We arrived at the put in at the northern end of Chesuncook Lake. It was a small parking lot near a very nice campsite. Chesuncook Lake is a beautiful quiet lake. The lake was calm, the weather was beautiful. We couldn't wait to get our boats in the water. We began our journey around 12:00pm. We paddled about 1 mile to the end of Chesuncook Lake and then entered the Umbazookus stream. Normally this stream is dried out but due to the amount of rain they had the week before it was flowing nicely. We had to get out of our boats at a few spots that were low and line our boats through the water. We reached the mouth of Umbazookus Lake and had to navigate our boats through a old out of commission dam. Once on Umbazookus Lake we paddled across looking for the cairn that marked the entry to the mud pond carry. Once we located the entry to the carry we assembled our gear and prepared ourselves for what lied ahead. We had overheard from many that this carry was challenging and 2 miles through nothing but mud but nothing really prepared us for what we were about to encounter.
Team Krispy Treat....ready for our journey
Umbazookus Lake
How on earth will I get over that??????
The cairn marking the beginning of the mud pond carry
Jay and I had planned two ways to carry our boats. First we planned on carrying them side by side with our gear loaded in our backpacks so we could attempt to do the carry in one straight shot. No more than 200ft into the carry we decided this wasn't going to work out. After falling a few times on the rocks we opted to ditch our gear and attempt to carry our kayaks on our shoulders. While Jay was working with his boat and gear I worked on assembling the yokes that we had built for our kayaks. With my kayak finally on my shoulders I set off with my hopes high of tackling this portage. Not more than 50ft away the kayak started to slip and I started to lose it. I picked up my boat off my shoulders and flung it into a tree. I realize that was not the smartest move but my shoulders hurt so bad and I was mad. Praise God that Wilderness Systems makes sturdy boats. :-) With our boats and gear we sat and waited on Ed to arrive.
Ed had spent one weekend working on his kayak carry. It was a ladder looking thing. He strapped his kayak to the top of the ladder, hooked it on his shoulders and off he went. As Jay and I sat waiting for Ed to arrive we wondered how his contraption was holding up. Just a few minutes later Ed arrived with the news that his ladder kayak carry thing had split and would no longer hold his boat. The mud pond carry was quickly becoming the carry from hell.
A small clip from the carry
We gathered together trying to decide what to do. We still had over 1 mile to go and darkness was quickly approaching. We decided that we would take turns carrying boats and when we got tired we would go back for our gear and would continue this until the end of the carry. About 1/4 mile down the trail we reached a road. This road looked strangely familiar. Was it the road that we drove on to get from Chamberlain lake to the northern end of Chesuncook Lake? We consulted our map. Sure enough.....we huddled together again and decided that it would be easier for us to wheel the 5+ miles to Chamberlain Lake than to continue the mile mud pond carry. With all our gear together and our wheels strapped on we headed toward Chamberlain. On the map Jay noticed a stream that would connect us to Mud Pond (the actual pond and not the carry). We decided to try that out. Once we arrived at the stream we loaded up our gear into our boats and set off down this un-named stream. We didn't make it far until we hit the first beaver dam. Ed decided to make a run for it and launched himself over the dam with no problems. By this time I was tired and I was afraid because it was cold outside. I said a quick prayer and launched myself over the same dam. Just around the corner was another dam. Again we launched ourselves over. Around the next corner was a huge blowdown. I got out of my boat to see if we could carry our boats around the blowdown and continue on. The stream was no where in site. We paddled back up over the beaver dams and back to the road we started on. Once again we didn't know what else to do. We talked about going back to the car and driving it to Chamberlain Lake but darkness was quickly approaching. Since Jay was the most fit person in our group we decided that he would run back to the car (4 miles away) pick it up and come back to pick us up. We would continue to the lake. We decided to do this because the outfitter was supposed to come and shuttle our car. We didn't know if it would be there when we arrived back. We figured Jay could run to the car. If it was there he would get us, if not, we knew he would be able to make it back way before Ed and I could ever get there.
As Ed and I walked the road darkness was falling and I was getting more and more exhausted. Ed kept encouraging me to push on my making fun of me to make me laugh. At one point, while walking, I told Ed I couldn't go any further. With my pack strapped to my back and my boat on the wheels I set the boat aside and I laid down in the middle of the road. Ed kept telling me I needed to find somewhere else to lay but I was beat. Finally I got up and pushed forward. About a hour or so later I heard a car. Could this be Jay? Wow, he's quick. Here come Jay down the road. I was so relieved to see him. He pulled up, rolled down his window and said "What's up, bitchezzz!". I seriously thought I was going to fall over I was laughing so hard. That was just what we needed. We loaded up our boats and headed toward the North Maine Woods office so we could get in touch with our outfitter to let him know we had moved the car. No cell service in this neck of the woods. The ladies at the NMW office I'm sure was laughing at us. They had just saw us 5 hours earlier when we told them our plan. After talking with our outfitter we headed back to Chamberlain to speak with the ranger and ask if we could camp on his front lawn. Instead he told us to move to the back of the parking lot to set up camp. This is illegal in this area but he said as long as we had packed up and was out by dawn it would be OK.
That night the wind kicked up. Chamberlain Lake is known for it's strong winds and ability to capsize small boats so I worried that once again we would not be able to get the mileage in we needed to complete the trip. When we woke up the next morning we had a tough time rolling out of bed. Every inch of our bodies was sore and I was bruised from the carry the day before. The wind was still howling. While in our tents we all discussed calling the trip. This is something I really didn't want to do since it took so long for me to plan but we all felt we needed to call it. We packed up our gear and once again headed toward the NMW office. We got a hold of the outfitter and told him that we were not going to continue with our plans and that we wouldn't need his services anymore. We checked out of the NMW/Allagash Wilderness Waterway and set off for Millinocket. We planned on having breakfast at McDonalds so we could use the WiFi and look for a place to spend the next week. We decided to head to Lubec, the easternmost point in the US and a 'lobstah' fishing town I have always wanted to visit.
Once we reached Lubec we headed for the Sunset Point RV park to check it out. It was the only place to camp. It was nice and quiet with only a few campers around. We set up camp right near the ocean and under a shelter since it was supposed to rain the next day. That night we headed to downtown Lubec to have lobster at the wharf. The lobster was so good. That night the wind kicked up again. I had zipped up the vestibule on my side of the tent and the fabric was bending in and touching my side.
Lubec Harbor
Our nice view
The next morning we headed to the West Quoddy Head Light since it hadn't started raining yet. We spent a lot of time along the shore checking out rocks and watching the waves. Afterwards we headed to Monica's Chocolates. The guys wanted to pick up some since we heard her chocolate was amazing. I picked up some white chocolate with caramel and peanuts. By then it has started raining so we headed back to camp. We sat in our tents reading for the rest of the day.
Ed is that really tea?????
The following morning Jay and I woke up really early to catch the sunrise at the lighthouse. It was cloudy but still beautiful. We then packed up the car and headed to Freeport. We checked in at the Recompense Campground. It is a large working farm with campsites available. This campsite was nice overlooking the ocean again, however, I would not recommend it to those looking for solitude during the peak travel season. The campsites are right on top of one another. For us though it was perfect because only one other couple had a tent in our area.
That night we headed to the L.L. Bean flagship store. That place is HUGE!!!!! I picked up some running shoes because I want to attempt jogging again. We had lobster again that night downtown. The next day we headed to Top Gun of Maine to rent some guns and shoot at the indoor range. That night we headed downtown again but this time we had pizza at a local place called Amato's. It was so good we would go there again before heading home. When we returned back to camp I decided I wanted to kayak. I went out into the bay just to sit and relax. Next thing you know 2 seals popped up and started to stare at me. They started coming closer and closer. When I moved my paddle to paddle back some and they would flap their fins and dive. They would swim to the back side of my boat and sit and watch me again. That was SO COOL!
Campsite #2 in Freeport
So I told the guys the clams were spitting. I had the best time watching them wait for the clams to spit. HA HA
The Clam Master
That night we headed to the L.L. Bean flagship store. That place is HUGE!!!!! I picked up some running shoes because I want to attempt jogging again. We had lobster again that night downtown. The next day we headed to Top Gun of Maine to rent some guns and shoot at the indoor range. That night we headed downtown again but this time we had pizza at a local place called Amato's. It was so good we would go there again before heading home. When we returned back to camp I decided I wanted to kayak. I went out into the bay just to sit and relax. Next thing you know 2 seals popped up and started to stare at me. They started coming closer and closer. When I moved my paddle to paddle back some and they would flap their fins and dive. They would swim to the back side of my boat and sit and watch me again. That was SO COOL!
The following day was our last day in Maine. We decided to kayak to South Freeport to have Lobster....again. It was about a 5 mile kayak through Casco Bay. Once we reached the harbor we floated through a ton of sailboats. I personally enjoyed this as sailing is something I have always wanted to do. We had lunch at Harraseeket Lunch and Lobster.
Parking the boats at the dock. So fun.
The following day we headed home. It was a great and relaxing trip. Next year we plan on attempting the same NFCT section. We hope you will join us :)
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