erikpieh

[erikpieh]

We tried to use wheels to portage up spencer stream, but we only made it a mile.

If I did it again, I would just paddle and drag the canoe up the rapids. It’s very difficult, but we don’t do this because it’s easy.

[erikpieh]

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But seriously, we didn’t have anything stolen on our thru paddle.

[erikpieh]

I called all of the outfitters in the Fort Kent/Allagash, and one of them was able to haul us and our gear to the Bangor Airport, where we rented a car, put the canoe on top, and drove home.
We stayed at the Northern Door Inn our last night, and we had mailed ourselves a box of clean clothes, canoe straps and foam blocks, which made the ride home so much nicer.

[erikpieh]

@erikpieh 170 wrote:

I am leaving in a week for a thru paddle, and going up Spencer Stream looks difficult. Are there logging roads that I can use my canoe cart on to make this section easier? What is the route?

I’ve heard that upstream travel on the water is difficult due to rapids, and that the dam is hard to portage around.

I’ll answer my own question with a quote from my Wife’s journal below. Our logging road portage on the north side probably wasn’t worth it. This is a hard section of the NFCT, and builds character…

Next we encountered the biggest obstacle of the trip- six miles of paddling upstream on Little Spencer Stream. We actually cheated and portaged the first 1.5 miles on logging roads. What ensued was grotesque: three hours of gut wrenching paddling upstream over Class I-II rapids repeatedly. At our best we would dig in deep with our paddles in sync and make it up the rapid, although sometimes this required a second or even third try, sometimes with surfing. Other times we would trade off bracing and trying to pull ourselves up the rapids by utilizing rocks. We were glad to have sturdy old paddles along for this challenge. We longed for flat water and when we would reach small stretches of flat water it felt like heaven. At one point Erik was uber-man and got out of the canoe and pulled it upstream through the rapids while Emily and I braced in the canoe, paddle ready, just in case Erik took a misstep on the slippery rocks. It didn’t help that we decided to undertake this section of paddling at 4:30pm and both sides of the river had steep tree-lined forested banks making camping options very limited. After four hours it was 8:00 PM and we finally found a big enough patch of land to camp at the top of the Middle Deadwater. We set up our tents and cooked dinner with the darkness surrounding us. We were camped on low ground, almost bog-like. That night the no-see-ums were particularly nasty- biting us through our headnets.
The next morning we found the portage trail to Spencer Lake and began wheeling the canoe. Along the way we found a natural spring. We then put in on Spencer Lake.

[erikpieh]

We are on the trail now, one week to Enosburgh Falls. We got our car shuttle figured out now. The plan is to pay an outfitter in Ft Kent about $350 for a ride to Bangor. In Bangor there are several car rental agencies that have one-way rentals, so we’ll get a car and drive home.

[erikpieh]

South Beach Transport gave me a quote of $500 to move my car from Old Forge to Fort Kent over a month ago, but when I called them today to confirm the details, they looked at the map and decided they were not interested in moving my car anymore.

So my car shuttle plans have fallen through with two weeks to go. Anybody want to move my car for $500? pickup could be in Rochester NY also.

[erikpieh]

How did you get up spencer stream?
The guidebook shows a picture of a guy wheeling his kayak up some logging roads, but I can’t figure out the route. I’d like to use my wheels, unless it is easier to paddle/pull the boat upstream.

[erikpieh]

Thanks for the info about the fees, I hadn’t heard about that yet. I’ll make sure and bring plenty of cash with.

[erikpieh]

I’m thru-paddling with my wife and one of our friends this June, and we have the very same problem.

If anyone is willing to transport us, our gear, and our 20′ long canoe back to Old Forge, or transport our car to Fort Kent, we would pay you.
It is hard to know exactly how long our trip will take, but we are planning to start on May 30 or 31, and be done around June 28.

The best option we have so far is to pay a commercial auto shipping service about $500 to move the car (http://www.southbeachtransport.com/).

A second option is to rent a one way U-haul truck in Fort Kent and drive it back(can’t take the sortcut thru Canada in a rental). I think that would cost about $800 between fuel and rental.

One more option is to keep paddling downstream until you get to a bigger town; the river gets bigger and more industrial, and I don’t know what the camping options are, but you could keep going all the way to the ocean, at Saint John, and they have more transportation options.

I hope that helps, and if anyone is willing to help us make the shuttle, you can reply or call me at 612-385-7274.

Thanks,
Erik

[erikpieh]

@Chris Gill 45 wrote:

http://www.northmainewoods.org/fees.asp It will be $20.00 per person per day for adults.

What section does the $20/person/day apply to? Does it apply to thru paddlers? Is it only for staying at certain campsites?

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