Recently, I had the opportunity to take a 50+ mile canoe trek
along the Allagash Wilderness Waterway with 7 Boy Scouts and two other adults.
Since no one on the trek was experienced in planning a lengthy
trip such as this one, we decided to go through Maine High Adventure, a wilderness camping
program for scouting groups sponsored by the Katahdin Area Council and run out
of its base at Grand Lake Matagamon. The base provided most of the required
equipment and food, a guide, and help planning the trip. In addition to the
Allagash route we chose, the base offers several other treks including the East
and West Branches of the Penobscot River, the Aroostook River, and other less
traveled routes in the Maine North Woods.
Day 1 Outfitting and Shakedown
We spent our first day at the Maine High Adventure base getting
outfitted, planning our trek, and refreshing our canoe skills. We then settled in for the night
at one of the base’s “trailbound” campsites, and spent a little time cliff jumping in
the evening.
Day 2 Chamberlain Thoroughfare
The next morning we paddled our canoes across
Grand Lake Matagamon to start our journey. Upon reaching the landing we loaded our gear into the van for the
3+ hour ride to Chamberlain Thoroughfare. We saw a moose and several deer in
the early part of the drive, which involved driving around Baxter State Park to
Millinocket. We then used lumbering roads to head into the North Woods: First
the Golden Road, and then the Telos Road. Finally, we reached the Chamberlain Ranger Station and had lunch at the landing
before making the short paddle to our first campsite.
Originally we had intended to stop at the “Boy Scout” campsite on
Chamberlain Thoroughfare. This site, originally constructed exclusively for
scout use, is now open to the public. Interestingly, however, it was occupied
and we had to relocate to “Thoroughfare” campsite, an adjustment that is
apparently common on the Allagash where all sites are first-come, first-served,
but it was the only such adjustment we had to make. We spent the afternoon in
the water around the site, swimming and fishing.
Day 3 Chamberlain Lake
For our first full paddling day, we had planned an 8 mile paddle
northwest along Chamberlain Lake. We set out early
in the morning paddling up the rest of the Thoroughfare, and I paused once or
twice to take photos of the great views of Katadhin and The Travelers at our
backs.
Unfortunately, when we reached the main body of Chamberlain Lake
we were met with a strong headwind out of the northwest with gusts of 15-20mph. This
slowed our progress. We hugged the shoreline for the first four miles, stopping
several times at campsites on the shore and reached Gravel Beach campsite after a
few hours, for a snack break.
Upon leaving Gravel Beach, we decided to try paddling into the
wind to a point a couple of miles up the lake. A few days later with better balanced crews
this might have worked, but unfortunately our stronger crews found themselves stopping
frequently to wait for our weaker teams, and eventually we had to turn back toward Gravel Beach,
where we set up camp in hopes of better weather to come.
Day 4 Chamberlain Lake to Eagle Lake
The next day was sunnier,but high winds still
hampered our progress. This time we hugged Chamberlain's western shore to stay
sheltered from the wind and made good progress. We stopped at a pebble beach
along the route for a break and saw moose tracks on the beach, then pressed on,
easily making our prior day's goal while it was still quite early in the
morning.
While we were parked along shore for a brief hydration break, the
ranger stopped to chat with us, and we ended up hitching a ride with him across
the lake to Lock Dam. We loaded first the packs, then the canoes onto his
center console power boat, and he carried us across two canoes at a time.
It's easy to look back
and say that we should have made the crossing, but the prior day's experience was fresh in
our minds and we had 12 miles to cover that day. It’s important to understand
your crew's limitations, and the ranger was pretty clear that he’d rather help us out this way than
rescue us if we got into trouble. It's an important lesson for everyone to
avoid letting your pride get in the way of a safe and successful trip.
Lock Dam
An interesting feature of Day 4 was our brief visit to Lock Dam.
This dam was originally built to reverse the flow of water from Chamberlain Lake, sending lumber
south to Bangor’s mills instead of north to Canada. Later, locks were added
here to lift lumber from nearby Eagle Lake, but were discontinued after a few
years in favor of a mechanical tramway. Almost no sign of the locks are visible
today other than the lock keeper’s cabin, which now serves as a ranger’s cabin.
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| The earthen "Lock Dam" was built to send lumber south. |
After a short portage around the dam, we continued on to Eagle
Lake for another lengthy paddle, hugging the shoreline. Due to a miscommunication, we
missed our intended stop at The Tramway, but made it to Hidden Pine campsite by 5:30 PM,
getting us back on schedule with our trek plan.
Hidden Pine is one of the roughest campsites we experienced on the
entire trek, offering very little level ground to
pitch your tent. If you find yourself in the area, I highly recommend the short
additional paddle to Priestly Point, just a few hundred yards further along the
trail.
Day 5 Eagle Lake to Churchill Lake
Beginning on this, our third serious paddling day, traveled
smaller lakes with markedly calmer winds. The calmer water conditions afforded us
more opportunities for viewing wildlife, fishing, and photography than we had experienced
before. We saw several eagles in flight and fishing on this day, which were unfortunately
too fast moving and too distant to capture with my compact camera.
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| It's difficult to make out the fishing bald eagle above and to the right of the red canoe. |
We made an early stop at Little Eagle campsite to check our maps,
and found that the last camper had made quite a mess in the site, leaving beer
bottles and the remnants of fireworks, which are illegal in the North Woods,
all around the site. Our scouts spent
some time cleaning these up before moving on.
We also paused on the shore of Churchill Lake for an attempt at
canoe sailing. This process involves using canoe poles (yes, I said poles, see a video of a Maine Guide canoe poling) and ropes, together with our
dining fly, to sail four “rafted” canoes. This was the first time on the trip we’d had the wind at
our backs, but unfortunately they were inconsistent and gusty, making for poor
sailing, and our attempt was short-lived.
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| Our brief attempt at Canoe Sailing. |
We landed at The Jaws campsite quite early in the day. Unlike the
prior night, this was one of the best sites we
encountered, featuring three distinct campsites, all of which were level and grassy,
and a broad sandy beach, where our crew enjoyed a swim and canoe swamping contest.
We also had our best moose sighting (a Cow and Calf) since our van ride on day
2.
Day 6 Churchill Lake to Umsaskis Lake
We set off early the next morning for the short paddle from The
Jaws to Churchill Dam in order to be at the head of the line to run the rapids
on the Allagash River. The water was very calm that morning and we were
fairly close to a moose and several loons in the mile or so we had to travel.
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| A cow moose feeding at Churchill Lake |
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| Scout and Scouter pause to observe wildlife. |
The rangers at this site offer a portage service. For $10, they
haul your gear past the rapids so that you
can run the whitewater without risking damage or loss of your gear. We took
advantage of this service, then portaged our canoes and safety gear around the
dam. We had about 45 minutes to wait after the dam had been opened for the day,
and during the wait, we saw three moose, including a cow and calf swimming
across the lake above the dam.
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| Moose above Churchill Dam. |
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| Moose swimming above Churchill Dam. |
When we got the all clear, we pushed off. This stretch of the
Allagash has about a mile of class 2 whitewater, followed by another three
miles of class 1 whitewater and quick water. In spite of being whitewater
novices, we weathered the water without taking an unintended swim. Whitewater
paddling is a lot of fun. If you've never tried it I'd encourage you to give it
a go on a stretch like this with low to moderate difficulty and long enough to
really get a feel for what it's all about. We then picked up our gear at the
site of the washed-out Bisonette Bridge, and continued on through calmer waters
into the twisty, almost swamp-like area where the Allagash feeds Umsaskis Lake.
Umsaskis itself is small and shallow compared to most of the lakes
we traveled over our journey. As a result, we reached our final campsite, Sandy
Point, early. Two of this location's
three camping areas are grassy and comfortable, although the third feels a bit
like a gravel pit. Fortunately, we were
the first there and had our pick of sites and time for some much needed
downtime before dinner. Although we didn't spot any moose at the site, we did
see several jackrabbits, and signs that moose had been in the area.
Day 7 Return to Base
On the final morning, the crew staged a short canoe race between
the campsite and the bridge under the Realty Road, then put in at the ranger's
station to wait for the van back to the base. This van ride followed logging
roads to Ashland, and Route 11 from Ashland to Patten.
We made a short stop in Baxter State Park to cool off at some natural
waterslides before getting out at the landing at Grand Lake Matagamon to paddle
back to Maine High Adventure on the other side of the lake.
In all, our trek covered 53 miles including our two Matagamon
crossings. Some days, we came off the trail exhausted and it seemed like we
never had a chance to slow down. Other
days were calmer. I think it is those days the boys enjoyed most, because it
gave them a chance to make the trip their own.
Our full journey is shown in the map below.
Map of Our Trek
View Maine Outdoor Living Trails and Campgrounds in a larger map
View the South Branch Pond Trail Map
