I Screwed the Pooch on that 1st post this is the complete post. I tryied to add some pics and chashed the brouser.
My Cousin who grew up on the Canandian border of Maine has for years been trying to get the rest of the family up to canoe the Allagash. So last year at our family reunion I started a drive to make it happen. AT the reunion I had 20+ people who wanted to go. Long story, short, Me, my son and my grandson went up. We joined six others there.
We started on monday the 25th of June. My cousin grew up across the street from the outfitter we used and worked for him as a kid.
We put in below Chase Rapids a set of Class 3 Rapids. Only my cousin had done the river before so we opted out on starting in class3. We only did 4 miles that day down to Chisholm Brk, a favorite site of my cousin's. My grandson spend the afternoon catching fish. Three Trout Keep'rs and 16 'White Fish' Whatever they are.
That evening we canoed into the back water looking for moose and saw 6. 3 at close range, 2 big boys.
The next day we got up at 0400 as we had 3 lakes to cross. We finished the day at the Long Lake Dam at about noon. It was another his favorite sites.
Three day we slept in a bit and had a big breakfast. We'd gotten going at 0400 for the past 2 days and took it easy this morning. Some quick water and class 1's down to Round Pond. With some bigger ones coming out of it. We saw a couple more moose, a large flock of geese in the water next to us and Loons fishing between us. We made it down to Five Fingers Brk North. It was the first site we found bugs at. Little miserable 'No-See'ms'. I pulled out the bug coils and cleared the site, I HATE bug dope. Before Dinner I pulled out a magnesium stick and challenged one of the 15 yr old to start a dire with it. An hour later and another stick, still no fire. He gave up on it and handed it off to my grandson (8). Less then 10 minutes later he had a fire going (no help).
The next day we made it down to Michaud Farm after checking in at the Ranger Station we looked to the SW and saw Big Black clouds coming in on us and having a couple, three mile to the Falls we paddled hard to get there before the rain. Didn't work. We got nailed about half way there, but was niceenough to stop as we approached the falls.
We put in at the Upper Landing as suggested in the guide and with everyone off sightseeing the 15yr old and I lined the Kayak down to the lower landing were we met the rest of the group. On the way back up the trail I got the idea to connect two canoes together and line them down in two trips. They won't buy off on connecting all four and doing it in one. This move cut off about 1/3 of a 1/3 mile portage. We took the lower camp site and after the camp was set I ran everyone off to go sightseeing. It was my turn to cook dinner. Garlic Clam Linguine. It was as big a hit as Cliff Jacobson's Cookbook said it would be. We finished off the last of the Home Brew Lager I brought. That's right I haven't mentioned that yet. I brewed a case of Coopers Lager and bottled it in 1/2 ltr plastic bottles. It doesn't a whole lot of cooling tfor this beer to be drinkable especially after a day of paddling. Just drop a few in the to cool as soon as you make camp.
The next morning we finished the portage. We saw more moose, 18 total for the trip, my grandson spotted a Bald Eagle in a tree and more Loons.
We spent the whole day battling a wind that was blowing UO the river. No place to hide from it, no place to get out of it. We made the take out at around 2pm loaded my truck with all the gear and drove back to my aunt's house.
the next morning we had the 450 mile drive home with a stop at Old Town Canoe.
It's a great trip, But next year I'm going up with an ALL adult group, my grandson earned another trip, the youngest of the four on the trip but outworked the lot of them.
Son and Grandson
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