We left the top at 1:45 and made it to Lake of the Clouds about 2:30. My youngest was dancing with every step by that point because he had to go to the bathroom so badly. There is no privacy above treeline in that area.

Since we didn't have reservations, the hut host told us we had to keep hiking to Nauman tentsite but that it was only 3 ½ hours away. Dry River shelter was closed so we had to keep going. We left at 3PM but in our haste we followed the AT and skipped the peaks of Monroe, and Eisenhower but went over Pierce. However, we made it to the Mizpah hut at around 6PM.

We had to pay $8 to camp there. It is a great deal! You can get water and even have an outhouse. There are tent platforms which we didn't use. We pitched our hammocks in the trees. The ATT cell phone didn't work, but US Cellular/Verizon allowed us to get a text out that we were safe and sound in camp.

Dinner was great. We cooked Cheesy Noodles and added the rest of the bag of Mexican cheese from the previous night. We put mashed potatoes right in the same pot and mixed it up. We had Ritz crackers and cheese sticks for dessert. There is a special place for dishwater waste. I had put crumbs in our trash so our trash had to spend the night in the bear box with our food. We were in bed and snoring by 9:15. Alarm was set for 5:30.

8/20/2014

Nauman Campsite (Mizpah Spring Hut) to 302 (Crawford Notch) via Webster Cliff Trail, 6.4 miles

Someone had rattled the chain on the bear box and it woke me up before the alarm at 5:20 and I decided to let the boys sleep late. It was very comfortable. I lazed in the hammock until 6 when I got up and made coffee. I headed into the Mizpah hut and looked at maps and filled our water bottles. When I got back I woke the boys up. The oldest boiled the water for oatmeal.

We had shared the tent platform with Santiago, a student from Columbia going to Tufts. When he woke up, he started talking to the boys about being multilingual and about his times mountain biking in New Zealand when he took a semester abroad.

The boys told him about our trip in the Allagash the previous week. He was very interested and they traded tips back and forth. We were eating breakfast while we were talking and a Canada Jay showed up. I fed him a raisin right out of my hand. Soon we had a bunch of Jays dive bombing us and eating out of our hands. Santiago and the boys enjoyed the birds. We knew we had a tough hike ahead.

Santiago told us about how he was hiking longer than he planned because stranger's kept giving him food. Someone had given him a huge Hillshire Farms sausage the day before. We gave him our extra oatmeal and snacks to lighten our packs. We filled our water bottles to the top and said goodbye to the hut.

When we stopped to snack on Mt Jackson, the Jays were back to bum more food. They had crossed the valley to visit us. We joked and half wondered if they would follow us to the car. The views were amazing! We stopped at a trail junction for a snack not realizing that just ahead were cliffs that gave us even more stunning views. We could look straight down to the rest area 2500 feet below. The next 3.1 miles took us much longer than we expected as it was a bit technical to climb down with packs. However, the boys were chatting about video game design and Sim-EARTH, but even that faded to silence as we trudged on.

We finally arrived at the car about 1PM. We stopped at Subway in Fryeburg and feasted on sandwiches. Once we arrived home, we unpacked our gear, laid it in the sunshine to dry, and napped.

2014 Allagash Journal

I was fortunate to paddle the Allagash again in 2014 with my father and sons. This is the journal from that adventure.

8/8/14
Indian Stream to Thoreau Campsite
We left Portland about 6:15AM and headed North. Refueled in Bangor and went to McDs for Breakfast. Arrived in Ft Kent at 12:15 and went to subway. Took my last chance to reply to emails and say goodbyes on the phone. Pelletier’s Campground@1PM. We ran into Nate Smith (former Camp Hinds’ Councilor) who was just getting in off the river with his Chewonki crew- small world. He just walked right over and said “Do you remember me?” After a quick catch up, we headed South down Route 11 to Portage Lake. Stopped to buy nymph dry flies and grab a fishing regulations book at the town hall. Pulled onto Pinkham Road (A NMW Road) and arrived at Indian Stream at 5:30. Unloaded the gear and got the canoes loaded. Tipped Adrien $50 for great service! Headed downstream at 6PM. Guided the canoe and walked in the bow and stern until we got to Eagle Lake. It was very shallow at first. We tried to paddle straight for the narrows toward Pillsbury Island. It was tough going. The temp was perfect and the lake was like a mirror. We arrived at the first Thoreau campsite at 7:15PM. It was occupied. We went to the third campsite. Just as we landed, it started to rain. We quickly unloaded the gear and threw a tarp over it. We spent time in the rain setting up the other tarp over the ridge pole then moved our gear under it. The rain slowed down enough for us to set up our Hennessey hammocks. Mine went up quickly but the boys had a lot of trouble. Gramp set up his tent. Once camp was made, we had a snack. Gramp and My oldest son had granola bars. My youngest son had Ritz crackers. I boiled water and made hot cocoa. Then made beef stew (the dehydrated kind). My oldest son, Gramp and I ate the stew with some lemon cheesecake pudding for dessert. At 9PM I went over the plan with the group and the boys went to bed. The new mini propane lantern worked great and I wished we had a mini-propane stove to match. The clouds cleared and I looked at the almost full moon over the lake.
Travel Times:
Shuttle St Francis to Indian Stream, 2:30 to 5:30, 3 Hours
Indian Stream to Thoreau Campsite, 5:45 to 7:15, 1.5 Hours

8/9/14
Thoreau campsite to Tramway to Scofield Point
We woke at 5:30AM to the scolding of squirrels and made coffee while the boys snored in their hammocks. We made them cocoa and got them up at 7AM. My youngest son cooked bacon and eggs for breakfast. There aren’t really enough eggs for 4 in a 16oz carton but the liquid eggs are VERY tasty. Cleanup was tough because we didn’t heat up enough water and used too much soap.
We packed and left Thoreau toward the tramway. On the way we saw our first Loon. Gramp and My oldest son missed the landing so My youngest son and I arrived first. The boys loved scrambling all over the old locomotives and rail stuff. So many treasures so little time! The amateur archaeologists could have spent the day there and we only stayed an hour or so. My youngest son figured out he could fit in through the ash bin of the locomotive and come out down below. Gramp looked for the geocache for almost an hour but was unsuccessful.
We headed for Zeigler for lunch. The wind was straight into our face and progress was slow due to the hard going. We finally made it to Zeigler at exactly noon. Our one hour lunch break consisted of granola bars, an apple, and rice with broccoli. My youngest son had a big tub of plain white rice and couldn’t eat it all. Gramp let My youngest son use the Svea stove to heat the water. We mixed the rice and ate our “prison rations”. The rice tasted good but there just wasn’t enough of it. I found the spring behind Zeigler and there was a nice Spring house where we filled our water bottles. We left at 1PM and headed for Scofield point. The wind got very strong and it was very tough going. We still made it to the point at 3PM. We had to share the site with a couple that we had met at the Tramway in the morning.
We unpacked everything and laid all sorts of wet stuff on the rocks to dry in the hot sun. We set up our hammocks and tent and hung tarps on the table. There was a very friendly squirrel that was all over our stuff so we had to keep the trunks closed. We made iced tea and My youngest son fished. We argued about the menu because it had changed all by itself. There was not enough dessert. We made a fire to save propane and debated cooking muffins in the reflector oven. In the end, we ate 2 pounds of hamburgers- two each with lettuce and tomatoes. Cleanup with fire boiled wash water. We all decided My youngest son hadn’t had enough camp experience but he sure was getting it now. Everyone went to bed under the super moon just after 8 listening to the cries of the loons.
Travel Times:
Thoreau to Tramway, 8:45 to 9:30, 45 minutes
Tramway to Zeigler, 10:30-12:00, 1.5 Hours
Zeigler to Scofield Point, 1PM-3PM, 2 Hours

8/10/14
Scofield Point to Churchill Dam to Sam’s Campsite
We woke up early enough to see the setting orange moon and then went back to bed. No one was in a hurry to get up so I made the fire to heat up coffee water. My oldest son set out his instant oatmeal breakfast. I saved my raisins and granola bars for later. After cleanup, pack up, and a little exploration of the point, we still managed to leave at 9AM.
We paddled hard and arrived at Churchill Dam right after our site mates. The ranger ported all of our gear for $10 then came back for us in the other truck. While we waited, we visited the museum and saw the weather forecast was rain for Wednesday and Thursday. We decided to push past the planned Chisholm Brook (which we passed at 2PM) and headed for Long lake Dam. Even though Umsaskis and Long Lake were calm, we were getting tired. We ate our PB and Banana bagels at the Bissonette Bridge put in, then tackled the rest of Chase rapids. My youngest son banged a few rocks at first but quickly got the hang of it and maybe even had some fun.
We crossed Umsaskis and headed under the bridge only to discover our previous camp mates were in camp at Pine, a solo site… we laughed as we expected they wanted their privacy! At Grey Brook we took a half hour break. We were tired. We visited the outhouse, looked at the map and decided to push for Jalbert or Long Lake Dam. We made it past Jalbert but pulled into Sams at 5PM to cook the beef stew. We quickly decided to stay. My oldest son’s stew was fantastic. We started to fish after we made camp and caught a fish with every cast. Even My oldest son was successful! While My oldest son did the dishes, I hooked up the fly rod. My youngest son and I managed to catch our first fish on a fly rod. Then it got dark and was time for bed. We managed to see moose, eagles, and a rabbit today.
Travel Times:
Scofield Point to Churchill Dam, 9AM-10AM, 1 Hour
Portage, 2.5 hours as we had to wait for another group
Churchill Dam portage to Chisholm Brook, 1PM-2PM, to Thoroughfare Bridge, 2PM-3:30PM, to Grey Brook, 4PM, to Sam’s Campsite, 5PM, 4 Hours

8/11/14
Sam’s Campsite to Round Pond Tower Campsite
We listened to Sam the bunny hop around camp all night long…. I discovered that I didn’t have to leave the warmth of my hammock in the middle of the night just to pee. I just flopped around enough to pee out the slit in the bottom of the hammock. This was a fantastic plan and I was comfortable all night… however, I realized in the morning I had managed to soak my sandals in the process.
Imagine my surprise at slipping my feet into a cold and damp urine soaked sandal in the morning- so long dry feet. Gramp and I got a big fire going and made coffee and cocoa. My youngest son made some fantastic banana pancakes with the bananas that we had been carrying and not eating so far. The dish water was ready on time but we still didn’t meet our goal of being ready by 8AM and still managed to leave camp at 9AM. Up ahead on the lake we saw a red canoe leaving Lost Popple. When we arrived at Long lake Dam at 10AM it was chaos due to a huge group there bottlenecking the portage.
We portaged in 30 minutes and set off behind an older couple in a red canoe and the Schofield couple from Maryland in a green canoe that had stayed at Pine the night before. We scraped and bumped our way down the rips and got to the elm tree I remembered in the deadwater of Round Pond.
The wind turned into our faces. I thought I could see Squirrel Pocket across the lake but the map made it appear closer to the cabin. That error cost us the site. We canoed in a fight against the wind only to arrive moments after a couple of guys in a blue canoe that had stayed at Sweeny Brook the night before. I took a quick walk around the Squirrel Pocket site but wasn’t impressed anyway. It was quite a disappointment to work so hard to get to this site only to miss it by minutes. First come first served… oh well.
We headed up the shore line to Tower Trail campsite and arrived at 1:45 hungry and exhausted. We ate a snack while My youngest son made more pancakes. We made PB and fruit cream cheese sandwiches made with banana pancakes. These were the best food ever and we devoured them. Then we went for a swim and took a nap out of the hot sun. We were all a bit sunburned. My youngest son fished a little and got a leach between his toes that bled quite a bit.
At 5:30 we were ready to venture up to the tower. Just as we prepared to leave camp, the Maryland couple arrived to hike it too. At the top of the tower, I received a cell signal from Roger’s Canada and managed to get out some pictures to the home folks. The boys headed back down while I fiddled with the phone trying to get a good weather forecast. I headed down and managed to slip a sandal in the mud. I was completely ill prepared for the hike and the mud made the sandals difficult to hike in. I ended up stuffing leaves in the sandals to keep them on while I tried to hop jog as fast as possible to arrive back at camp just at the point where it became difficult to see in the woods.
The boys had made tacos that dripped down your arm when you ate them and they were delicious! Gramp had heated up the dishwater and we finished the dishes in the dark, brushed our teeth, and went to bed. It was a cacophony of loons all night long just like it was in 2006 here. I charged the cell phone a bit while I put down notes in my journal.
Travel Times:
Sam’s campsite to Long Lake Dam, 9AM-10AM, half hour portage, Long Lake Dam to Back Channel, 10:30AM-12:30PM, Back Channel to Squirrel Pocket to Tower Trail Campsite, 12:30PM to 1:45PM

8/12/14
Round Pond Tower Campsite to Cunliffe Campsite
Up at 5:30 only to realize we didn’t have enough water for breakfast. We packed everything up and left at 7AM to paddle to the spring by Outlet Campsite to fill up all of the water jugs. As we were getting to the rips, the Maryland couple left in the green canoe so we pulled into their campsite and made our breakfast.
We left at 8:45 as a Maine guide arrived with his crew. We listened to his training lessons to his group, and then made our way through getting better the further we got. We eventually caught up with the last canoe as it was hung up on some rocks. We then passed that group venturing on by ourselves. I think we did better without them. We made it to the dead water and could look back to the tower we had climbed the night before.
We wanted to go all the way to Dead water South for lunch but had stopped at 5 Fingers for a quick break and pushed on. We saw deer, moose, and bald eagles. We ate our ham and cheese sandwiches and visited the outhouse at Bass Brook. The cooler isn’t very cool anymore so I passed on the ham eating only cheese and lettuce. We reached Cunliffe at 1:30PM unpacked and decided to tent in the grassy meadow in the shade.
After a rest, we made the quick paddle over to see the Lombards all in one canoe. I didn’t remember the stream crossing in 2006 but there was a decent little bridge now. I also didn’t remember the fence around the Lombard’s due to the asbestos. We crossed back over around 4:45 and started to make dinner. My oldest son cooked the pasta mac and cheese while the dish water heated. Then he put the corn straight on the coals which we rotated every 3 minutes. The corn was super tasty but overcooked. The cheesy noodles were very tasty and we all ate seconds. I ate two cookies and cut a spruce pole so I could have a pole the rest of the trip.
I cleaned the pole and showed how you could ferry the canoe across the rapids and upstream from eddy to eddy. Then I brought the canoe back and eased into the shore. I had forgotten what a workout that was.
After the poling demo, I went back and helped the kids make muffins in the reflector oven with a muffin tin. My oldest son did dishes and My youngest son timed the muffins. We all threw branches on the fire to keep it hot. The muffins were super tasty! Around 8:30 it got dark and it was time for bed. The boys wanted to get an early start the next day.
Travel Times:
Tower Campsite to Spring, 7:00-7:30 to Breakfast at Round Pond Rips at 8AM. Rips campsite to Bass Brook Campsite 8:45-12:15. Bass Brook to Cunliffe Campsite 12:45-1:30.

8/13/14
Cunliffe Campsite to Michaud to Allagash Falls Portage to East Twin Brook Campsite
We woke at 5:30 to the sound of logging trucks which reminded us we must be coming to civilization. Things are down to a habit now, fire, coffee, dishwater, breakfast, pack. My oldest son cooked strawberry pancakes with warm strawberry mush from the cooler. We had coffee, cocoa, and a second batch of the pancakes with bananas trying to use them up. My youngest son decided to join us for the second batch of pancakes. By the time we got everything packed and were ready to go, it was 9AM. We can’t seem to beat that time. We headed through the rapids and were feeling pretty good about our navigation by the time we got to Michaud Farm to check out. There was a broken canoe there twisted right in half.
If it was there to convince us to carry around the falls, we didn’t need any more convincing. We saw geese, bald eagles, and a shy moose ran up the bank while we wound around through a lot of channels. I had pulled out at Michaud Farm in 2006 so had no idea what to expect. Right before the portage, we saw a huge bull moose. No one got a picture as we were in the rapids. When we got to the portage at 11:30, the guide told us it was the biggest moose he’d seen on the waterway in 10 years.
We carried the white canoe the length of the portage and then rested. My oldest son and I loaded all the remaining gear in the Tripper and lined it to the second landing so we could cut out a lot of the carrying. We carried the gear around. By the time we carried the canoe and we were ready to get gear, a big group and a guide had arrived. He gently poled each canoe to the second landing for his clients….. there’s one for experience. They all helped each other portage. In the end, we wished we had the wheels as it would have made the actual portage shorter. All in all, it was a two hour exhausting process. Our goal was the last possible campsite so we made sure no one passed us.
As we neared our goal, a canoe began to gain on us. We paddled like mad banging rocks and getting hung up, jumping out of the canoe and pushing. We didn’t want to get beaten to a site again. We arrived minutes before them. They passed in a Kevlar Racing canoe. No wonder it had been so hard to stay ahead! There was another couple sharing the site and they kept to themselves. We had seen them back at the entrance to Round Pond. They had stayed at Five Fingers and McKeen brook. We had paddled a lot of miles to catch them. I set up the hammock near the river and Gramp set up his tent. It started to sprinkle so we made the camp rain ready with the tarps while the boys set up and we all prepped firewood under the tarp to get ready for rain.
When it really started to rain, we had the dishwater in the cook pot over the fire and banana bread in the reflector oven. All we had to do was cook dinner and feed the fire. The banana bread took an hour to cook in the rain. We ate dinner and sat and watched while the rain pour onto the tarps. My oldest son had made yummy tacos with sour cream, old wilted lettuce, old tomatoes, Spanish rice, and canned chicken. We didn’t waste much of that old head of lettuce or the tomatoes even though it was pretty disgusting. The bananas were black and squashed after travelling 80 miles but the bread was just fine. We sat under the tarp listening to Gramp's stories and ate the entire loaf of bread with a stick of butter melted on it.
Travel Times:
Cunliffe Campsite to Michaud Farm 9AM-9:30, Michaud Farm to Allagash Falls 10AM-11:30AM, Portage and lunch 11:30AM-1:30PM, East Twin Brook Campsite 3:30PM.

8/14/14
We had tried to pack everything ahead of time for the next day because it was supposed to be cold and wet but it was a very cold night. I had pitched the hammock out over the riverbed and it finally meant I ended up with a wet sleeping bag. At 1AM I put on my rain gear and a warm shirt and pitched the LL Bean tent while I shivered. Once it was set up, I used my towel to dry off the tent floor and put on all my dry clothes and crawled into my wet sleeping bag to try to get some sleep. Up at 5:30 to make some hot coffee.
My youngest son made English muffin and bacon sandwiches. We packed up and got going around 7:45. We hoped to get all our paddling done in an hour but it took 90 minutes to make it to White Birch landing because of the head winds and pouring rain. We did well navigating the rapids and passed a bunch of houses before White Birch Landing. She wanted to charge us only $18 so we paid her $25 and she let us warm up in her house. On the way home we stopped to say hi to Norm L'Italien and tell him about the trip. He asked who we had seen and checked in on “his” folks out on the river.
Shortly after we left his place, the truck brake warning light came on. We went to subway and had a huge lunch. Once back in the truck, the dreaded light didn’t go away. We stopped at a garage and he told us the lines were just spewing brake fluid. We bought a huge bottle and tried not to use the brakes. We had to stop in Bangor and Gray to put a little fluid in the master cylinder but were all set for the ride home!
Things we wished for- larger dining fly, fishing knot reference, headlamps instead of flashlights, stories to read by the campfire, better ice because the milk spoiled, eat the bananas sooner,
Things we learned- roasted corn is good, reflector oven is fun, muffins are better than bread, apples keep well, cream cheese keeps well, two 9x10 tarps were the absolute minimum. 12x15 should be perfect or one 10x25, get canopy balls.
East Twin Brook to White Birch Landing, 8:30AM-10AM, Allagash Village, ME to Standish, ME 11AM-6:30PM.

Bill Geagan Follow Up

Since there seems to be quite a lot of interest in Bill Geagan and "Nature I Loved" that I posted about quite a while ago, I want to bring it up again. I found out that an audio book was made by Bill Geagan's friend Hal Wheeler and published by Bangor Daily News. Last I knew, they still had quite a few copies available. I googled them and called them up to order a copy for my nephews. Unfortunately,it is only available on cassette.

Since others seem to have the same compelling questions that I had, I want to share a quote with you from Hal Wheeler. Here is what he told me in an email dated December 7, 2007.

... As you know, with Bill and Alice it was "love at first sight" and I can tell you that they certainly enjoyed a wonderful life together. In fact, because Bill never completely overcame his problem with nerves, Alice was his "protector" for most of his life, especially the last 10 or 15 years they had together. Bill and Alice kept the hunting camp for some time after they were married but eventually, because of the nature of his work, spent less and less time there. I honestly don't know if they sold it or just stopped using it. I know it no longer stands. I think they sold it, however.

And for more than $50!

I met Bill in 1955 when he was doing a twice weekly TV show on Bangor's channel 2. I was a part-time cameraman and I got to know him very well through that association. He was never comfortable doing television and gave up the show after only one season. He truly was a very private man and being in the glare of klieg lights with a big camera staring at him wasn't his cup of tea.

Bill had done a radio show on Bangor's WLBZ for several years and was much more comfortable, though not entirely, on radio than on TV. The studio was large and had very subdued lighting and dark panelled walls which made him feel much more at "home" The program was called "Along the Trail." He would always sign off with these words: "I see that our campfire is burning low..."

A few years before he became ill and died, Coward McCann (or the company that bought that house) was pestering Bill to write more books but he just couldn't concentrate on the task so they were never written. He and Alice had no children, but, as you know, a nephew who spent a lot of time with them.

He was always a complete gentleman and would gladly autograph a book on request, always drawing a snowshoe rabbit in full flight on the page. He autographed my copy and if your copy doesn't have that little drawing, I'd be glad to sen you a photocopy of it.

Sadly, Alice's last years were darkened by Alzheimer's (we didn't know the name of that disease then) and she lived in virtual squalor during that time, flushing food down the toilet and hiding social security checks and then claiming someone was stealing them. A very kind public health nurse did all she could to keep her as stable and safe as possible until she finally had to be admitted to the City hospital where she died.

If Bill had had the "chutzpah" that Bud Leavitt of the Bangor Daily News possessed he would have been a richer man, but I'm not sure he would have been happier. He was a child of nature and material things meant nothing to him except as a means of providing the necessities.
....

I found more information and a pencil sketch of Mr.Geagan at Bangor Daily News.

I hope you find this additional information interesting.

Home: Allagash Wilderness Waterway Canoe and Guide Training Trip Journal

September 22, 2006

I woke up to a frost at 5AM and Orion was clearly visible in the clear pre-dawn southern sky. How strange that Orion seems to be the favorite constellation of many folks. Maybe that is because it is pretty easy to imagine that it looks like a man.

I grabbed my Allagash books and my Allagash map out of the group library box and packed everything in my personnal duffle for the trip home. I grabbed my paddle and lifejacket too. I walked to the store (open at 3AM for the local loggers) and bought soveniers for my wife and kids. I encouraged everyone in the group to get up and get packed so we could get going.The cabin where some of our folks stayed had a painted wooden floor. What made it most unique was that they had painted a line of deer tracks on the floor which led up to the rear end of a deer mounted on the wall.We left at 6AM and got to Fort Kent at 6:45AM. In Fort Kent you can see the end of Route 1 North and the beginning of Route 1 South on the same sign. I called my wife on the cell phone and talked to the kids. My youngest missed me "worser" than I missed him and told me he liked me a whole lot. All the other customers in the diner were jabbering away in French. We were the only ones speaking English. We were back on the road by 7:15AM.We stopped in Ashland at the woodsman's museum and checked out a King Pine log on display as well as log hauling equipment, a loggers cabin, and other interesting historical things.We also stopped briefly at the Cold Spring Rest Area, and then again in Patten at the drug store to adjust ourselves back into the food of society. I had taken over 700 pictures on this trip and, although we were all tired and uncomfortable in the van, we had a good time looking through the camera’s LCD at them. We could see Katahdin, where the journal began, way off on the horizon. We had traveled more than 100 miles north from where we had started.

Once we got to Bangor, we drove past Stephen King's house, and then dropped Bud off at his house. We ate at Dysart's. Tim dropped me off at 3PM at the Gray exit and I waited for my wife and kids to arrive which they did at 4:30PM. Dirty and in need of a shave- my excellent adventure was now over.

Pelletier's Campground, St. Francis: Allagash Wilderness Waterway Canoe and Guide Training Trip Journal

September 21, 2006
Rain early then mostly cloudy and cool. Showers with Sleet and windy by lunchtime.
I got up at 5:30AM in my long johns and rain poncho, then worked for about half an hour and got the wet weather fire going using a huge glob of spruce pitch and a large sheet of birch bark. Since we had plenty of propane left, we cooked the oatmeal over the propane stove using a diffuser to keep it from burning on. As people started to get up for breakfast, I realized I was still in my long johns and had to run for the tent. Other folks didn’t share my appreciation of how stylish long johns can be. While we were eating breakfast, a big bull moose stopped in for a visit. He hung around for a while and we watched him instead of packing up which is what we should have been doing. I wrote in my journal and quickly packed the canoe.
There were some tempers flaring that morning since we were just about done with our trip. I got a bit ahead of the group and did some fishing- more catch and release chub. The group came right along and we poled through the rapids without much fanfare. Some of the rapids were quick and shallow and we all made good time. A huge bull moose followed us along the shore getting pretty close to us in the rapids. When we couldn't see him, we could still see birch trees swaying as he rubbed against them running parallel to us downstream.Everyone had really gotten the hang of poling rapids at this point. I thought it felt great to blast through the rapids at 5 or 6 mph. Although shallow, we managed to work our way down the river. In the middle of a decent set of rapids, a huge gust of wind came up. My lure stuck and my line broke with about 15' of line on it. I poled back up but was unable to locate lure or line. It was a bit depressing since I had made it the whole trip with only one lure.Just as we arrived at Cunliff Depot to see the Lombard Log Haulers, the cloudy sky opened up with huge raindrops and sleet and we all ran for our raingear. Up river, one member of our group who will remain anonymous set the pole wrong and dumped the canoe. I remember thinking, “OK this is it. We’re done for the day. Now it is time to start a fire and get dried off.” He arrived soaking wet and we pulled his canoe up on shore. He then grabbed his dry bag and headed into the woods.We put on our raingear and I stuffed a bunch of GORP in my mouth to curb my appetite. I had stuffed my camera in the cooler to keep it dry. I remember the loud pinging of the sleet against the rain hood on my head. Once the sleet stopped, we went for a short hike to see the Lombards and to warm up. I was still in shorts with a t-shirt, wool shirt, polypro shirt, and fleece jacket on. My kneepads gave my knees some insulation and I didn’t want to change so close to the end. We checked in with everyone to be sure they were warm and dry. Even the poor fellow who’d gone for a swim was now dry and good to go. With only two miles to go, we headed down river while the wind howled in our faces and made the rapids difficult to run.At this point, I could almost run the rapids in slow motion because the wind speed and downstream current forces were almost equal. Then the wind would stop, or blow harder, and I would be off course and into a rock. It became difficult to choose a good route through the rapids. Several times, I was blown into shallows and had to get out and pull the canoe. Getting wet was bad because then I was cold. Just as I started to feel uncomfortably cold, I saw our destination, Michaud Farm at 2:30PM. Just for good measure, at the very last rapid, I got blown off course and had to pull the canoe out one last time.Once at the van, I changed into the clean dry clothes I had packed in the van ahead of time. We loaded our gear into the trailer and van and headed into Allagash village. At the checkpoint, we officially checked out of the North Maine Woods.
The paper snowmobile sign said Kelly's diner and another Two River's Restaurant and none of us cared that it was nothing fancy. A warm meal that was full of grease and fat was all we desired. I got a bacon cheeseburger, onion rings, coke, and 3 scoops of ice cream. It cost me $9 including a tip. Four of our group wanted the huge breakfast special so the lady called the breakfast cook who arrived about five minutes later to cook for them. Now that was service- everyone that works there must live nearby.We then drove to John's Country Store and Pelletier's Campground in St. Francis. I bought a Moxie, and some of the others wanted beer. Four of our group rented bunks in a hunting cabin for $20 each. The rest of us, me included, spent one more cold night in the tent reluctant to come back to civilized living. I looked for a payphone with no success. My cell phone still didn't work even in this populated part of the world. We sat around the picnic table telling stories for a bit while I wrote in my journal. We watched shooting stars and looked to identify constellations in the cold clear night sky. Devin and Tim discussed past and future classes. We crawled into our sleeping bags about 9PM.

Five Fingers Campsite: Allagash Wilderness Waterway Canoe and Guide Training Trip Journal

September 20, 2006I was up at 6AM and tried to get the fire going without much success due to the rain. Paul took over and spent an hour or so and finally got it going when the rain let up. The weather appeared to be clearing slowly and Bud said his barometer was holding steady. I ate a bowl of GORP with canned milk. I packed while the others finished their breakfast. Then I had a bit of millet in a bowl with more milk. I still thought it was for the birds.
We packed everything up even though it was soaked and I took the time to treat the blister from my hike with 2 coats of liquid bandage- yikes that stung. I found a big bullfrog that was stuck in the woodpile and picked him up. He growled and howled even after I put him down on the beach. He was mad at the world. Then he hopped into the water and swam away.

We left the campsite a bit after 9AM and headed for a spring. Bud visited a sporting camp on the other side of the pond that he had been previously visited in 1962. We filled our water bottles at the spring, Bud rejoined the group, and we all headed down the rapids. I put the camera in the cooler to keep it dry when I was really worried I might go for a swim. When we went by Outlet campsite there was a woman packing gear into a Mad River canoe. We began to snub our way through the rapids using the poles. (snubbing is stoppng the canoe or changing its direction with a pole going downriver)When we snubbed (stopped) in mid-rapid as a group to discuss poling strategies, the Mad River canoe came zipping through the rapids bouncing from rock to rock. They smacked and banged their way through our group and then on down the river. Their expletives following each drum of the canoe on a rock were quite entertaining to our whole group. I guess we felt like we finally knew what we were doing.
Tim kept offering suggestions about improving the way I returned the pole for my next push. Hopefully that meant he thought I was using it the right way the rest of the time. I seemed to be missing the rocks with the canoe and finding the deepest water even in the shallow channels. Poling through the rapids was a total blast!

We ate lunch at a beaver dam where the Musquacook River meets the Allagash at 1:30PM. I tried a bit of fishing at the beaver dam but had had no luck. Just after we resumed down river, we went around a bend and I thought I could look back and see the tower I climbed the day before.

We made it to Five Fingers campsite at 3PM. There was a huge rock and eddy in front of the campsite. This is Tim's favorite swimming spot on the whole Allagash. A few in the group swam out and shot down past the big rock.
I tried to fish it but got nothing above or below the rock. Bud caught a nice 10 or 11" brook trout which he cooked and ate. I had a bite and it was delicious. I started to change out of my wet socks and Devin started yelling. He had just had a fly fishing lesson and almost immediately hooked a beautiful 14" brook trout. It was gorgeous. When we cleaned it, Bud cut open his stomach and we found a whole shrew in there! You might say Devin is hooked on fly fishing now.Bud salted the fish, rubbed it with flour, salt, and pepper. He salted and peppered it while he cooked it and again before eating. He preheated the fry pan with oil to medium hot- the oil was just making a popping sound, Bud said salt pork or bacon fat would work too. He'd have mixed 50/50 flour and cornmeal if we had had it.
He started to fry the fish when the oil was hot- not smoking but close. He browned both sides of the trout while holding it down with the spatula. Once both sides were browned, he reduced the heat and cooked it 5 minutes per side (10 minutes total per inch thickness of fish). He then cooked it a little longer for good measure. Then he separated the meat from the backbone at its thickest point. He fried a few onions in the fishy oil right after the browning stage of cooking.
(Bud’s Secret Tips- butter can't take the heat but it browns a fish nicely. Also, 1 part yogurt, 1 part mayo and a bit of dill makes a wonderful sauce for trout.)

We all ate some of Devin's fish. It was delicious- the best trout I had ever had. Just when we finished the trout, our regular dinner was ready. We all ate dinner (not nearly as good as the trout- tuna, rice, and celery). Then we ate gingerbread for dessert. I wrote in my journal while the dishwater heated. Devin and I did dishes again. Then we looked at the stars and tried to stay up. It was cold and crystal clear. We went to bed about 8:30PM.
When I got up at 2AM for my typical middle of the night ritual, I noticed it was warmer and there were no stars out. It started raining at 2:30AM . As soon as I heard the sprinkles, Bill and I grabbed our gear and threw it in the tent which kept most everything dry. It rained quite hard until about 8AM.