Patrik Orcutt   10.21.25
Welcome again to Half 3 of this Multi-part piece I’m writing on my latest journey down the West Department Penobscot River. When you’ve got not already, I’d extremely advocate studying Half 1-2 earlier than diving into this one under. In Half One, I’ve lined the route we plan to take and a few data on the individuals on this journey. Half two lined the gear I introduced and the historical past of the river.
This journey was not sponsored by anybody, however I want to thank Old Town Canoe for getting me a Discovery 158 I used for this journey and Jetboil for hooking me up with Flash 1.0 Fast boil system to prepare dinner numerous my meals and make my espresso.
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The Journey Begins
After assembly up round 3 PM in Bangor, Ridge and myself bought all our stuff loaded up and hit the street. We knew we had an extended journey forward of us to get to Roll Dam Campground and wished to try to get our tents up earlier than darkish( That was wishful considering). The street all the best way to the West aspect of Millinoket is your regular paved freeway, however when you hit the Golden Road, that’s the place the pavement ends. The Golden Street is a 96-mile personal street constructed by the Nice Northern Paper Firm that stretches from the St. Zacharie Border Crossing to its former mill at Millinocket, Maine. It’s nonetheless closely traveled by logging vans and folks trying to recreate in Baxter State Park. Whereas it’s principally a mud street, it’s often in surprisingly fine condition contemplating the quantity of visitors it sees per day. One of many largest causes folks love to return as much as this space of Maine is the pure magnificence the landscapes present. Whereas driving over the Abol Bridge, it’s customary to tug off to the aspect of the street and soak up the fantastic thing about the large Mt Katahdin.
After driving for about an hour, we bought to our first cease at Caribou Checkpoint to pay our street and campsite charges for the North Maine Woods. The North Maine Woods (NMW) spans 3.5 million acres of economic forest land in northern Maine, characterised by a fancy possession construction stemming from historic land gross sales within the late 18th and nineteenth centuries, now involving personal people, industrial entities, and public pursuits throughout 155 townships. The NMW group, evolving from a Sixties landowner committee right into a non-profit company by 1981, manages leisure entry by means of uniform laws and charges, sustaining checkpoints, lowering inside gates, and coordinating with state businesses to facilitate actions like tenting, fishing, and searching whereas supporting conservation and financial objectives for the area.
After passing by means of the checkpoint, we began making our solution to Graveyard Point. The purpose is a part of the Village of Chesuncook, that was established in 1849 by Ansel A. Smith as a logging settlement. Initially an Abenaki encampment, it grew within the 1840s right into a frontier logging village after dams on the West Department Penobscot River, constructed in 1835, 1903, and 1916, enlarged the lake to facilitate log drives. In the end with the ultimate drive in 1970 and a cleanup in 1971, marked the tip of conventional logging operations within the space. In the present day, Chesuncook Village is a small, primarily seasonal settlement segmented by out of doors fanatics and is accessible by boat, floatplane, snowmobile, and truck. Talking of attending to Graveyard Level, this proved to be a really time-consuming course of.
Whereas the Golden Street was definitely not excellent, you might nonetheless handle to drive 30-50 miles per hour in and make good time, whereas the street into Graveyard Level proved to be rather more troublesome to move. Whereas taking the Pine Stream Street is barely 13.7 miles on paper, it takes about an hour to journey these 13 miles after which one other hour to journey again. This street was so tough with all its washouts and pot-holes, it appeared ironic that the tip of the street was known as Graveyard Level.
As soon as we made it by means of the street to Graveyard Level, we indifferent my Canoe and strapped it on high of Ridge’s truck whereas transferring all of my vital gear for the subsequent few days into the mattress. We wished to go away my SUV on the level, to make use of later as a shuttle, as a result of as with most river journeys, this was going to be a technique, and we didn’t actually really feel like strolling twenty-something miles again to get the vehicles. Whereas we have been definitely making an attempt to get all of the gear moved as rapidly as potential, it was unimaginable to not benefit from the golden gentle cascading upon us at that time.
With my SUV staged, it was time to drive again out to the Golden Street and make our solution to the Roll Rattling Campground, the place we hoped to have a late Meal and get some relaxation. On our approach out, we’d encounter our first Moose of the journey. Naturally, I had the incorrect lens on my digicam get the very best shot of the moose.
Lastly, we reached Roll Rattling Campground an hour or so after the solar had set and started organising camp for the evening. Each Ridge and myself have been fairly drained at this level and wished nothing greater than a sizzling meal and a few sleep. After making a hearth, we arrange our tents, and Ridge found he had forgotten his tent stakes and pole at his home. Fortunately, there was a lean-to on the campground and he was in a position to sleep beneath it that evening.
After organising my tent and consuming a meal, I snapped just a few footage of our campground, crawled into my tent, and dozed off for the night. That is the tip of Half 3 of the West Department Penobscot River journey sequence. Should you loved this, please be looking out for half 4, the place we get on the river and canoe practically 20 miles in in the future.
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