While doing some slight work on the site, I noticed that I had not yet put an Allagash trip report in since completing it earlier this year. For those of you don’t know what the Allagash is, it is a water way that is roughly 92 miles of lakes,ponds, rivers, and streams that wind through the North Maine woods. The Allagash Water way was signed into law around 1966, there is also alot of fascinating history behind it. This is one of the longer reads and I hope you enjoy it.
View just past Chamberlain Bridge
I had previously dreamed about doing this, even before I had moved up to Maine. It seemed like a destination on paper.Years ago it seemed out of grasp and earlier this year, I put in the request for the time off and made it happen. So for quick chuckle, prior to this trip I hadn’t spent alot of time in kayak and kayak camping was nothing I had done before. I had done alot of research and dwelling on this trip, there were also alot of send it moments on this trip.
So we will talk about some of the planning stages and research. I had done most of the research checking other trip reports but had also consulted the allagash waterway website. So the Allagash was traditionally a canoe route but kayaks are allow given they meet certain conditions regarding size. I was lucky enough to have a Tsunami Wilderness 145 which was just around 14.5 feet. This included bow and stern storage. Fortunately I had most of the gear I needed but just needed some items specifically for kayaking. But a more important part
Day 1-Friday June 12th Chamberlain bridge to Lock Dam. 10ish miles. I had decided to set in at the bridge. If I remember correctly It was a beautiful drive up from Millinocket . We had gotten up to the ranger station at a decent hour. After checking in and discussing the route and time table I unloaded the kayak and loaded it up to the brim. Everything was in dry bags.. Most of my weight was food, so there was motivation to make sure I ate. I had splurged and gotten peak fuel dehydrated food, along with my usual oatmeal, gorp and other snacks. The weather was a nice day, sunny and not much wind. My goal for the first day was getting to lock dam. I set out and took a picture of the bridge behind me as a pressed onto the waterway. Below are some pictures from the first day. It was also the buggiest campsite of the trip, thank goodness for mosquito nets.
Chamberlain Bridge
Setting up camp
Lock Dam
During the night of day 1, Something got curious and explored my camp site. I still don’t know what it was but when it got spooked it made quite the ruckus. For this trip I used a 1 person tent from Big Agnes, their cooper spur Ul. It was roomy, and easy to setup and break down. I also ate well the first night.
Day 2 Lock dam to The jaws : Saturday July 13th.
So when waking up, it had rained a good amount and luckily I was dry and nothing was wet that wasn’t suposed to be. Quick breakfast and hydration. Today’s plan was to try to make it to The jaws, which was a campsite just being Churchill dam.
Leaving the campsite as I found it
Another campsite Cell
a few more pictures before setting off.
One last view before the next leg
And good morning to blowdown
This small little channel had some blow down, low water and current, so this was actually quite fun. I had now transitioned from Chamberlain lake and was now entering Eagle Lake. I was warned about the winds at Eagle lake where if they were bad enough travel would be difficult and add extra days onto my trip. I was greeted by lush green, moose and loons as I entered Eagle Lake.
I then below decided to take a break at Thoreau Island. With a name such as that it was a must. It was a very nice break and the island had a meadow like peaceful feeling.
It got very windy at Eagle Lake, It was at this time I was very happy to have a rudder on the kayak. It was also a little fun paddling in the heavy wind. When I had gotten to round pound I ran into some Maintainers who were eager to have a conversation with someone as apparently I was the first person they had seen in a few days. I soon passed under another bridge and probably a 10th of mile I had a bus/van wooting me on. I was doing good on time as I entered Churchill lake. I was starting to see other people.
About halfway through Churchill lake I had dropped something under the seat and ended up having to take part of the kayak seat assembly apart in order to get it. I ultimately found what I had dropped in my pocket and then had to put it back to together. I did however take the time to dry some things out. After packing back up I continued on my way to the campsite called the Jaws just before Churchill dam.
Starting to get Windy
Campsite of the day, “jaws”
Sunday June 14th
This was a day I was semi nervous about. It was the day for Chase rapids. I made breakfast , packing up camp and made my way to chase dam. The plan was to pack up camp and set out to chase dam. Upon arrival to Chase dam I encountered other paddlers and groups. I tried not to spend too much time looking at the rapids and just sending it down the rapids. It was quite fun, the water was moving semi fast. Another plot twist was that it had been years since I had been down rapids and I had never been in rapids in a kayak. Needless to say it was a fun experience. One of the better moments was chasing my bilge pump down the water way. The rapids were a memorable experience on the trip. I made good time as well. My gear was hauled by a ranger and I picked up it at the Bissonette bridge. The float to Umsakis lake was fast and beautiful I was able to see plenty of wildlife. I was still doing good on time so I decided to see how far I could get..
I made it through Umsaskis and long lake, proceeding to harvey pond. Looking back I wish I had camped at Lost popple as it turned out to be very clear night. The plan was to camp at cunliffe island which was the plan. I had to go through Long lake dam which was a mandatory portage, and boy was it beautiful and did it come up quick. This was also where the wheels for the kayak cart broke, that was fun fixing.
Long Lake dam
After the fun portage and selfie. I found that the campsite I was eyeing was taken. I was also jumbled up with this as it was starting to get dark soonish. I was able to get a campsite at sweeney brook. The river flow was moving quite good at this point and I was also making good time. I pulled the kayak up on the shore and secured it and started to unload and set up camp. There would a couple of good spots to set up the tent. I picked the picturesque one. After setting everything up and cooking and finally relaxing, I went to bed. Well in the middle of the night it decided to rain. Normally this isn’t an issue, however it was a such a nice night I left the tent half covered with the rain fly. I woke up to a puddle inside the tent and a puddle accumulating outside of the tent. I quickly fixed this. Luckily I was able to have everything in dry bags. My sleeping bag was a bit wet but it was synthetic insulation. On a side note this sleeping bag was a 40 degree rectangular bag made by Northface . The last time I used it was probably 2004. I did have a brand new sea to summit bag which I lade regretted not bring but that is another whole story. After tiding up I went back to bed for a few hours.
Monday June 15th
After waking up from the very wet night. I proceeded to make breakfast and break down camp pack up most of the wet gear, placing it on the kayak do hopefully try by the next time I reached my next campsite. Today was supposed to a be a short day as I had gotten much more done than I was expecting to yesterday. Today’s goal was to paddle to Round pond and setup camp and check out the local firetower. This section was pristine and fast with a very short section of run rapids/ ie rock dodging. The atmosphere changed when I passed under a bridge and was reminded by a sense of civilization. It wasn’t long before I floated into Round pond. I was lucky enough to see a moose in the distance before it disappeared. My priority was now getting camp set up and drying gear off before exploring. I would be camping at “Outlet’ campsite. I unloaded the kayak on this sunny day and was able to dry everything. I picked a nice grassy spot for the tent which also dried out very easily.
I was able to hear some other paddlers making their way into the pond. Some large groups and some small. It had been weird, being solo I had forgotten for a bit what it was like running into other paddlers and adventures. I spent some time kayaking around the pond. After a brief period of time then headed over to the tower trail campsite which also had the trail to the firetower. The trail looked like it had been used so little. The ground was mushy and there was of growth. I observed both bear feces and moose feces unfortunately did not see either. I did slip and fall on my face once in mud and once in the grace. After a brief period of time I made it to the fire tower. Ironically I had done this short walk in crocs and did not feel like climbing the fire tower ladder with muddy crocs would be the best idea, so I admired it from the bottom. I did however jog back to the tower trail camp site and then paddling back to my campsite. Most of the night was just subtle reading and organizing gear/ or listening to the audiobooks. This night was much better was it was clear sky and no rain and just as before I ate very well. One of the caveats of the packing the food was the more I ate the more storage space I opened up.
Tuesday June 21st
I started the morning waking up without rain for once. I quickly packed up food and packed the kayak and got on the water. It had been nice to have a relatively easy float yesterday. Todays agenda was to paddle up to Cunliffe site relatively close to Allagash falls which would turn out to be amazing sight. I departed looking back at my lovely campsite one last night before paddling onward. I had some very small rapids marked on the map as round pound rips. It was quite enjoyable and fun. I would look up and often see a bald eagle and or hear wildlife in the river sides. I passed so much greenery and ducks.
I had a nice audio book and was enjoying the sun beaming down on my head and enjoying the breathtaking views with the sky reflecting off of the water. I did not run into anyone else for numeorus hours. Once again I underestimated how fast I was paddling and ended up getting close to Allagash falls much quicker than I was hoping to. I decided to set camp up at Cunliffe camp site. I was relatively close to Allagash Falls. This also set my time table in a way that I was going to make it to my ending point a bit quicker which had meant that I would have to figure out some logistics. On the way to the campsite I spooked a moose very close to the riverside, there was a brief moment that I wasn’t sure if it was gonna charge towards me.
I ended up making it to the pristine site which was settled in a meadow. I set up camp and enjoyed the campsite again drying gear and exploring the local area. Ive been an hiker and spent alot of time in the woods, the one thing I was surprised by and you may laugh but it was how well kept and beautiful the trails to the privy’s were. I ended up spending the rest of the afternoon, tanning drying gear and charging electronics. As again, I ate another fantastic meal from Peak fuel. During the night it was not sunny, and pretty cloudy.
Cunliffe to BigBrook North. June 16th
Again I was on repeat. breaking down camp, drying gear and eatting. I was vey excited about today as I would be seeing Allagash for the first time. I set out to paddle and stopped by the Michaud farm ranger station, checking conditions, signing in/out and of course taking pictures. I set back out onto the water enjoying the mazelike paddle until I started to see signage for Allagash falls. The portage point came up very quick and I was suprised to see other people. A few days ago the portable kayak cart had broken, and this was also one of the longer portages. It was a fun time hauling the loaded kayak, Its a fond memory. I was able to get it down by the the next put in point and decided to check out a vantage point of the falls and ran into more people and kids fishing. I was impressed with how fast the falls were flowing. They were certainly no joke and not to be underestimated. I saw there for a brief period of time enjoying the moment and the headed back off to set off where I saw a moose on the other side of the river doing what moose do.
A few hours later I had made it to Big Brook North, the last camp site that I would sleep at while on the Allagash. It was another beautiful campsite. It rained a bit off and on and It wasn’t a productive night. I fell asleep pretty quick after dinner and a swim. The water was quite warm though. While in the tent I had thought that this trip was coming to a close soon. Tonight would be the final night in the Allagash. I went to bed shortly after.
Final day June 18th
I woke up late, broke camp down and set out on the water. It was a muggy day and it was now raining and the water was extremely shallow . I had a sections of small rapids, before officially making it o the sign marking the end of the Allagash Water Way. It was now raining heavy. I made it to the sign where I climbed up and took a brief picture. I ended up going ashore in a terrible spot and almost flipped when getting back in, going backwards downstream. Always gotta have a good story and memory. The water was still shallow in sections making me almost have to walk in some sections. My ride was waiting just past the Eliza hole rapids. It was weird coming up to the ramp as it told me that the trip was over. This was the longest and first time that I had been kayak camping, A lot of fond memories and special moments were made on this trip. One of the biggest takeways was is that life is fragile and that we should live life as much as possible during our short times.
I hope you all enjoy this read.
