Lock Dam Campsite: Allagash Wilderness Waterway Canoe and Guide Training Trip Journal 2006

September 13, 2006

In the early morning light, the fog was so thick visibility was less than fifty feet.
We got up about 5AM and checked in with Paul who was sick with a head cold. He said he'd be OK, so we woke everyone else up. We made coffee first thing- but everyone decided to delay breakfast so we’d get an earlier start. All our gear was packed and we departed Gravel Brook campsite about 7AM . The fog covered the lake and it got thicker as we paddled into it. We had assigned Bud to point (first canoe) as he had a GPS. I also had a GPS and I went last (sweep) to be sure everyone was in between us. It was scary, exciting, and served to really build our confidence.

We navigated a safe course left of the point across the bay. Our original plan was to eat breakfast at Donnelly Point. However, by the time we got there, the water was calm and clear. The lake was a giant mirror and the fog swirled around us. I took many cool pictures. Everyone elected to push on and wait longer for breakfast. We aimed for Ellis Brook campsite for breakfast.
Ellis Brook campsite is actually on the brook not on the point as it appears on the Delorme Allagash map. We had overshot the campsite by half a mile or so. Rather than go back, we crossed the bay and put in at Lock Dam campsite around 10AM.

We cooked our oatmeal over propane which ended up being ready at 11AM so we ate our lunch at the same time- Nutella, jelly, and peanut butter on two packages of crackers. We put dehydrated pears in our oatmeal and it tasted good. Will full bellies, some took naps. I went down and washed up a bit in the lake with a few others who were interested in the warm sun that had burned off the fog.

We all relaxed and decided we'd stay here for the night instead of pushing on due to the unsettled weather and wind that had started to come up. In the afternoon, Ryan, the assistant ranger for the area, stopped in to check our camping permit. He'd just graduated from Unity College and had only been on the job for four weeks. On the Allagash, Rangers work nine days on and get five days off. As a teenager, Ryan came here a lot with friends in the winter to ice fish. That is what got him interested in his career choice. We had been out bathing and the girls were sunning themselves when he stopped. After the ranger left, Jeff came back to report that he'd been skinny dipping around the point and the ranger caught him. He just waved and smiled with his “naughty bits” exposed. Jeff has a great sense of humor. Cool phrases I heard around the campsite that day: “as subtle as a barbed wire sandwich”, “a local general store that carried everything from a baby's fart to a thunderclap”, “a stressful situation doesn't make a stupid person smarter”, “hunger is the best sauce”, “if it flies, floats, or f**ks, RENT don't BUY”, “opinions are like a**holes- everyone has one.” At least we had moved on from the bodily function humor.
Then we had a survival lesson from Jeff Butler. I recorded some of it and took notes. Jeff’s main point was that in a survival situation most people worry about food, when in fact they should be looking for water and shelter. After our lesson, Devin and I started to cook dinner. Jeanie made the sourdough biscuits. I cut up carrots and onions. Devin cooked the burger and onions. I steamed carrots. Tim chopped up a whole head of cabbage. We dumped a soup mix package into the burger. Once it was cooked, we dumped everything into a stainless steel bucket and stirred. It was very tasty.
SUGGESTION: laminate all recipes and put them into the kitchen box so that whoever is cooking has something to refer to. There was a bit of confusion as to what we were supposed to make and how we were supposed to make it. Jeff and Tim were busy so we had to wing it.
It was dark after dinner and, while people cleaned up, we talked about the stars again. It was getting cloudy so we could only see one star. Jeff explained that even if you can only see one star, lie on the ground, pick a point and watch that star. The star will move east to west, so you really only need to see that one star to be able to navigate at night. We were all in bed by 9:30PM. Rain and drizzle began around 2AM.

Gravel Beach Campsite: Allagash Wilderness Waterway Canoe and Guide Training Trip Journal 2006

September 12, 2006

The day dawned clear and very windy out of the North. I was up by 6AM. We started the propane stove hand boiled the oats and raisins that had soaked all night. (we must have started the fire for coffee and dish water.) Tim's "Secret" Oatmeal Recipe: 5 cups old fashioned oats, 1 box raisins. Soak all night. You need to keep stirring while heating to keep the oatmeal from burning on. Bring to a boil and remove from heat. We added 1/2 box of shelled sunflower seeds to the oatmeal. Canned milk and brown sugar were added individually to taste.
Why brown sugar instead of normal sugar? Tim brings brown sugar because it clumps- if the container dumps we'll be able to recover some of the sugar. Good advice if you are going to be out in the woods for a while. We also made camp coffee which is 1/4 cup of grounds to 1 quart of water. Bring to a boil and let the grounds roll once then remove from heat. Let set a few seconds and then pour one cup of cold water into it from a height to settle the grounds. I enjoyed standing on the picnic table and dumping in the cold water from as high as I could reach. There was a strange satisfaction in it.
We all packed up our gear and tents while the dishes were done. Jeff and Tim talked about how you can add baking soda to baked beans to make them less gassy. Our first day in the woods and we were resorting to bathroom humor- the glue that binds humanity together. I planned to paddle solo this day. To set the trim in my canoe correctly for lake travel, I carried my 60lb army duffel bag with the 3 mil liner, the 50 lb group cooler, the 10 lb tent, and a 56 lb 7 gallon water jug- total about 180 lbs. For lake travel we tried to set the trim even bow to stern in the canoes.
We left camp around 9:30AM- an early start, or so we thought. We paddled 2 miles in the first hour. Then the wind and waves came up and we paddled the next 2.4 miles in 3 hours. The solo folks (me included) really had trouble moving along. The waves got higher and higher. Just past an island, while I should have been paying attention to paddling, I caught a nice 13" brook trout on a daredevil lure. I snapped a picture and put it back in the lake. The limit for brook trout in Chamberlain Lake is 14" and one trout per day. After the adrenaline from catching the fish wore off, I got very tired of paddling into the wind, moved to the shore, tried poling, and then tried pulling the canoe through the waves. I kneeled to try to get out of the wind. The wind was right in our face and the whitecaps were high. Some waves broke over the bow and some water was beginning to get into the canoes. I thought my trim might be bow light, because the wind kept trying to turn me around. I vowed to grab the knee pads out of my duffel for the rest of the trip as soon as we stopped.
Tim made the decision to give up and stop for lunch about 1:30 because we weren't making much progress against the wind and whitecap waves. The tandem canoes had gotten way ahead because two people could paddle much more effectively against the wind. We were all ready to take a lunch break but the tandem paddlers had to walk back across the beach to us before we could eat. We had two packages of reconstituted humus, two pounds of cheddar cheese, and two packs of crackers. After lunch, we each took one piece of gear and walked it a mile or so down the beach to Gravel Beach campsite. Tim identified and discussed edible plants along the way. We saw colts foot which is a yellow flower that blossoms first in spring. We saw deer tracks and I found a crayfish shell. Once we reached the campsite, Tim and Jeff demonstrated the twig bundle fire building method. Tim made a tripod for the fire and Oliver gave an axemanship demonstration. Bill and I set up our tent. The wind had died down enough so that we walked back to our canoes and paddled them to our site about 4:30. We'd had a rest and paddled against the wind for the remaining half mile pretty easily. After a dinner of Zucchini, burger, onions, rice (which had soaked in water in the cooler all day) and sourdough biscuits, Tim assigned Devin and I (Team New England) as guides for tomorrow. Devin and I discussed with Tim and Jeff the idea of leaving earlier in the morning to avoid the wind. We also discussed skipping Allagash Stream and going straight to Lock Dam as we'd missed our campsite goal for the day and we could be back on schedule. Once it was very dark, Devin and I had done dishes again, we went out to identify stars. I could easily find the big dipper and little dipper and North Star. We identified Cassiopeia, Signus, and also saw a shooting star and satellites. A tiny orange light appeared on the horizon like a small coal. Soon the coal grew into a raging orange fireball. It turned out to be the moon and it was surreal. Though it seemed really late, in reality we crawled into bed about 9PM or so.

Boy Scout Campsite: Allagash Wilderness Waterway Canoe and Guide Training Trip Journal 2006

September 11, 2006

On the fifth anniversary of 9/11/2001, I woke up full of anticipation for the opportunity to take more than a week away from our "civilized" society. The early morning was clear and cold, and my windshield sported the first frost of the season- just a little warning about the winter in the not so distant future. My wife dropped me off at Marden's in Gray, where I sat down in my camp chair beside a shopping cart containing all of my worldly possessions for the next two weeks.

Flaggers and construction people started showing up around 8AM to work on the new Gray bypass. One of the flagger ladies kept looking at me sitting there in the morning sun, in my jacket with a wool military surplus helmet liner on, huddled beside a shopping cart with an Army duffel and a paddle sticking out. After awhile, she came over and asked if I wanted a Pepsi and if I was homeless.

I kept watching for my ride in the direction of the turnpike, but after a couple hours sitting there and waiting, I realized he might be coming via Route 202. Sure enough, at 10:15 or so, I saw a large white van with five canoes on a trailer behind it. I must have made a great first impression, since everyone in the van was laughing when I rolled my gear over in a shopping cart. There was Bill, who teaches English in Japan, Dawa, from California, Devin, from Vermont, Kevin and Oliver a father son team from Scotland , Paul and Jeanie, a young couple from Wisconsin . Last but not least, Tim Smith of Jack Mountain Bushcraft, was driver and the organizer of this River Guide Training trip to the Allagash Wilderness Waterway.

Jack Mountain Bushcraft offers a multitude of survival and lifestyle classes ranging from making mukluks and snowshoes to entire college accredited semester courses. This Allagash trip was a two week portion of Tim's Earth Skills Semester program. It turned out, Paul had taken Tim's semester class the previous year and was the assistant instructor this year. Dawa, Devin, and Oliver were Tim's semester students this year. The rest of us were along because of our interest in skills needed by a Maine Guide while leading an extended river trip.

Along the way we picked up Bud Farwell, a registered Maine Guide from Bangor, and Jeff Butler, a New Brunswick Guide. Jeff took Tim's guide course a few years ago, and offers wilderness survival training as well as guided trips in New Brunswick. Once our entire crew was assembled, we stopped at a store where they had a real birch bark canoe up on the wall so that Devin and Keith could buy fishing licenses.

Just outside Millinocket, on the Golden Road, we stopped at the North Maine Woods (NMW) gatehouse so Tim could pay around $800 for overnight use fees for 8 people for 10 nights. (Bud and Jeff took care of their own fees). We had great clear views of Mount Katahdin as we drove to the Chamberlain Thoroughfare Bridge. We divided up the group gear, put the Nova Craft Prospector 18 foot canoes in the water, and paddled North reaching Boy Scout campsite about 6 PM. We paired up and set up our Eureka Timberline Outfitter 4 tent (a super durable 4 person tent that sleeps 2 people and gear very comfortably- http://www.eurekatent.com/p-65-timberline-outfitter-4.aspx) while Tim cooked elbow macaroni and spaghetti sauce on the propane stove.

Most of the cooking on this trip was over a campfire but for situations like this first night in camp, Tim brought a 10lb propane cylinder. Since we didn't use propane for lighting, the midsize propane tank was a nice luxury to have in case of adverse conditions or a late night arrival at a campsite. After dinner, Tim discussed night time lighting and also night time courtesy. He recommended that everyone wear headlamps on their red setting around their neck to minimize night blindness in everyone. The red light provides just enough light so you can see what you are doing without causing your eyes to adjust. Unfortunately, I had only brought a white LED flashlight but I was careful not to shine it in anyone's face and it worked fine for the next 10 days.

As we would on many nights to come, Devin and I volunteered to do dishes. The campfire discussion this evening was about how Rafe Judkins from Survivor had taken a bushcraft class with Tim and Jeff before he was on Survivor. http://www.cbs.com/primetime/survivor/bio/rafe_11/bio.php?season=11 Neither Jeff nor Tim knew Rafe was going to be on Survivor. One night Jeff was watching TV, affectionately known on this trip as the box that giveth, when he realized he had been with this guy in class. He called up Tim to confirm, and sure enough, it was the same guy.

Once the dishes were done, Tim went over the trip plans with us. Each evening we would assign guide teams of two students who will determine meal and route planning for the next day. The next day, the guides will organize the group such that we get breakfast, eat lunch, arrive at the next campsite by 2PM, and get dinner cooked early enough to have dishes done before dark. Breakfast needs to soak overnight every night so it will cook faster in the morning. It sounds like a good plan to everyone.

On this first night, our tentative itinerary depending on weather was: 9/11 Boy Scout Campsite, 9/12 Donnelly Point/Lost Spring, 9/13 Lost Spring/Lock Dam, 9/14 Pillsbury Island, 9/15 Schofield Point, 9/16 Jaws, 9/17 Chisholm Brook, 9/18 Long Lake Dam, 9/19 Back Channel, 9/20 Five Finger, 9/21 Michaud Farm, 9/22 home

Dehydration is a major concern when one lives in the out of doors 24 hours per day. One is supposed to consume 3 quarts or so of water per day. On this first evening, I discovered a new ritual in which I needed to crawl out of my warm sleeping bag to urinate at 2AM and again at 4AM. This new ritual taught me to the need to always put on long johns before bed and to bring a pair of slip on moccasins with me on these trips. I was chilly and damp both times when I finally got back to the tent. (I confess as the trip went on I didn’t bother to venture very far from our tents.) It was a clear moonlit night and there was no need to use a headlamp, be it red or white. It is interesting to note we weren't too far from a road and I listened to distant logging trucks all night long.

Authors Note: I visited the variety store pictured above with the Schlitz sign in January 2008. The sign welcomed visitors for years but was destroyed in a windstorm in the Summer of 2007.

Allagash River Trip Journal

In September of 2006, I was fortunate enough to take a guide training class along the Allagash Wilderness Waterway with Tim Smith. I will post each journal entry day by day in order to relieve that journey over the next two weeks. I hope you will join me! 

Artificial Lures

Honestly, I prefer fishing to catching- I could spend the whole day fishing without a single fish and be happy. That said, when I'm betting on a horse race, it sure doesn't hurt to win once in a while. I guess catching a few fish might make a great day fishing even better!

I spent the last week fishing with my kids checking out some local ponds in my area. I tested a spinner that caught my eye this summer http://www.joesflies.com/shop/product.php?productid=82&cat=0&page=1 and had amazing results on pickeral, bass, and sunfish in several ponds. It was a lot of fun and made me look like a mighty fisherman in my kid's eyes. It was definitely worth the couple bucks it cost me. Does anyone else have an especially lucky lure they'd like to recommend?

Time to catch and release those Brookies

Maine state law now states:

"From August 16 - September 30, rivers, brooks, and streams are restricted to the use of artificial lures only and the total daily bag limit for landlocked salmon, trout and togue (lake trout) is 1 fish."

These poor fish are starving due to all the rain we've been having. My kids have been catching a lot of hungry brookies lately using worms. They have even begun to experiment with different lure and worm combinations. This weekend we're switching to lures only. We don't have a problem with the limit since we try to keep it to one fish per person anyway.

What a crazy Summer we've had. There is so much water in our brook that I saw a Beaver submerge and swim upstream. I was so startled I didn't take a picture in time!

Let those brook trout spawn and stick to the lakes- happy fishing!

Sourdough English Muffins

Let me tell you that fresh breads and biscuits on a campout can really be the highlight of the experience for you and your guests. During a recent outing to Chain of Ponds, we woke up to a cold drizzle. Fortunately we had planned ahead, ok I admit it was my wife's idea, to have bacon and egg sandwiches on sourdough english muffins. We could cook them on a griddle or fry pan over the fire- but we cooked them on the propane stove so we didn't need to start the camp fire on a rainy morning.

We prepared the sourdough the night before according to the recipe on page 538 of The King Arthur Flour 200th Anniversary Cookbook. I've paraphrased this recipe below but highly recommend this book because it has a great section on sourdough. I'll be sharing my views on the best sourdough bread recipe at some point in the future.

In any case, here is the recipe:

1 cup sourdough starter,
1 ½ cups milk,
5 ½ to 6 cups King Arthur Unbleached all-purpose flour
1 Tbs sugar,
1 Tbs salt,
1 tsp baking soda,
cornmeal to sprinkle on cast iron griddle

Sponge: Mix together the starter, milk and 3 cups of flour. We cover this with a cloth and let it sit overnight.

Dough: When you first wake up, mix together the rest of the flour, sugar, salt, baking soda in another bowl. Combine thoroughly. Set aside for an hour or so until people start waking up to the smell of coffee.

When the dough has risen, knead it on a cutting board for 2-3 minutes, until the dough is smooth. The dough will feel elastic. Roll the dough about ¼ and ½ inch thick (or do it your own way). Cut out 3-4 inches circles, put them on the floured baking tray- we use a pineapple rings can with both ends cut out. Let the raw muffins rest for 15 minutes.

Preheat the cast iron griddle until hot, then cook the muffins with very gently heat until they rise, about 10 minutes. Flip on the other side, then cook again for 10 minutes.

We wrapped them in a towel to cool while we cooked the bacon and eggs. We then split them with a fork, added mayo, egg, cheese, and bacon.

Try it out and let me know what you think- this will surely be a hit with your guests!