Blogs from Maine, United States, North America - page 51

Wednesday, September 5th, 2007. Upper Richardson Lake, Maine. Darrin got up before dawn, skipped breakfast, and crossed Richardson Lake before daylight intensified the winds. After Richardson, Mooselookmeguntic Lake was next. Paddling was rigorous, but he managed to fight the strong headwind, and cross the Lake by paddling from one island and bay to the next to minimize his exposure to the wind. He completed Mooselookmeguntic by 12:30 p.m., and then portaged to Rangeley Lake. On Rangeley, he was thrilled to find that what had been a headwind was suddenly a phenomenal tailwind. On Rangeley Lake, he had lunch and considered the next big challenge: the South Branch Dead River. It would be his next waterway, and local reports indicated that it had no water. This wasn’t surprising; even the Appalachian Mountain Club book, a “bible” of ... read more

Monday, September 3rd, 2007. Darrin got up early and had breakfast before paddling the Androscoggin into Umbagog Lake. The previous day’s luck was still with him, for he sailed across the Umbagog on a tailwind. From there, he reached the Rapid River. As its name implies, it is nearly all rapids, most of them unrunnable, with little flatwater between them. To avoid the Rapid, Darrin portaged 3.5 miles along a dirt road to Lower Richardson Lake. He paddled Lower Richardson through its narrows to Upper Richardson and ended his day at a campsite on Metallik Island. The evening ended with an awe-inspiring fire-in-the-sky sunset, followed by a shower of shooting stars. ... read more

19Aug07 - Maine - On my way back to Canada through the border crossing at Calais, Maine. I stayed a couple of nights over the weekend in Augusta. Then rode to Machias ME before crossing the border. Along the way I had to checked out the blueberry pie, coffee and ice cream at Wild Blueberry Land in Columbia Falls. It's scenic along Hwy 1 and surprising free of traffic. It wasn't until I Robbinston I ran into a lot of road construction which might have explained the lack of traffic. ... read more

17 July Climbing Mt Katahdin People started stirring in the Katahdin Stream camp ground about 4:30AM. The climb up the mountain is a serious one, 5.2 miles up and down by the Hunt Trail. Most people who would climb today would not be “Thru Hikers” they would be weekenders, vacationers and summer camp kids. Last night as we walked past the Birches Shelters where the North bounders stay, they dark and empty. The Baxter State Park folks make every effort to make everyone aware of the arduous task of getting to the top of the mountain and safely down again. We had decided to start about 7AM and I rolled over for a few more winks of sleep trying to block out the noise from across the stream. 5:45AM I was rudely awaken by a rouge ... read more