Aug 7-11 2025 North Maine Woods - Adult Summer Camp Thread

WHAT: Big ol' trip to the North Maine Woods, for adult summer camp 2025. A reboot of the 2023 trip, or a combination of 2023 and 2024. '24 was much more "sit by the lake and do nothing". This year, WE GO!

WHEN:
Okay, this is a hot topic of debate. Not really, we just don't have it set in stone yet. The thread title is currently the 7th to the 11th, but that's all kinda wishy washy. The 7th might be "Get up to Maine and meet up Friday morning the 8th some other time", so we still have the specifics there to work out. The sites we are looking at are (RELATIVELY) close to a gate, so if you can't make it for Thursday for PTO needs or whatever, we can figure that out with people.

TL DR - Weekend of the 8-10 in August, plus or minus a day here and there, we're flexible.



WHERE:
There will be a couple options for meetup date and time.
Likely options (To be ironed out later with whoever we get in)

• Old Orchard Beach, Friday morning with cinnamon buns
• Thursday night maybe a campground overnight in southern Maine
• Saturday morning, Ashland Maine, or Greenville Maine
• Thursday night Greenville ME, TBD

THE ACTIVITIES:
BEER SWAP

• Our aim is to be on the water for a camp site, so Kayaks, floaties, and banana hammocks abound.
• Exploring the North Woods north of Realty Road, heading up toward Ft Kent and Allagash
• Cutting and stacking wood, and then burning it all
• Target practice?

Okay, now onto the boring bits:

(Anything new from last year/2023 is in red)

Spoiler: Been to NMW before?

You know the drill, what to expect, etc. Here's what we call for needs though:

• Minimum 1 spare tire, no exceptions
• Bear rated cooler
• GMRS radio
• Chase lights
  
• Self catered

Equipment needed

• minimum 1 spare tire, no exceptions (and any bits you need to get it off if you have wheel lock lugs, etc).
• If your cooler isn't bear rated, it goes into a cab for the night - it does not stay out.
• Radio - we use GMRS, trucks use CB, someone in our group has CB so if all you have is CB, whatever. Handhelds are cheap and easy to come by, highly recommend. I have a MURS radio, but that's just for industry, we won't use those channels for rag chew. The logging ops typically do not operate on the weekends, and holidays. We will be up there during logging ops, which use MURS and CB.
  
• Chase lights are HIGHLY recommended, if not a requirement. It gets dusty, sometimes the lights are the only way to see the trucks in front of you. We will arrange the order so that anyone missing chase lights is behind someone who has dealt with the NMW dust before.
• Food + tent for you + however many you have with you. The reason to highlight this is that we aren't doing group meals, catered, etc. We'll coordinate the campsites, day trips, etc but we aren't supplying or coordinating food or tents/sleeping arrangements for the group.
• GAS CANS: We don't know how far we'll be between gas stops. I don't know a truck that 5 gallons can't get you out of the woods and to a gas station, so bring a 5 gallon jerry can.
• Tires - as long as they have meat on them, anything should be fine. 6 ply and above is nicer to have, but I've done it on 4 ply several times with no issues. The biggest thing is meat on the bones - if you have bald tires, they can go right through. We've had a puncture on E load w/ solid tread life as well.
• Gas - There is none available out there. A 5 gallon can is highly recommended, most times. THINGS HAPPEN, but this trip, we're unlikely to be going more than about 150-200 miles between civilization/reasonable fuel stops.

COST
The only costs will be North Maine Woods land use fees. These are due at the gate for your planned stay. There are also season passes available, depending on how much time you're spending up there.

https://northmainewoods.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/NMW-Self-Registration-Form.pdf

WE WILL NOT BE DOING FORMS IN A GROUP LIKE WE DID LAST YEAR, Y'ALL ARE ON YOUR OWN

https://northmainewoods.org/information/fees/

This is PER PERSON, not PER TRUCK. If you have 2 people in the vehicle, you pay for each. Under 18 is free.

Brings 1s, the gates REALLY like you to have 1s.
NEW! They take credit cards at the gates, IN THEORY. Bring cash or check book, in case the electricity or signal needed to take cards is down. It's a nice option, but don't depend on it.



WE DO NOT PLAN TO GO TO THE TRAINS ON THIS TRIP FOR 2025!

 

BEER SWAP 2025

We're still trying to iron out the specifics of this one. There are two approaches we're toying between:

1. Bring a 6 pack, we draw cards and go in order around a table, and fill out a 6 pack with an assortment of beers as you pick and choose.
2. Bring 6/12/18 as needed to distribute 1 to each participant

Either way, we'll figure it out, and there won't be any surprises.

Rules:

1. NOT mandatory! You can come up, drink kool aid/sunny d, and enjoy the weekend too. Still happy to have you!
2. No variety packs
3. Decent beer, not macro brews.
4. PREFER CANS

 

Lets get rigatoni

 

@Brownmatthall
@Fourwheeling02
@GarlicFarts
@TacoTuesday603
@InCogNeatOhParts
@Toolndie7
@nuts4modela
@littlefish
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@crashngiggles
@AllTacosFloat
@Arcticelf
@atc250r
@BadDNA
@Brownie_Man
@Bruce988jl
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@disconnected
@emelianenkov
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@Ferball
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@Grand dude
@hoarder23
@JDUB-Fabrication
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@mach1man001
@MikefromCT
@PCTaco
@Roody
@sculptnbones
@Skierrichy
@SR-71A
@SuperAir
@Taco Critter

 

@InCogNeatOh Parts

 

Subbed.

 

Another trip? With you hooligans?

 

I like that you keep tagging me to remind me of these trips. I will need to see what's going on a bit closer to August to see if Im available.

 

4



The list grows every year, and every year, I tag everyone
You're stuck now!

 

You guys are also much closer. Its a minimum 12hr drive for me to get to Maine. Probably a bit more to get to North Maine Woods.

 

Or stick it in the calendar now and ignore the stuff you should be doing for a week like the rest of us.

 

Thanks for the invite Rob

I'll be sitting this one out as my 2nd kid will only be a few months old at the time of this trip, but hopefully can make it in 2026

Hope y'all have a grand 'ol time, post pics when the shenanigans are going down!

 

I am a solid maybe!

 

In pending my wife’s expression when I mention it. I’ll try and choose the hour and date correctly.

 

Throw a dart?

Sounds good!

Sweet deal.

This year we will be out of cell service range for (likely) the whole shebang. It's going to be even easier to ignore real life

Didn't your mother ever teach you....?
Photos can be admitted as evidence, NO PHOTOS.

Sad, but happy, keep us posted on Ross Jr!

 

There is actually a place a little west of Clayton Lake were you can get a cell connection. I found that out when I got stuck up that way a couple of winters ago....

 

Yeah toward into Canada. They've been inching closer in development to the Maine border year over year so it wouldn't surprise me that way. We're looking at being maybe a bit north and west of Ashland this year. Still some workings out on specifics.

 

Just waiting for summer concert dates to lock in anything in August, but as of now I’m in.

 

I’m definitely in!