LobsterLake, West Branch Penobscot and Chesuncook Lake, Maine. Four days in June

[yellowcanoe]

West Branch Penobscot River-Chesuncook Lake four days 43 miles June 2015
Old Peoples Trip. Furniture and no portages

We were supposed to leave Tuesday but arrived at Allagash Gateway Campground in the pouring rain. Things were supposed to clear overnight so we stayed at their camp in order to avoid the horror of wet dog in the tent. ( she could sleep in the car if the car was present). Nice folks there. Private campground but only $15 for a site for tent.

We’re glad we did. The Lobster Lake Road was enough of a mess the following day with no rain.
The parking lot at Lobster Stream is ample and loading easy.

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Lucy in her normal bow princess position. The Swift Raven is her favorite boat. Its got ample room for a nap. It’s NOT my husbands favorite boat, as its huge with a fair amount of rocker.

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It’s only three miles to the Ogden Point North Campsite on Lobster Lake and already by 11 the wind is kicking up whitecaps. Lobster is a notoriously choppy lake. We chose that campsite because the bugs of all sorts were pretty bad at put in and sheltered sites we’d be food. Plus the next day we were going back past the put in to start down the Penobscot River. We thought we would have a lot of the afternoon to explore Lobster Lake which measures five by eight miles. NOOO…
A group.. a very large group.. appears.. and out of control mostly..


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They get banged up against rocks. Turned out there were two Guides, four chaperones and some twenty odd kids at a leadership training camp. The kids did not panic even though none had more than one day of canoeing experience. The kids figured out there was shelter in the lee of a rock, and the Guides came into our campsite to ask if the group could rest and regroup and replan.. Of course! Turned out this group of teens was so nice and so unfazed about being winded. And they loved our dawg.. Turned out we saw them a couple more times and they all said “Hi Lucy!..can we get your picture?)
Planning what to do now


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Sleep! Teens!

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Kids without electronica do this


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These kids were just so super.. they were able to move on later but we would have gladly shared our site overnight. O please kin I go with them?


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The campsite


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Sunset. It weren’t warm.


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Next morning the wind had let up a little but we left camp early..(sunrise is at four) so leaving camp at seven is not a hard job. The procession of eagles started. The number one animal seen on this trip…eagles everywhere. We paddled back past the put in and down the Penobscot River till lunch time stopping at Big Ragamuff. Nice open site with enough exposure to beat the bugs ( going to the privy was different however..bugs were in the spruce balsam forest in droves)
No moose. One BIG deer..this one was young moose size


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Eagle 1

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Eagle 42


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Eagle 43


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Outdoor slum

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The river.. gentle current. At Big Island some rapids and for about two miles down river after that some braided channels.

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I spent a lot of time in camp getting flower and butterfly shots.

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Next day we paddled down to Gero Island..just across from Chesuncook Village. Until recently the village was accessible only by air or snowmobile or ATV or boat. Now there is a nice gravel road. UGH. And a launch at Graveyard Point. Still no electricity in town. There are only a handful of houses.

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We rounded a point and bingo..there is Katahdin

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Making camp at Gero 2.. time for more reading. Tomorrow we will tackle Chesuncook Lake. Its 17 miles to the take out.. Maybe two days. Its big lake some 27 miles long and one to three miles wide. Its starting to rain..off and on


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Dog works hard

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Pumping up the Exped Synmats is so much easier with the Schnozzel


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Sun going down

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But not before it pours

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Next morning the calm.. Never seen the lake this calm for two days!


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Down the lake all is well. Boom ring from logging days.. There are artifacts everywhere in the woods here.


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We note about two hours in that the sky is filling with these


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And the water is getting rough the wind picks up in our face.. Going to have a change of weather. No more pics.. time to paddle and brace. The last five miles are tough.. We pull into calm Ripogenus Lake to another sight of Katahdin about three PM.

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And the next day it poured but we were home. This area is about four hours from home so after some seven hours of paddling and an hour of loading , dinner in Greenville ( no haute cuisine there) we were home at nine thirty.

 

[sweeper]

Must have been the week kids trip, we had 30+ in 4 groups paddling into down to Round Pond. Kids do the craziest thing wo/electronics, oh wait we did those things when we were young.

Thanks for all the great pics

 

[yellowcanoe]

Wondering why the pix arent showing up. I tested links on CCR and they work there.. aargh

 

[sweeper]

It's all good they work when you click on them.

 

[Odyssey]

Very cool trip, and I love the photos.

 

[Adk Keith]

Nice trip! Glad to see you back at it.

 

[snapper]

YC - The photos are working for me and they're great to see. It's so nice to find folks who are understanding when kids are learning; and even better that you were willing to open up your site to them. I've been in a couple of nasty weather situations where I asked folks if we could take refuge on their spot and were vehemently turned away. Good on you to see the situation and welcome them in with welcome arms.

That's all for now. Take care and until next time...be well.

snapper

 

[yellowcanoe]

I can't imagine anyone turning anyone away when the weather hits! But my first inclination was when I saw the first of the group. "ijiots". Then I thought a little more. Most of the campsites from the direction they were coming from are extremely sheltered and not till they got to the vicinity of our site would they be impacted by the wind.

I don't understand photo insertion from Photobucket on to this website but it did take on http://www.myccr.com/phpbbforum/viewtopic.php?f=134&t=44083
in case someone gets tired of clicking on each photo here. I'm not normally one to cross reference websites with the same info but clearly I did something this site doesn't like... I think..

Or Mem..come kick my computer!

 

[memaquay]

Ha ha, I'll have to kick mine too, I'm not seeing the photos, I'll have to check out ccr see if the turn up there.

 

[Mihun09]

All my photo's are posted from Photobucket

 

[yellowcanoe]

All my photo's are posted from Photobucket

Well I sure have no idea what is going wrong.. used to work something changed. If no one has any hints on how to make it work.. I'll just drop the thread or ask it to be deleted..its kind of annoying.

Have an Assembly to get ready for.. the Duet needs paint and some gunwale work.

 

[sweeper]

How about an edit of the OP and just bounce it to the CCR thread and then you can leave all the relies here.

It took a bit longer to read the OP as is, but it works.

 

[Guest]

(Excuse the typos, I hte thid keyboard)


When I have written something in Word and cut and pasted Photoshop links I have hadthr same issue. What I found, quite by accident, is ghat if I hit enter for line spacing after pasting the link I got what you have above.

If I entered a few line sof blank space below the area and then arrowed or cursor clicked up into the void, pasted the Photoshop link, and arrowed (not entered) down inyo to the freespace I left the linked photo would appear instead of just a link.

I really need a full sized keyboard for th is device.

 

[Odyssey]

The links all worked for me. I don't mind clicking on each one individually, I'm just thankful that folks share their paddling time virtually.
I have this slow burning fuse when it comes to people invading "my space" in the backcountry. I like meeting people, enjoy sharing hellos and even loads across ports if it helps, but there are stories I've heard of lazy spongers who just want to crash your party and campsite, over indulge in your hospitality and good nature, and then feck off without so much as a thank you. I've heard of such people, but haven't actually met anyone meeting that description yet. Until I do meet these etiquette challenged folks, I'll just dampen my slow fuse and stay yappy happy and friendly. It's good to hear others who likewise share campsites, knowledge, and goodwill.

 

[yellowcanoe]

(Excuse the typos, I hte thid keyboard)


When I have written something in Word and cut and pasted Photoshop links I have hadthr same issue. What I found, quite by accident, is ghat if I hit enter for line spacing after pasting the link I got what you have above.

If I entered a few line sof blank space below the area and then arrowed or cursor clicked up into the void, pasted the Photoshop link, and arrowed (not entered) down inyo to the freespace I left the linked photo would appear instead of just a link.

I really need a full sized keyboard for th is device.

I'm not sure I understand.. but I think a few more beers may help. Not sure on your part or mine..both would I guess be helpful. I wrote in Word and then pasted here and everything was jammed up.. So I hit enter some multiplezillion times to provide spacing and I got the resulting mess..

 

[Robin]

Could it be your alblum is private? I opened a public alblum on your Photbucket page and hit "img" after I clicked on this picture and let it expand, it works fine.

 

[yellowcanoe]

Robin you're right that it was padlocked. I unlocked it.. I might try to delete and reenter the whole mess from Word without fiddling with it. But its still not showing up here where people want to see the pictures.

I enjoy pictures too and find I don't click on links as much if they are just linked.

The other issue is that everyone from away has to go home today and the paddling will be awesome!
That pic above is from a Chiniguichi portage.. just a few feet ahead is the famous slide down the rock face into Donald

 

[dave0]

Kim, I went through them all and everyone worked fine. Thanks for the pics and story! Beautiful area!

dougd

 

[riverstrider]

Nice report and pictures, Kim! It was a nice revisit to a favorite place. I've never been out to Gero Island (the wind has never cooperated the few times I have been there), and I have not yet had the opportunity to paddle down the length of Chesuncook, although I hope to do so one of these days. I'll have another chance to visit Gero this fall when I do the Allagash Lake Loop.

 

[Sturgeon]

Great report. I clicked over to ccr to look at it. Those are some big beautiful lakes. Thanks for posting this.
I took special note of the clouds denoting a change in the wind ;-)