On my recent Maine trip I had a great time paddling. Did a day trip on Lower and Upper South Branch Ponds at the north end of Baxter Park. Stayed at the campground on Lower South Branch Pond. Both ponds are surrounded by mostly deciduous woods, but the Upper one is also edged by cliffs of the mountains on either side. I waded along the short connector stream, pulling the canoe. Though it worked fine, the rocks were slippery so on the way back I opted for the carry, which is also short, quite flat, and on the east (Traveler) side of the stream. Loons, Goldeneye, and beaver made appearances.
After a few days at Baxter, I went for a 5 day canoe trip on the Debsconeag Lakes, just west and southwest of Baxter. Katahdin looms over the skyline from a number of places on the lakes. They are all characterized by many large boulders, some visible, some just under the surface including pretty far out from shore. Even being careful, I got a lot of scrapes on the bottom of the canoe. I noticed that most of the boulders anywhere near the surface were scraped white at their highest points!
I had been worried about campsites, since there's only one on 3rd, two on 2nd, and four on 1st. However - maybe because folks still considered it black fly season - I saw only one other party canoeing and camping. The insects were fine at 3rd, though the campsite at 2nd was VERY buggy, mosquitoes and even a number of black flies.
The lakes are not quite as wilderness-y as I expected: 3rd has several small private camps (holdover leases from before the Nature Conservancy?) which have small motorboats; and 1st plus the Deadwater are vehicle-accessible, meaning a fair number of powerboats. Therefore 2nd is the most "remote" feeling - though at that one, a float plane landed one morning, taxied up to my small beach, and cheerfully asked if I was sticking around or could they spend the day there. I found it rather intrusive and didn't invite them. It would have been different if they'd paddled and carried in. For the same reason, I didn't spend much time on 1st: the campsites at the east end were major encampments with multiple powerboats, numerous tents & shelters, and large groupings of adults and children. The west-end campsite might be OK, since it's a large lake. The Deadwater, oddly since it's closer to the access, was much quieter; and the Deadwater's north end has a wonderful large marshy area around Hurd Pond Stream. Dragonflies galore!
While snowmobile trails were carefully marked, they don't seem to believe in marking carries - not even a disk, let alone an identifying sign. This made them hard to find sometimes. I got screwed up with the 2nd - 1st carry. I found a place marked with orange tape, and with several canoes in the woods, that had a tape-blazed trail leading in roughly the right direction. It was about where the map shows the carry. Although it seemed little used and rough, I decided they might have re-routed the carry, so I put everything together and carried, through increasingly dense growth, until I came to a woods road where the flagging stopped. Also it was starting to bend too far south. Back to the lake, where I discovered the real carry at the very eastern tip, just before the outlet stream.
The carry to 4th is easy to find since it has a small dock. I walked over to see what the carry was like. It's pretty rough footing, but doable. I didn't carry there, since 4th is so much smaller. It has a small sporting camp there, Chewonki, which judging by their website and by looking across the lake at them, would be a nice base for Debsconeag trips.
Overall a beautiful and peaceful trip. I don't fish, but there seem to be lots of them, both seen directly, and deduced from seeing Osprey, Loons, Bald Eagles, Mergansers, and Kingfishers.
Photos:
http://ift.tt/1xJTZY1
After a few days at Baxter, I went for a 5 day canoe trip on the Debsconeag Lakes, just west and southwest of Baxter. Katahdin looms over the skyline from a number of places on the lakes. They are all characterized by many large boulders, some visible, some just under the surface including pretty far out from shore. Even being careful, I got a lot of scrapes on the bottom of the canoe. I noticed that most of the boulders anywhere near the surface were scraped white at their highest points!
I had been worried about campsites, since there's only one on 3rd, two on 2nd, and four on 1st. However - maybe because folks still considered it black fly season - I saw only one other party canoeing and camping. The insects were fine at 3rd, though the campsite at 2nd was VERY buggy, mosquitoes and even a number of black flies.
The lakes are not quite as wilderness-y as I expected: 3rd has several small private camps (holdover leases from before the Nature Conservancy?) which have small motorboats; and 1st plus the Deadwater are vehicle-accessible, meaning a fair number of powerboats. Therefore 2nd is the most "remote" feeling - though at that one, a float plane landed one morning, taxied up to my small beach, and cheerfully asked if I was sticking around or could they spend the day there. I found it rather intrusive and didn't invite them. It would have been different if they'd paddled and carried in. For the same reason, I didn't spend much time on 1st: the campsites at the east end were major encampments with multiple powerboats, numerous tents & shelters, and large groupings of adults and children. The west-end campsite might be OK, since it's a large lake. The Deadwater, oddly since it's closer to the access, was much quieter; and the Deadwater's north end has a wonderful large marshy area around Hurd Pond Stream. Dragonflies galore!
While snowmobile trails were carefully marked, they don't seem to believe in marking carries - not even a disk, let alone an identifying sign. This made them hard to find sometimes. I got screwed up with the 2nd - 1st carry. I found a place marked with orange tape, and with several canoes in the woods, that had a tape-blazed trail leading in roughly the right direction. It was about where the map shows the carry. Although it seemed little used and rough, I decided they might have re-routed the carry, so I put everything together and carried, through increasingly dense growth, until I came to a woods road where the flagging stopped. Also it was starting to bend too far south. Back to the lake, where I discovered the real carry at the very eastern tip, just before the outlet stream.
The carry to 4th is easy to find since it has a small dock. I walked over to see what the carry was like. It's pretty rough footing, but doable. I didn't carry there, since 4th is so much smaller. It has a small sporting camp there, Chewonki, which judging by their website and by looking across the lake at them, would be a nice base for Debsconeag trips.
Overall a beautiful and peaceful trip. I don't fish, but there seem to be lots of them, both seen directly, and deduced from seeing Osprey, Loons, Bald Eagles, Mergansers, and Kingfishers.
Photos:
http://ift.tt/1xJTZY1
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