WeRmudfun
New member
Well I finally finished the edit on the last adventure of our past vacation. There was so much footage, it was hard trying to decide what to cut and what to keep. This was the crown jewel of the 4 adventures only because it had been on the bucket list for a long time and it was located in one of the most remote areas we have ever been in. Oh yeah and they are way cool too! 
104 miles of logging roads, which were questionable at some points
12 miles of paddling in somewhat questionable conditions
1 ½ mile failed bushwhack
Taking the Allagash Ghost Trains off the to-do list…PRICELESS!
Having never been in the Allagash Wilderness Waterway before, the decision was to bushwhack or try to kayak to them came down to the lesser of the 2 evils. Either way it was going to cost us $24 to get passed the Telos Checkpoint and we wanted to be sure we could actually have access to try and locate the Ghost Trains. We had heard that some of the roads could be open or could be closed. We decided that instead of risking driving above the Tramway and bushwhacking back down to it, we would put the kayaks in at Indian Stream and paddle to the area using Eagle Lake.
Seeing how this report is mainly about the destination, I am posting it here, if it is unsuited in the Trip Reports, than I ask the moderators to remove this post. Thank You.
Eagle Lake was not an easy paddle with 1-2’ breakers on a lake. At 1 ½ miles from where we hoped to find the trains, we pulled over and got out of the lake, due to the head wind conditions and hid the kayaks in the woods to start our bushwhack. We were not prepared to do a bushwhack, especially in shorts, but the woods looked rather open, so it seemed like it would be a breeze. It was until 0.75 mile from our target. We hit a wall of trees followed by an area of blowdowns, then finally if that wasn’t enough, we hit a swampy area. We were bleeding and getting bruised and beat up in there to the point we had to turn around. We were starting to feel that the deck was stacked against us on finding the 2 locomotives. We live by Murphy's Law!
By the time we got back to the Kayaks, we decided to try and keep going which was good, because we made to the inlet we were looking for. We pulled on to shore and started to walk up to the area and were shocked to see we had walked into an artifacts goldmine. With all the research we did we never ran across the fact that more than just the locomotives are still there. We were standing in between 2 lines of the old train cars that used to haul the pulpwood from Eagle Lake to Umbazooksus Lake. Cheryl and I were like 2 kids in a candy store by this point. I filmed everything while she took pictures. It is amazing just how much of the railroad is still there. Please remember though, it has been there for 89 years now and Mother Nature has not been kind to the remains at all.
We continued to explore the whole area, walking through the woods looking for artifacts and pretty much leaving no stone unturned, then we saw them…the Allagash Ghost Trains! Seeing all the pictures of them during our research didn’t really prepare us for the rush we felt actually being there next to them and being able to climb on them.
We did follow the tracks for a while that had originally lead to Umbazooksus Lake, but turned around. We were hoping to get a glimpse of the remains of the 1500’ trestle that used to carry the trains over Allagash Stream on the northern edge of Chamberlain Lake, but time was not on our side. With the ride up from Millinocket, where we were camped, the paddle and failed bushwhack to the site, plus the time we had already spent exploring, we didn’t want to have to navigate Eagle Lake in the dark. We did bring extra food, clothes, water, sleeping bags and a tent just in case though.
We also wanted to make the hike over to Chamberlain Lake to see the Old Tramway. It is on the National Historic Places List, but has no access it except by snowmobile, bushwhack or paddling. A group of volunteers actually rebuilt a 25’ section of the Tramway, so people who make the trek out to it, could see how it used to work. On the ½ mile + hike from Eagle Lake to Chamberlain Lake, we kept catching views of where the Tramway used to run, now just hunks of metal attached to a cable lying on the ground.
This trip was AWESOME and I can say it is off the bucket list, but I can’t say we won’t ever go back there again, yup we liked it that much!
The Video... Best viewed at 1080p60
104 miles of logging roads, which were questionable at some points
12 miles of paddling in somewhat questionable conditions
1 ½ mile failed bushwhack
Taking the Allagash Ghost Trains off the to-do list…PRICELESS!
Having never been in the Allagash Wilderness Waterway before, the decision was to bushwhack or try to kayak to them came down to the lesser of the 2 evils. Either way it was going to cost us $24 to get passed the Telos Checkpoint and we wanted to be sure we could actually have access to try and locate the Ghost Trains. We had heard that some of the roads could be open or could be closed. We decided that instead of risking driving above the Tramway and bushwhacking back down to it, we would put the kayaks in at Indian Stream and paddle to the area using Eagle Lake.
Seeing how this report is mainly about the destination, I am posting it here, if it is unsuited in the Trip Reports, than I ask the moderators to remove this post. Thank You.
Eagle Lake was not an easy paddle with 1-2’ breakers on a lake.
At 1 ½ miles from where we hoped to find the trains, we pulled over and got out of the lake, due to the head wind conditions and hid the kayaks in the woods to start our bushwhack. We were not prepared to do a bushwhack, especially in shorts, but the woods looked rather open, so it seemed like it would be a breeze. It was until 0.75 mile from our target. We hit a wall of trees followed by an area of blowdowns, then finally if that wasn’t enough, we hit a swampy area. We were bleeding and getting bruised and beat up in there to the point we had to turn around. We were starting to feel that the deck was stacked against us on finding the 2 locomotives. We live by Murphy's Law! By the time we got back to the Kayaks, we decided to try and keep going which was good, because we made to the inlet we were looking for. We pulled on to shore and started to walk up to the area and were shocked to see we had walked into an artifacts goldmine. With all the research we did we never ran across the fact that more than just the locomotives are still there. We were standing in between 2 lines of the old train cars that used to haul the pulpwood from Eagle Lake to Umbazooksus Lake. Cheryl and I were like 2 kids in a candy store by this point. I filmed everything while she took pictures. It is amazing just how much of the railroad is still there. Please remember though, it has been there for 89 years now and Mother Nature has not been kind to the remains at all.
We continued to explore the whole area, walking through the woods looking for artifacts and pretty much leaving no stone unturned, then we saw them…the Allagash Ghost Trains!
Seeing all the pictures of them during our research didn’t really prepare us for the rush we felt actually being there next to them and being able to climb on them.We did follow the tracks for a while that had originally lead to Umbazooksus Lake, but turned around. We were hoping to get a glimpse of the remains of the 1500’ trestle that used to carry the trains over Allagash Stream on the northern edge of Chamberlain Lake, but time was not on our side. With the ride up from Millinocket, where we were camped, the paddle and failed bushwhack to the site, plus the time we had already spent exploring, we didn’t want to have to navigate Eagle Lake in the dark. We did bring extra food, clothes, water, sleeping bags and a tent just in case though.
We also wanted to make the hike over to Chamberlain Lake to see the Old Tramway. It is on the National Historic Places List, but has no access it except by snowmobile, bushwhack or paddling. A group of volunteers actually rebuilt a 25’ section of the Tramway, so people who make the trek out to it, could see how it used to work. On the ½ mile + hike from Eagle Lake to Chamberlain Lake, we kept catching views of where the Tramway used to run, now just hunks of metal attached to a cable lying on the ground.
This trip was AWESOME and I can say it is off the bucket list, but I can’t say we won’t ever go back there again, yup we liked it that much!
The Video... Best viewed at 1080p60
