impromptu North Maine Woods trip september 18th-24th

This sounds fun. I dont think I have it in me as we just got back from cape cod on sunday night lol

 

@sr71A you can meet up with us when you have off.. @Blais03 no problems, always another trip.. just trying to take advantage of the time off I have.. schedules dont always align... next time I'll try to give more notice, and plan a little better.

 

I apprentice it. I'm always up for a new adventure. this is just a short notice and i still haven't completely unpacked from the cape lol

 

I unpacked the cooler and stuff, and spent the next day cleaning the sand from the truck, and gave her a wash.. almost re-packed for NMW... just need to pack gas cans, water can, cooler, and clothing.

 

I spent about an hour yesterday washing the truck and washing the frame and all my suspension components. dont want anything to rust!

 

Just took an extended weekend trip to get a new rear bumper. Will be looking forward to a future trip.

 

All ready just need to load the cooler, hit the grocery store... planning to be up there around 10am-10:30... will meet in the parking lot to the right of the trading post.

 

Told my buddy Id help him put a roof on his house this weekend

So even if I wasn't swamped at work I wouldn't be able to make it

 

Made it to Greenville, inside getting groceries...

 

Outside hanging to right of shop.. will wait until noon, then heading to 20 mile checkpoint. No-one is here yet..

 

No one showed up, but I went anyways... froze my ass off Wednesday night, but had a good time otherwise... pics to follow.. scouted some camping sites for next trip.

 

Day 1:
So I went to Greenville indian hill trading post got some last minute gear, food, and waited until noon.. made one last pass of the parking lot, and no-one was looking for anyone else.. so screw it..

headed to the 20 mile checkpoint by myself. 20 mile checkpoint paid my fee $72 for wednesday-saturday road use fee, and camping fee. not too shabby.

I left 20mile road to head west to the penobscot lake campsite, raods started wide, but as soon as I turned west towards penobscot, and headed north to make my run around long pond, and then through between long pond, and penobscot lake the roads narrowed, and wound up on a blocked off access route (large dirt piles on both sides of a banking (no way to cross).. I had to backup to a turnaround spot, and head back south and back to 20 mile road...

20 mile road to golden road, headed west on golden road to what I thought would be an easier access to penobscot lake campsite, but a bit longer/less direct... turned off onto dole pond road, and headed south corssed dole pond bridge and now on the west side of long pond, this road too narrowed, and was getting abit hairy for me.. so I turned back and headed to a campsite I knew off cuacomgomog lake dam site.. i got there approximately 2 hours before sunset, and one other campsite there was being used, plenty of space. what i didnt count on was the frigid cold night.. temps dropped to about 32degrees, and I did not have my RTT gear setup for freezng temps (sleeping bag unzipped to a comforter on bottom, comforter on top, with a heavy wool blanket on top of that.. I was too cold to get from under the covers and zip up my sleeping bag, and froze throughout the night.. never again...









Day 2:
I packed up after letting the ice melt off the tent, and made breakfast on the Jetboil burner as the butane stove would not cook my bacon for breakfast. it would light and burn, but not enough heat to cook the bacon... bacon, and scrambled eggs yumm, jetboil made me some coffee as well, and I sat in the truck with the heater, and defrost on high (Did anyone else know that our 3rd gens have an electric defrost mode? almost instant heat until the engine warms up.. warmed me up nicely..)..

with the tent, and my gear all packed up I figured if anyone was to come in to find me I might as well be at a site I said I was going to be at... so i looked over the roadmaps, and found the best way that I could avoid tight roads to get to baker lake. I plotted a route through caucomgomac dam road, pingree road a noname road to ellis pond road, and revisted our old campsite from night #1 of our spring trip at Round pond.. I stayed for a bit, cast a few lines, and caught nothing.. I resumed my route through to baker lake road, and wound up on the campsite exploring a few others on the way. I made it to baker lake campground.. and damn its a NICE spot...


the previous occupants even left me tons of firewood...

I spent the day splitting the rest, and doing some fishing from the shore.. sadly no bites...
Made my campsite right next to the covered picnic table..


I spent the night here, and another truck showed up with a boat in tow to fish the waters. they setup camp at one of the other holes although I offered space next to me and share the wood I had split..

Day 3:
I woke up the next morning and fished a bunch in the morning and was not too cold around 45 or so at night.. way better than wednesday nights freezing temperatures. I fiddled with some housekeeping chores for my gear and truck, even gave myself a shower with the new rinsekit (which works great so long as you have a low sudsing soap to rinse away easily..) I heated about a gallon of water on the stove, and filled the rinsekit via one of its ports, and pumped it up with the booster pump, worked out great.. also makes doing dishes, and cleanup/rinsing dishes after meals a snap.. I fished some more, and didnt catch anything.. not even a nibble, and apparently neither did the guys camped next to me.

Day4:
I woke to some churning (sounded like kids splashing in a kiddie pool)., I thought maybe the guys in the next campsite had jumped into the water or something... nope, pulled out his phone and showed me a picture of a a male and 2 female moose hightailing it through from the bridge/creek into the lake and around the corner.. I had missed it by mere seconds as I was getting dressed in my rtt.. I was disappointed.. I set to work cleaning up the campsite, and packing my things as this was the day to head out.. I figured while the RTT was drying out, I could cast a few lines, and relax a bit.. I waited until 10:00 and figured it had a good hour or so to dry out, and time to pack up.. by 10:28 I was on the road headed out baker road to 490road, and out golden road west to 20 mile checkpoint... I made it out, and got cell reception and called the wife.. not a bad trip.. made it home by 5pm, and washed the truck, and unpacked, and rinsed off all the dust from the golden road...

 

Awesome! I havent been to the Caucomgomoc dam sites before. Need to add them to the list for sure

 

we drove past it on our trip this spring in the dark.. before we hit the round pond campsite.

 

Yup thats the spot I was thinking of. Looks way better in the daytime haha

 

I want to explore some more campsites further north.. would take a LOT of time perusing the maps finding campsites that arent on major roads, but not so far out off the beaten path that they become a horror to get to.. I was sketched out hearing all the braches scrape against the side of the truck... but nothing made lasting marks that I can see.. I wash and wax my taco pretty well to prevent this.. I want to make a list of accessible decent campsites that can fit 5-8 trucks with RTT's or ground tents... so far i added a couple...

*Baker lake (north end) south end campsite is a small hike in... 5 campsites w/ fire rings plenty of space 1 covered table (they were replacing them on the 25th-26th of this month) 2 outhouses lake access boat ramp...

*Cuacomgomoc lake dam campsite lake stream, loud sound of the spillways, and moisture from spillways running open.. 3 campsites + 3 more in the trees (ground covered in exposed roots (trip hazard) 1 outhouse fishing regulations for waters at dam...

*St. Francis lake campsite - off main road, and access to the st fracis lake waters 2 campsites, 2 fire rings, 1 outhouse plenty of space for 5 or so trucks with RTT's, and a few grounders..

*wadleigh pond campsite- 2 campsites right on main road, right on water front, 1 covered table, plenty of grass area to spread out 5-10 trucks or so... 1 outhouse across main road....

*Round Pond- we fit 11 rigs here last time from RTT's to ground tents with space to spare.. access to lake...

*5th St Johns Bridge campsite- saw this one on the roadside headed home.. right off main road (baker lake road/490) small but could fit 6 or so trucks, and a few ground tents. (cozy like)...1 campfire ring, 1 outhouse, 1 table..

 

Speaking of further north... I want to make it all the way up the the big twenty sometime next year. Should be a solid 350 miles of dirt round trip. Across the entire NMW territory if everything goes well. Wonder what @m603holden thinks of that. New trip goals?

 

I'm down, would have to keep road speeds at around 45-50mph or less to keep MPG's in the high teens... but definitly do-able with 2 jerry cans and a fillup at millinocket and say enter at the Telos checkpoint. and head north to say Dead Eye bridge campsite...47°16'35.16"N 69°22'9.23"W

if someone had their passport they could cross just north of there, and get gas 908 Rue Principale, Pohénégamook, QC G0L 1J0, Canada

not really necessary unless you are getting under 15mpg.. as the southeast route looks to be 160ish miles, and the eastern route down is looking around 190miles.. so technically do-able with a full tank, and 2 jerry cans...

 

Yup. I think gas would be the biggest challenge. We could absolutely stop into Canada for gas if needed. Alternatively we could head East in the morning and gas up in Fort Kent or something like that. Then make the call from there about heading back south via the NMW or just jumping on Rt 11 to I95

 

Oh boy