Our trip officially began when we got into Allagash Village and rolled into the HQ of Allagash Guide Service at 10pm. We decided not to set up tents and instead elected to simply sleep in the car to make the morning easier.
We woke up around 5am, and got our stuff ready as we eagerly awaited Brittany's arrival (the owner of the guide service, and our shuttle driver). We were pretty stiff from sleeping in the car, but we did a final break down of the items we were bringing and did some last minute organizing.
Brittany had emailed a couple nights before and asked if we could move up our time table. The original plan was that she'd pick us up at 7:30, and have us to the put in by around 11. The change meant we were being picked up by 5:45 and at the put in by around 9:30 - which worked fine for us, as we wanted to have a little more time on the water that day to get our feet wet.
A big, sand-colored Toyota Tundra Crew Cab barreled into the driveway and outstepped Brittany and Joel. Some brief greetings were had and then she goes "alright, let's get going", as Joel opened the tailgate and looked at us for a moment before gesturing with his hands - a none verbal "well, what are ya waiting for, get your gear in there". They made it clear that there will be time for goofing around, but that time wasn't now - I fell in love with them instantly. We got everything in the bed of the truck, and Brittany instructed us to follow her in our car down to where we will leave our car at the take-out. A few minutes later we descended into this long field next to the Allagash River, and we parked. She got out and gave us a quick run down of what to expect when we come down the river on our last day, and then pointed at the truck and said "now get on in". Nick opened the door before me and let out a "oh hello there" to something inside the truck, to which I immediately followed up with "is there a dog in there?" Brittany goes, "yep, that's Annie". I threw up my arms in celebration as I jumped into the truck to greet her. The trip was starting out great.
The truck drive was about 40mins to Fort Kent, where we would stop at a little general store, get
breakfast, and any last minute snacks we wanted. After that we had about a 2h15m drive down to the put in at Indian Stream. During the drive we sat back and relaxed as Brittany and Joel carried on a conversation that seemed like one that has been continuing for weeks, and will likely continue on for weeks to come. They didn't completely ignore us, it was clear that we could join the conversation if we wanted, which we did at times, but that they weren't going to sit around being silent on our account. Throughout points in the conversation Brittany would suddenly ask us a question as though it was on her list and she just remembered. Basic safety briefing type questions, and generally assuming we knew nothing, which is likely what she has to deal with most often.
A couple hours of laughing, groaning, and playing with Annie, and we finally got to the put-in. After we unloaded everything, I asked Brittany and Joel if they'd allow me to take some photos of them, which they did.
They bid us good luck, and took off.
The research I put into this trip kicked in immediately as we started loading the canoe. Everything I had read said we'd have to wade Indian Stream, but the water level was pretty high, so we decided to just try paddling down it. It was about a quarter mile of stream until we reached Eagle Lake. We ended up getting trapped on the rocks, and I had to get out and correct us, it was just too narrow.
Before too long we made it out into Eagle Lake. Our most recent weather update said we'd have an 80% chance of rain on our first day, starting at 10am. We were in the water by 10:30 and it was overcast and chilly. We continued on into the lake, heading North-Northeast. We had a tailwind, which was great, but the clouds to the South looked like they may be the ones that brought us the rain, so we decided to pick up our pace and make it to the halfway point at Second Ridge, where we'd also get our first hiking option. We were absolutely amazed at how much faster our pace was, partly due to the tailwind we had, so we made it there in just a couple hours.
By the time we pulled our canoe ashore, the sun was blasting and the bad weather looked like it had passes us to the south. We decided to do the hike, it was only about 1.2mi total. Saw some fresh moose poop on the way, likely from a mama and baby, but we never got to see them. The view from the lookout was beautiful, but we also saw some more clouds headed out way, so we high tailed it back to the boat to continue North. When we got down, we met three people who were on a fishing trip, they had a giant yellow Lab who played with me for a bit while Nick got some food in him.
We left there and continued on to the North, heading into Round Pond (the first one), and then into Chuchill Lake. Saw a big moose standing in the meadow just after Round Pond, we were downwind, so it smelled us long before we saw it, he sauntered off into the woods before we could get a close look at him. We passed the Scofield Point campsite, where we saw a tall guy fishing on the sand bar, he waved, we waved. The tailwind started to turn some of the deeper water into large waves, so we strafed across the waves while we kept the wind at our backs. High Bank Campsite, where we were planning on staying, came into view and we went around the northern side of it to pull the canoe in on calmer waters. We were keeping our eyes on the South and the weather we saw on the horizon all day, but now that we got a look view to the North, what we saw there made us hurry to set up our rainflies.
Expecting the rain sooner than later, we sat there for a bit as we prepped some dinner. I heard a rustle to my right, and I turned to see a sizeable rabbit not but 10ft away, seemingly unconcerned about our presence. It nibbled away before finally wandering away, and then another one appeared on my right, similarly unphased by us.
Feeling emboldened by the lazy approach of the rain, I decided to take my chair out to the peninsula a few hundred feet from the campsite. From there it was clear that the storm wasn't just rolling in from the North, but was going to eventually swallow us from all sides. We had some time still though. Nick brought his fishing rod out to me and asked if I wanted to learn. I said sure, and he gave me a brief run down of what I was to do. The last time I tried to learn to fish, my dad was teaching me at about 6 or 7. The only thing I caught was my cheek, and I was done with fishing after that.
Luckily this experience was decidedly different, as not 5 seconds after I cast the lure into the water North of the shore, I got a caught and reeled in what Nick told me was a beautiful Brook Trout. Suddenly fishing was fun, so after asking Nick to unhook that fish and let it back into the water, I cast again on the Southern shore, and boom, another Brook Trout. I was so excited at my beginners luck, but I also genuinely felt bad for hurting the fish, so I gave the rod back to Nick and he continued to fish.
We sat out there for a bit longer and the first few warnings we got were from nearby lightning - then finally some light rain - which had us hurry back to the campsite. After spending some time under the rainfly as the rain poured down around us, we finally called it a night and got to sleep a bit before dark.
That night was filled with thunder, rain in varying intensities, and a choir of loons to our south that kept the widest grin on my face.
We got going at the crack of dawn. Everything was wet so we set the rain flies up to dry while we made breakfast. We had the longest planned day of paddling today at a bit over 20 miles, all the way up to Long Lake Dam - a site I was particularly excited to camp at because of the waterfall that was there. The dam was an old wood and concrete structure that has long since collapsed, leaving a long waterfall. Once we got the canoe packed back up, we set off on the 3-4mi lake travel portion of the day, which went pretty smoothly as there was very little wind.
We hit the shoreline just left of Churchill Dam within an hour, and were greeted by the ranger who gave us the skinny about the service he offers to people who are running the rapids. Chase Rapids extend from Churchill Dam all the way down to when the lake hits the meadows near Umsaskis Lake, about 9 miles. The first 4.5 miles of these rapids are mostly Class 2, and the second half mostly Class 1. Nick and I had barely done Class 1 in our training for this trip, so for me, this section had me the most worried. The ranger charges ten bucks to haul the bulk of your gear down to the halfway mark at an old washed out bridge, he was just about leave to take another set of gear down and he said he'd be back in about 40 minutes. So Nick and I decided to walk down the trail a bit and scout the rapids. The hardest part, I heard, was this big left hand turn about a mile down the river. We got down there, and what I saw didn't scare me at all, in fact most of my worry melted away. Got back up a bit before the ranger returned and met a different ranger who I guess was covering for the first one while he shuttled gear. He exchanged some pleasantries with us, asked where we camped, and told us he's expecting rain by 1:30.
The main ranger rolled back up and we gave him money to shuttle our gear, we loaded everything up along with another groups gear. That other group was the same one we passed on Scofield point. We chatted a bit with them as we were putting in, and gave them a bit of a lead as they set off - then we slid in to follow. I thought, given our lack of experience, we should try to follow their line. Nick thought that would be cheating, I just thought it wise. So we loosely followed, but they were so much more experienced that they quickly gained enough distance and were out of sight before too long.
We started to plow through the rapids, hitting a few rocks here and there. Frankly it was incredibly fun, and any remaining worry I had melted away and was taken down river. It was just when I was like "this is so much freakin fun", that a big pile of rocks was just in front of us, and Nick and I just weren't synchronized enough to avoid it, so we hit it straight on, before being spun clockwise around and getting the stern lodged up on another rock. Stuck. I tried to remain calm as I looked to see whether we were moving at all or fully stuck, and we were ever so slightly sliding back with the current, but we were pointed backwards. So I instructed Nick to paddle on one side as I hopped and pushed until we were fully off the rock, we finally slid backwards as I back paddled as hard as I could on one side to spin us back around correctly before the next rapid section. Success!
When we came around the corner, we saw that next group waiting in an eddy to make sure we came out okay, before finally catching up with them at the 4.5 mile mark.
They introduced themselves as Joe and Jordan (I thought it was Gordon at first). We had lunch with them and shot the shit, learned that they were experienced paddlers from Fort Kent, (the first part we already knew). They gave Nick some worms for fishing, and gave us a Moxi to share (a pop that is popular in Maine), they "wouldn't be proper Mainers if they didn't insist we have one".
We took off after lunch to finish the rapids, and make it to Umsaskis Lake, after all, we were only about a quarter of the way done with the mileage for the day.
The next 4.5 miles of rapids were a breeze for seasoned Class 2 rapid paddlers like us, and we only hit like, 10 rocks, tops. The rapids broke all of the sudden into calm wide river surrounded by meadows, we were almost to the lake and done with all of the major rapids of the trip, which was definitely bitter and not sweet, as we came to really enjoy that aspect of the river. We took a break and did some fishing, I can't remember whether I caught anything, but Nick hooked a few chubs. We got passed by Joe and Jordan here, said how do ya do, etc. Then we kept pushing on into the lake. Overhead we saw two Bald Eagles circling and gliding about in the wind, and then potentially one Osprey.
Sit back for a moment and imagine a mountain lake, like the most picturesque one you can, the one that you can almost immediately picture in any painting you've seen in a log cabin. That is Umsaskis Lake. If we hadn't begun to get a headwind, I'd have taken more photos of it, but it was just beyond perfect. In fact, I was so in love with it that I guess I didn't take my eyes away from it at all to grab my phone and take a photo. It seems like I'm not the only one either, I did a quick search and it seems there aren't really a lot of photos of photos of the lake. So you'll just have to visit there and see for yourself.
We yo-yo'd Joe and Jordan through the lake, and on one stretch where we were in front, we here a shout only to look back and see that Joe had jumped into the water - which was very cold. The sun was out in full force, so it probably felt good, but it was still cold as shit. A few minutes later Nick starts taking off his PFD and his shirt, and I asked if he planned on jumping in. He said yes. To which I said "we haven't done a remount in the water yet", Nick: "well I have", "well I have not, so I'd rather we get closer to shore". (we were out in the middle of the lake at this point, nearing the next river section). Nick didn't seem to hear or understand me, so he stood up as though he was going to jump in. So I said "the way I see it, you have two choices, a) you can jump in now, and swim back to shore, where I will have paddled after you jump in, or b) you can be patient and wait til we get closer, and jump in where I feel better about you remounting the boat, and the water will be decidedly warmer - because I am not learning to remount in the middle of the lake". It took Nick a lot longer to decide than I would expect, given the options, but he ultimately relented, albeit reluctantly. We got closer to shore, and Nick stood on the tip of the bow for about a minute trying to get the nerve to jump in, so I yelled "shit or get off the pot" as I pack paddled quickly to knock him in.
He got back in quickly, as even here the water was colder than expected, and we pushed on. After Umsaskis Lake we went through a small river section, and then into Long Lake, which actually wasn't much longer than the lake before, strangely, but it does point North to South, and is mostly a straight line, like a really wide river. As we came through into the lake, we saw Joe and Jordan stopped and staring off to the right, as we got closer we saw what looked to be a yearling moose, who traipsed off into the brush, making it clear that it wasn't keen on the growing audience it had.
Anyway, Long Lake is broken up by these symmetrical sandbars around it's waist, three sets as you go up, which helped block some of the slight head wind we had as we paddle up the western shore of the expanse. Long Lake gave way to Harvey Pond after a short thoroughfare, and we saw some weather to the South, so we tried to pick up the pace to get to Long Lake Dam.
As we got closer, we saw Joe and Jordan at the take out, but then someone else, which meant that the campsite was occupied by at least some people. We slid up, greeted J&J who said they were going to line the dam and then keep going to Round Pond (the second one). Then were approached by a tall older man, hands in his pockets who simply asked in more of a statement than a question "passing through or staying", the emphasis was clearly on the first part as though that was our only option. I said we had hoped to camp there, but we'll see what it looks like. He said there are two campsites, each with two cells, and that their group was two couples. The math meant there was room for another group, but the man I later ended up referring to as the "Mayor of Long Lake Dam" made it seem like we wouldn't necessarily be welcome. I told him that Nick and I would chat about it as we watched J&J line the dam, which we had never seen anyone do, and hadn't done ourselves. As we got up on the hill directly above, we glanced to the right along the shoreline and saw people in their birthday suits, clearly belonging to the mayor's group. Not exactly the type of wildlife I was expecting to see. After watching J&J line the dam, we decided to push on and give it a go.
We had one more campsite within reach, and then not another one for 10 miles. So it was a bit of a gamble to push on. About a mile down the river, we were pleased to see that the campsite at Cunliffe Island was vacant, and it was quite pleasant. The takeout was in a little cove, protected from the current of the river, like the island was welcoming us to come on in and take it easy.
I got started on setting up the rainfly while Nick got kindling for a fire. We decided to do the rainfly shelter over the tents this time, so that we wouldn't have to get rained on as we sprint to the tents during a storm - which still seemed like it was heading our way. This campsite ended up being my favorite, the bugs were minimal, and the little cove was lovely. I finally got in the water for a bit of a bath, too. I explored a bit on the island, found a big pile of bear poop, and then a large meadow of moss, which I'd have been happy to move my tent to and camp at - but alas.
Nick spent some time fishing, I think he caught a few more of the chubs. We did get a little rain, but nothing like the night before. We sat under the shelter for a bit and chatted before turning in for the night. A bit after sun down, I heard the cackling howls and yips of a coyote hunting party off in the distance. Actually, the sounds seemed about a mile away, and came from up river, maybe near Long Lake Dam, maybe - just maybe it came from across the river from the campsite there, and the mayor was shaking in his boots. One can hope.
The next morning we woke up to the sun poking through the trees, and hurriedly got the rain flies on the ridge post above the picnic tables to dry. We each had some clothes that were wet too, so we hung those to dry near the fire that we got going. We took our time this morning, since we only had 10miles planned. Our goal was Round Pond, and I wanted to camp at Tower Trail Camp, since that's where we planned on hiking, and I knew it was the only one facing directly west, so we'd have a chance to dry some things and charge batteries with the solar panel.
After about an hour, we saw the mayor and his group go past the island, damn, I guess those coyotes didn't get him after all. Shortly after, we rolled out as well. We were met with a fairly strong headwind, which had us seek out the opposite shoreline to follow, and avoid some of the wind. We were led up the river by an Osprey, who took a dive in front of us to catch a fish, unsuccessfully. Then a bit later we saw another Osprey, smaller, with a nice sized fish in it's claws.
After the headwind gave us a bit of a sore start to the day, the river turned east and we got a break from it, and then were greeted by bugs. It was at this point that I realized I must have lost my bug hat when we did the day before on Chase Rapids, as it was stuffed into my PFD. So that sucked.
We had a few uneventful miles, until we started into the area just before Round Pond, with dozens of island meadows large and small, we stopped on one to fish and eat a snack. I got the shit scared out of me by a big snake, clearly a resident of the island. We pushed on to see even more islands, each with it's own picturesque tree near the center. It was a truly beautiful place. The island meadows finally gave way to Round Pond, which was breathtakingly beautiful. We paddled around for a bit on the shore we came out on, fished a bit. I caught a rainbow trout, which Nick said was sizeable but on ceremony we shouldn't keep it. Up until this point, I was sure that Nick let me use some special lure that almost guaranteed catching a these beautiful fish, like the master ball from the Pokemon Red days of my youth. He finally asked to use the rod I was using, but still only caught chubs, so it was then that I genuinely started feeling bad that my beginners luck was taking all of the good fish from him.
The wind picked up and we decided to cross the pond before it got any worse, but it did, that was I think the longest mile of the trip, at near 30 mins. We passed this small peninsula with Jalpert's Sport Camp along the length of it. Several hunting cabins, and there were a fair number of large fishing canoes on it's shores. At this point we had seen more fishing canoes with motors than we did other regular canoes. It wasn't really a bother though, as it was genuinely nice to see other people out enjoying this beautiful place. As we got closer to the campsite we were aiming for, Tower Trail Camp, we saw something or someone there, and I hoped so hard that it wasn't the mayor, as that campsite was only for one group. I wanted to hike that 4.5 mile trail leading to the Round Pond Tower, and I knew the chances would be less likely if we had to camp somewhere else.
The closer we got, the more it seemed like there was in fact someone there. We got about 150ft off shore and someone came out onto the hill and watched us come in, it had to be the mayor. Finally we got close enough to realize that it was Joe and Jordan! I yelled to them that I was sure it was the old guy from long lake dam, and they both started laughing. We got up there, tied off the canoe, and chatted with them. They had camped there the night before, and were going to be setting off after they had lunch. We chatted a long while, they told us they had hiked the trail and recommended it. They also said that they had gone to the top of the tower which by their recollection had to be "250-300ft tall". I didn't want to refute this, but I felt like that was really way too tall for a look out tower. They said the rangers just installed a brand new top for the tower, too.
My secret plan was for us to hike up with our sleeping bags and some food and camp on top of the tower. The knowledge that it may be a little bit taller than a traditional fire tower made me a bit nervous, but I still wanted to try. Before they left, I asked Joe and Jordan if I could take their photos, which they cheerfully agreed to. I can't say enough nice things about these young men, knowledgeable, happy, friendly, and absurdly accommodating. Joe is high energy, talkative, and every other sentence was a joke followed by a giggle. Jordan by contrast, was quieter, stoic, and took every opportunity to teach us something we may not know.
Joe (left), and Jordan (right)
I started to think that these two were our unofficial guides, they were always ahead of us, and always seemed to have made it already to where we were trying to go - as though they were waiting to greet us (even if they didn't mean to). By now, and lasting to the end of the trip, the sight of these two was a welcome one - a welcome with was reciprocated by them in a "good to see you fellas, how'd you get on back there?"
They took off from us and said they were putting in about 10 miles to the Five Finger Brook area. We learned that they had started back at Chamberlain lake, and were headed all the way to Fort Kent, a ~10 day journey.
Nick and I rearranged some things, to go for our hike, and took only the essentials, still my backpack was way past it's weight limit. There was a large log at the edge of the camp, so we put all of our gear, food barrels, and dry bags up against the log, and then covered it all with the canoe, which we tied down tight to the log. We set off up the trail, slowly but surely. We passed a large pile of bear poop, not a quarter mile up the trail. Fresh enough to make me think back at how tight I actually tied down the canoe that was blocking our gear - but not fresh enough to make me rethink leaving the gear at all.
The hike up was mostly chill, my backpack being overfilled wasn't making the hike easy by any stretch - but we did it. We passed tons of moose poop, varying ages, but two distinctly different sizes - leading me to believe a mama and baby frequented the trail. I made sure Nick knew what we should do if we happened upon one. About half way up, we heard a large tree branch break, or dead standing get knocked down, Nick thought it was wind, but the air was calm. I ushered us back to a large stump just in case we were between a mom and it's kid. We waited a few minutes before pushing on.
I was a bit surprised when we crossed a total of three logging roads, when the map suggested we'd only cross one. We finally reached the summit, and saw the tower. While it wasn't nearly 300ft tall, more like 60-70ft, I changed my mind immediately about sleeping on top of it. From below, it look like someone made a bobble head doll of a fire tower and stuck it on top of a mountain. The metal structure that held the little 8'x8' cabin looked like it was only about 4'x4' at the top, leaving the cabin to sit significantly wider than the extents of the structure. Not only that, but instead of the staircase I expected to spiral up the sides like a typical tower, it was a ladder that went up one of the corners.
I proclaimed immediately that if Molly found out that I climbed to the top of this, let alone camped on top, I'd have hell to pay. Nevertheless, we climbed up about halfway. You can see Nick here at about halfway. The issue with the ladder is that we'd have never got our bags through it. If you leaned back a little, you'd hit the corner.
I walked around the tower before getting my final piece of NOPE about the tower, you can vary clearly see that the top two sections of the structure are bent, almost buckling a bit.
So I said no, Nick said I shamed him into not climbing it, but his legs were quivering a bit when we were on the ladder. For scale, each of the sections leading up, were about 6ft, and there were 10 of them.
We did however, find that we had a scrap of cell signal from where we were at on the ladder. So I gave a quick call to Molly to let her know we were safe and tell her I love her.
Nick climbed up to the halfway point a couple more times. We had some dinner at the top, and then we started the hike back down to the campsite just before dark.
The hike down got dark really quickly. We did see a coyote jump out onto the trail, run the same direction we were going, and then back into the woods. That was awesome.
We hustled down, but it still took the better part of an hour and half.
We got back to the campsite to find that our gear had been undisturbed, and we still had some ambient light to set up our tents. I got a fire going just before 10, and Nick wanted to turn in shortly after that. I stayed up for a while because the sky was so clear and I wanted to do some photography. The loons sang while I set up the tripod and aimed my camera at the stars. We were expecting the coldest temperatures that night, down into the 30s, but it remained very pleasant as I sat their and looked at the stars. The North Maine woods is one of the largest dark zones in the Eastern United States. The mountains to the Northwest block the light pollution from the Montreal area, and the mountains to the Southeast block Bangor and Portland.
I was expecting to see the Milky Way, but I guess we weren't facing the right direction. But what I did get to see was countless stars, and that was not a disappointment by any stretch of the imagination.
I finally turned in for the night at about 11:30, while the loons sang me right to sleep.
It was a pretty cold night, in fact at about 2am I heard Nick exclaim "it's freezing!"
I woke up with the sun at about 5am, which was what we had both gotten into the habit of doing, though this morning Nick was being a bit lazy. There was a thick fog on the water, and I couldn't see anything past the shoreline of our campsite. I got a fire going and started my breakfast. I walked out with the fishing rod and cast into the water, I wasn't expecting to catch anything, but I ended up reeling in a fish that looked like the one I caught the day before shades of, red, green, and blue up it's side. I tried to call to Nick, as I had never unhooked a fish, but he was fast asleep. So I apologized profusely to the fish while I carefully tried to free the hook from it's lip. I got it out and I promptly let him gently back into the water, where he swam away, so I assumed he was okay. Still, I figured I shouldn't cast again until more practiced hands were nearby to unhook the fish.
At a little after 6:15, Nick emerged from his tent, and came over to the fire. We chatted a bit about the plan for the day, and set up the rainflies to dry while he ate breakfast. It hadn't rained, but just the humidity from our breathing in our tents saturated the underside of our shelters.
I took a fishing rod and went into the woods a bit, since there was a brook nearby, and cast into the water, catching another of the rainbow trout, who jumped off the hook the moment I pulled it out of the water. Then I ran back to Nick and said we should get in the water and fish while the fog was about. He agreed and we got the canoe in the water to fish. I don't remember if Nick caught anything, but I didn't. We glided along the mirrored pond while the sun came up from the ridge behind our campsite and started to chase away the fog. It was an incredibly beautiful scene. I asked Nick to drop me back at camp so I could take some photos.
When he dropped me off, near where we had drifted to, I hustled through the woods to the campsite to get my camera, and then spotted two loons passing by - who later I found would visit Nick and fish with him.
Since we couldn't see the shore we were aiming at, we didn't leave until most of the fog had cleared. We decided to do a fairly long day, a bit over 20miles to Allagash Falls, but we were banking on a good current and with any luck - a tail wind. We got everything backed up and got on the water. The first several miles, Nick mostly fished, we had a strong current so we still got some mileage. We ended up seeing another moose, this one was facing away from us, and walking downstream, we did get fairly close to it, but not close enough for me to get a very detailed shot.
There were several rapid sections, nothing really exciting, in fact we started to miss the bigger class 2 sections on day two. We meandered through some meadows and deadwater areas, saw some birds, were accosted by bugs, but mostly it was an uneventful day of paddling before we made it to Michaud Farm, at mile 17, the last check in on the Allagash. We greeted the ranger and chatted about the river so far. He said we were making really good time to make it there on day 4. Nick asked about the fish we can expect after the falls, and the ranger took that opportunity to instruct us on how to approach the falls safely as well as where the portage would be. He told us to expect a few groups at the Allagash Falls Camp, which is where we were planning on staying that night.
We got back on the water and paddled the relatively calm few miles to the falls. When we got to shore, I quickly hopped out to see how many groups were there, there was one vacant camp but with lots of standing water, so I went down to the shoreline below the falls. The map said there was another camp across the river called "Falls Bank, but I couldn't see it. I took a quick gander at the falls only to see that we were getting close to golden hour, so I hurried back to the canoe to get our gear set and come back with my camera. Nick said we should camp here on the one empty spot, and at this point I wanted to seize the photo opportunity so I agreed.
Who do we meet on the trail back to the canoe but Joe and Jordan, who had set up camp right next to the one we were about to take. I was so tired, but they were a sight for sore eyes. They told us that we should just pick up the canoe with the gear in it and bring the whole thing down the trail, and that they'd help. I was reluctant, but agreed. I had forgotten the night before that I broke my sheath on my axe, and while it was on the bit, the blade was still not protected. So when I reached down to grab the gunwale of the canoe, the shift in weight when they picked up the front made the axe come through and slice my finger.
I dropped my end immediately and went straight for my first aid kit. Got the finger temporarily bandaged up, then continued on the portage. Later, Jordan asked if he could take a look and help me clean it up, as he was WFA certified, to which I agreed and expressed my gratitude.
Being injured took a mental toll on me, and so the rest of the evening I focused on getting some photos, setting up camp, and eating a ton of food. Nick said that Joe was going to jump into the water at the base of the falls, and he was going to join him. So I took my camera to take photos of them and of the falls while I was out there. Jordan and I elected not to do it, because obviously that's crazy. But it did look like they had fun.
I stuck around for a bit before going off on my own to take photos, explore, and then ultimately heading back to the camp to get cleaned up and eat more.
After I got cleaned up, Nick said that he and Jordan were going to try to do some fishing near the falls, so I went out to take some more photos before wandering off to explore some off the beaten path trails at the upper falls.
My finger was hurting pretty bad, and while we did clean it pretty well, I realized that I hadn't really cleaned my hands the entire trip - so the pulsating made me a bit more concerned. I told Nick that I'd prefer we just head straight for the take out in the morning, since it was only 12 miles downriver. Our original plan would have been to only paddle 10 miles the next day, camp at Twin Brook, and finish the last couple miles on the sixth day. He agreed and said it would be nice to get home early and surprise the girls. After Nick was done fishing, and explained that they were unsuccessful. I took him over to the few spots I had found at the top of the falls, where you could get a really close sense of the power of the falls. We sat up there for a bit, talked about the trip and just mused at the water, before heading back to camp.
There was a large pine tree that had seems like it had fallen earlier in the spring, right beside our camp, so we had ample firewood and twigs at hand. We had a good fire going well into the night. I'm sure it did something to keep the bugs out, but it really didn't seem like it at the time. We stayed up for a good bit and chatted more. Nick went to bed around 9:30. I stayed up to sit by the fire and wait for the sky to clear enough to take photos.
I had a few goals for photos on this trip, and one of them was a long exposure of the falls with the starry night sky above it. Unfortunately the moon was less than cooperative at a waxing crescent, so there wasn't enough light to make the falls glow as I wanted. But I still managed to get a few shots that I liked.
After spending some time at the falls, I went back to the campsite and got into bed.
We didn't get any rain, but it did get fairly cold. I woke up at about 5:30, and started another fire. Nick was up shortly after, and we went through our routine. I started to take my gear down to the canoe, and when I came back I saw that Joe and Jordan were up and about. So I went over to bid them farewell and thank them again for their hospitality along the trip. They ended up walking over to our camp and had one last chat with us before seeing us off.
The last day of paddling ended up being one of our fastest overall, largely due to the current, but I felt very low on energy. The night before I didn't fall asleep quickly as the pulsating from my finger gave me a headache. Just before we got to the take out, we saw a beautiful coon hound come to the edge of the river and greet us with a half howl half bark - which gave me the pickmeup I needed to finish the last mile or so to the take out.
I don't think I have ever been happier to see my little Rav4. I grabbed the key, started her up and backed her all the way to the take out to make loading up the gear easier. I got all of my stuff in the car, and walked over to the river's edge to reflect on the journey.
We got in the car and headed down the road. My mind was absolutely set on finding the first place that offered a big cheeseburger and fries, Nick's too.
On the 7 hour trip back to Massachusetts, we ran some math to figure out the totals we did.
4.5 Days
81.7mi
28000 strokes/each (conservative estimate)
3 Moose
2 Bald Eagles
3 Osprey
13mins/mi (fastest pace)
28mins/mi (slowest pace)
5 lakes
3 ponds
-1 contact lens (patrick)
-1 pair of sunglasses (patrick)
-1 bug hat (patrick)
-1 pair of vans (melted) (patrick)
+2 Brook Trout (patrick)
+2 Rainbow Trout (patrick)
+7 Chubs (nick)
-4 lures (nick)
1 unforgettable trip
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