West Branch Penobscot River: Canoe Trip

Summer time in Maine is at all times a troublesome time of the 12 months. On one hand, it’s arguably essentially the most lovely season with essentially the most number of actions. There’s at all times a mountain to climb, a river to fish, and a few stars to stare upon within the night. Summer time is really Maine at its peak. Alternatively, with Maine being positioned thus far north, our Summer time is so brief in comparison with our lengthy and brutal winters. This brings up the purpose of time administration and planning your weekends right here within the Pine Tree State. Whereas summer time is the perfect time to go to or be a neighborhood Maine’er, it’s the busiest time of the 12 months. This spring/summer time, it has been significantly difficult to seek out free time to do all of the issues I got down to do. One factor I used to be not keen to compromise on was a multi-day canoe journey. After spending nearly all of the final 5 years exterior my residence state, a canoe journey up North on the West Department Penobscot River was precisely what I wanted to reconnect with my Maine roots.

This journey was not sponsored by anybody, however I wish to thank Old Town Canoe for getting me a Discovery 158 I used for this journey and Jetboil for hooking me up with Flash 1.0 Fast boil system to cook dinner a variety of my meals and make my espresso.

Canoe Protection on AllOutdoor

The Plan

With time slipping away and summer time in full swing, the perfect choices for a multi-day canoe journey have been slim as a consequence of a scarcity of flowing water on lots of the fashionable rivers this summer time. We opted to go as much as the northern a part of the state and deal with the West Branch Penobscot River route. This fashionable and well-traveled route can be an awesome place to begin for my good friend and I as we had little or no expertise on multi-day canoe journeys usually, and didn’t need to begin out with something too loopy. Coming in at virtually precisely 2o miles from the place we deliberate to place our canoes in at Lobster Stream and journey the river all the way in which to Graveyard Point on the Village of Chesununcook.

With quite a few campsites alongside the river (camp websites are denoted with the triangle/tent icon) this could enable us to paddle nonetheless far we wished to on the primary day after which end up the journey the subsequent day. Whereas we’d have appreciated to get 3 – 5 day journey within the books this season, busy schedules and life occasions saved getting in the way in which. We’d ultimately land on the thought to take two autos on the journey and depart one on the finish of the route at Graveyard Level for use to shuttle us again to Lobster Stream, the place we may get the opposite car. We additionally wished to camp at Roll Damn for the primary night time, and whereas most individuals prefer to put in at this level for his or her canoe journeys, we have been not sure of the situation of the river and didn’t need to danger something. Touring all the way in which from Bangor, Maine, we estimated it could take solely 3 – 4 hours to get to the campsite at Roll Rattling (boy, have been we incorrect).

The Crew

Accompanying me on this journey can be considered one of my oldest and finest buddies, Ridge Osgood. Ridge and I’ve identified one another for over a decade and met in school, and immediately turned nice buddies. Ridge spent quite a few years within the Air Pressure in Safety Forces earlier than getting out to deal with a profession in fisheries ecology and conservation. I truthfully couldn’t consider a greater dude to be on this journey with, as Ridge is essentially the most outdoorsy individual I do know. His day job today is working as a habitat restoration venture supervisor for Project SHARE, a  small non-profit that works to preserve and improve Atlantic salmon and wild brook trout habitat and populations within the Downeast rivers area (primarily Washington County) of Maine. Lengthy story brief, Ridge spends on daily basis within the woods and on the water, and I take into account him to be one thing of an knowledgeable with regards to being exterior within the Pine Tree State.

Whereas we wished to deliver one other considered one of our buddies on this journey, scheduling made that subsequent to unimaginable, so sadly, it could solely be the 2 of us. I really feel as if I don’t want a lot of an introduction for anybody who has been studying AllOutdoor for some time now, however I’ll give a little bit little bit of a background on myself right here. I’m a broadcast photographer and journalist specializing in outside gear critiques, landscapes, and outside occasions. Primarily based in the US, I’m a a contributor to AllOutdoor.com and TheFirearmblog.com, the place I consider merchandise like backpacks, knives, and tenting gear by visible means. I’m additionally a member of the Maine Military Nationwide Guard, serving as a UH-60 Blackhawk Pilot and a Warrant Officer with the 126th Aviation Regiment, the place I additionally doc MEDEVAC coaching and search-and-rescue operations.

That may do it for Half Certainly one of this multi-part story. You’ll want to try Half Two, the place I speak about our trials and tribulations moving into camp, and a few extra historical past of the Penobscot River to incorporate a well-known poet.

Patrik Orcutt

Patrik is a contract photographer who has been fortunate sufficient to see a variety of the world and doc his travels along with his digital camera. He has labored for the U.S. authorities as a Public Affairs Officer documenting Multi-Nationwide Particular Forces Coaching across the World. He’s presently engaged on changing into a Blackhawk Pilot for the Military whereas being an avid gear junky and outside fanatic.