Advertisement
Published: August 29th 2008
On Wednesday night, we completed our through paddle of the NFCT, the first leg of our grand adventure. In the end, the trail was not exactly what we expected but we are happy to have completed the paddle. Andy is convinced that canoe trips are the most romanticized
trips around. The idea of floating down the river, basking in the sun
with a toe in the water is terribly off base. The paddle was much
harder than we expected and will probably be the most difficult travel
we encounter on this trip.
We now realize that the difficulty stems from the unpredictability that is common to travel by water. The rate and ease of travel is entirely dependent on the weather conditions or waterway of the day. This is not exactly tough to comprehend but it is not something we fully considered before the paddle began. When the stars align, a great day on the water is hard to beat. But when the day begins to derail, it creates a degree of misery that is difficult to cope with.
Luckily we made it through and since we last checked in on Lake Mooselookmeguntic, the remaining paddle was a rollercoaster ride of
unbelievable highs and crushing lows. Day 21 was no doubt a day of crushing lows. We left Rangeley
with a great breakfast from Mooseley Bagel but on a four mile
portage along a busy truck route. Dumps trucks and semi trucks aside, the
portage was not too bad. Along the way we developed a system for carrying the boat and gear in one straight trip. The system relied on ten minute intervals in which one man would carry the boat while the other carried the gear. Not surprising, the gear is much easier to carry so it afforded a break before carrying the boat again. After perfecting the system, we were able to portage at 2.5 miles an hour, which was our most consistent travel of the trip.
After putting in on the South Dead River, the day took a disastrous turn.
The first blow came when Andy realized he had lost the GPS device. We
had brought the device as a back-up but used it more than we had expected. To Andy's credit, he handled the loss well but it would be a few days before we would feel the true loss of not having this reliable navigational device.
We continued down the river, running behind schedule as usual, to have the day deal us the death blow: Andy broke his paddle. A few weeks prior, Andy had cracked
the end of the blade in New York after putting in at a dam but the
paddle had worked well since the mishap. Unfortunately, the shallow,
rocky waters of the Dead proved too much for the compromised paddle
and it gave out around four o'clock in the afternoon. To make matters
worse, the Dead River offered few reasonable camping options. Andy and
I consider ourselves to be responsible stealth campers but finding
sites along overgrown rivers is incredibly difficult. So with the
unpleasant possibility of camping in chest high weeds, we decided to
head for the Stratton Motel.
One year ago we arrived at the Stratton Motel at five in the morning,
after spending the night on the roadside of the AT. The owner of the
motel offers a hostile for hikers which we hoped would be extended to
through paddlers. As we arrived at nightfall, the glow of the motel was a sight for sore eyes and marked the end of a terrible day on the water. Though we were happy to have a bed, we really enjoyed the opportunity to interact with the AT hiker community
again. We spent the evening with two northbound through hikers,
Freebird and Leo. These guys were nearing the end of the trail but it was great to hear their stories of the weather and other hikers.
While in the comfort of the hostile, Andy was able to attempt some
trailside paddle repair. By using JB Weld, duct tape and some miscellaneous
hardware, Andy mended his paddle well enough to leave the town of
Stratton. This stop in Stratton was both good and bad for our paddle trip but
that is always how it goes. Unfortunately, Andy and I were rather sad to be leaving Stratton on the water rather than the AT. Canoe travel cannot compare to long distance hiking. Both of us love ultra light hiking which meant we wanted no part of the cumbersome canoe that morning. Even thought it was only our 22nd day in the boat, we were mentally done with the through paddle. Both of us paddled absentmindedly,
dreaming of hiking atop the Bigelow Range that towers over Flagstaff
Lake.
After spending the entire day on Flagstaff Lake, we came to the
conclusion that we needed to finish the paddle as soon as possible. At
camp we pulled out all the remaining maps, ran the mileage numbers, and decided
to shoot for a 29 day completion time. According to our math, it meant
we had seven days to complete 230 miles. Though we had never been able to travel at a consistent rate, we assumed that the lake travel of Maine would be easy enough that we could cruise through the remainder of the paddle to prepare for our winter
southbound hike. Once again, we underestimated the unpredictability of
the NFCT.
Day 23 chiseled away a little more of our love for canoeing when we exited
the Dead River to travel up Spencer Stream. We battled our way upstream by
dragging the boat for six hours. Never have we endured such miserable
water travel. Maybe if we knew how to pole upstream it would have been
better but the water was low and the elevation drop was constant. That
night we camped on Spencer Lake, believing our goal of a 29 day
completion was shot.
True to our canoe trip, our 24th day on the trail was absolutely wonderful.
When the alarm sounded at 5:00am, we sprang into action by downing two
presses of coffee and cranking out the portage to the Moose River.
Along the way we stopped in Jackman for a brief lunch and resupply
before continuing to Long Pond. Though we were ecstatic to complete a
great day of travel, we were once again fooled by the good fortune we had
felt.
In the dark of night, we discovered that the campsite we had
aimed for on Long Pond was nonexistent. As we blindly searched the
shore at night, we decided to call it a day at 9:30pm. In a small
break along the shoreline forest, we found two reasonable pads to
pitch the shelters and called it a day.
The next morning, our 5:00am wake-up call from Andy’s wristwatch came early but we did not hesitate exit the woods in which we awoke. Though our wake-up was rough, the 25th day of paddling was outstanding on many levels. Much to our delight, the paddle across Moosehead Lake was carefree. The water was rough, due to the winds and
high boat traffic but we made it to the historic Northeast Carry by dusk. As we lumbered down the logging road in the dark of night, we dreamed of reaching a decent camp pad by the end of the portage. Little did we know that we would find much more than a nice plot of land on the approaching riverbank.
After dodging many flooded sections of the road, down the washed out, jeep trail to the river. As we approached we began to see lights and hear voices. Our first thought was great, looks like we won't be able to enjoy an easy camp selection to end the
day. With deliberate force, we threw down the gear and boat as the mosquitoes converged without hesitation. We were surrounded by nothing of promise, just swampy grass and bugs.
Andy's vote was to hit the water but it had already been a long day on the water. Then we heard voices calling to us from across the river. Thinking we had missed the
portage in the darkness, I called out, "is this the west branch?" A
simple "yes" came from the opposite back of the river. Then they
inquired as to what we were doing in the dead of night, to which Andy replied “looking for a campsite.” Upon hearing this they invited us to come across the river to
camp on much better ground. After we crossed the river the night was
set to be our best camp of the entire trail.
Clint, Jesse, and Steve welcomed us into their cabin, offering us
food, drinks, and beds to sleep on. It was a fantastic night, hands
down the best night we had on the trail. We stayed up late telling them of trip up to that point. Clint was pretty excited about the map set, particularly by the route through
Maine. He had traveled many of the waterways as a younger man and kept
saying, "you boys are in the woods now."
The next morning we left the camp full of breakfast and coffee,
excited about the rest of the paddle. The remaining miles of lake
travel and Clint's strong endorsement of the Allagash River made us
feel like we could have the trip completed in 29 days after all. In hindsight, we can see that we are slow learners because the trail was ready to take us from an unbelievable high to another record low.
For the majority of the day, the paddling was great. We covered the
Penobscot River relatively quickly and easily crossed the lakes and ponds along the
way. Much to our surprise, we were still on schedule but that would
end as the day came to a close. The deterrent to our well laid plan
was a difficult 1.9 portage. This carry is technically not part of the
NFCT so they are not able to mark that trail in the normal fashion.
The only thing we had to go off was the GPS coordinates given on the
map. Sadly, this was when we discovered how terrible losing the device
was for our trip. We traveled up and down the Umbazooksus Lake,
searching for anything that resembled a trail. Impatience conquered us
once again; we pulled out in the area that we believed to be correct for a bushwhack up to the road. Both of us have made this mistake before and somehow we made it once again. By using the feeble digital compass on Andy's watch, we tromped through the north woods of Maine. Carrying the canoe on a flat road is
uncomfortable at best but bushwhacking with the boat is nearly
impossible. I must hand it to Andy because he is much tougher than I.
He carried that boat like a champ while I struggled with all the gear.
Finally, as dusk surrounded us, we reached the logging road, both of
us agreeing that the decision to bushwhack was one of the worst we had
made on the trip.
As we sat on the logging road, in the middle of the north woods, we
weighed our many options. Thankfully, we agreed that it would be
incredibly foolish to attempt the carry to Mud Pond without the GPS
device. Reaching the logging road was only about a quarter of the
portage yet it had taken us an hour and a half, meaning we would have
spent the night walking through the woods. So we decided to stick to
what we know best, portaging. We headed southeast on the road in the
direction of Longley Stream road. Along the way we were tempted by
trails and a brook heading in the direction of the lake but we never
exited the road. We continued to walk into the night, switching back
and forth between the gear and boat. Our ability to portage straight
through, one man carrying the gear while the other carries the boat,
made these long detours so much easier.
After many miles of walking, we reached Chamberlain Bridge at 1:15am.
This detour took us many miles off the route. Though the route crosses
Chamberlain Lake, we were at the very end of the lake which
essentially doubled the distance we needed to travel on body of water.
We put in the water and glided through the night to the first campsite
we could find but it was nearly 2:00am before we exited the water to
call it a day.
Much to our surprise, we awoke five hours later ready to paddle our
27th day of the trip. Though we were off route and behind schedule,
the idea of finishing in 29 days pushed us to keep moving as fast as
we could. After three hours of paddling we once again found ourselves
on the NFCT with our sights set on Fort Kent. As we basked in the
glory of rejoining the route, the prevailing NW wind hit us like a
freight train; it was unbelievable.
It is difficult to describe the conditions in which we tried to cross Chamberlain Lake. We were just five miles from the Tramway Carry but it took us four hours to cover
this short distance. The waves moving across the lake were large
enough to plunge the front of the boat beneath the water. As we battled the winds,
fatigue continued to weigh on our shoulders, eventually forcing us to
stop along the shore and seek shelter from the wind. We scrambled up
the shore into the woods to have some lunch and catch a brief nap.
Though we felt much better after taking a short break, paddling
sounded like a miserable option. As the day continued to wind down, we
gave up on the winds dying down and attempted to paddle once more.
Eventually we made it to the Tramway Carry but it was the most difficult paddling
we experienced on the trip. After the carry we paddled another two
miles to Farm Island on Eagle Lake where an empty campsite awaited us.
We called it a day at 6:30pm but we had never felt so fatigued. Our
wrists, fingers, elbows, shoulders and backs ached through and
through. It was at this point, the lowest point of the trip, which we
gave up on a 29 day finish.
At the end of our 27th day on the trail, we were still 100 miles from
Fort Kent, a seemingly impossible distance to cover in the next two days.
Because of our detours and horrendous weather conditions, we decided to
settle for a 30 day finish time. We started the next day feeling
fresh, happy to slow down and finish the paddle to Fort Kent.
We reached the Allagash Wilderness Waterway by midmorning and this is
when the paddle finally turned in our favor. The Allagash River is an
absolutely beautiful paddle. Thrilled to be going downstream once
more, we paddled our hearts out, covering 40 miles before we stopped
at Round Pond for the night.
Finally, after many hard miles and unexpected problems, we were happy
to be on the trail, a short two days from Fort Kent. We began our 29th day in good spirits, happy to be paddling, not minding missing our finishing goal. Through the morning the river flowed in our favor, pushing us down the river at a wonderful rate of speed. We
exited the Waterway and made it to Allagash Village by 3:45pm, covering the 33 mile section relatively quickly.
As we snacked on our remaining food, staring at the St John River, the final waterway on the trail, we found ourselves unable to quit the day early. The owner of Allagash Sports had offered us a free stay at his private campsite
but we could not end the day with so much sunlight remaining. Fort
Kent seemed so close but was still 27 miles away from where we sat.
In the end we decided to continue down the St John, planning to paddle
till nightfall which would leave us a short paddle into Fort Kent the
following day.
We paddled as hard as we could with all the useable daylight, leaving us just 10 miles outside of Fort Kent at nightfall. At this point, we were fifty
miles into our day but we could not feel the fatigue, we just kept
paddling. We covered the remaining 10 miles in the dark, reaching Fort
Kent a little before 10:00pm, completing the trail 29 days. It was a ridiculous way to end the trail but we were so happy to finish on a successful note.
Today is our second day resting in Fort Kent. We spent the past two nights in the Northern Point Motel where Carl the manager takes good care of paddlers. Tonight we are camping in the city park, back to life in the tent. It has been great to be out of boat but tomorrow we will continue paddling down the St John to Perth New Brunswick. There we will intersect the footpath that will takes us to Springer Mountain, GA. Right now we are excited to start another trail knowing that it cannot be any harder than paddling the NFCT.
aboone31@gmail.com Sign out
©2007 Google
Advertisement
Tot: 0.134s; Tpl: 0.017s; cc: 5; qc: 43; dbt: 0.0374s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Dennis Anderson
non-member comment
Way to go!!!
I really enjoy your blog, what terrific writing! It's sounds like the 1st leg was extremely difficult, but congrats on hanging in there and completing the trek! I can just feel your discomfort when wet and tired, and the aching muscles tryig to paddle into the wind. Get some rest and good luck on the next phase!!