spider solo
New member
Oct22-24, 2006
Earlier this fall I was able to go To Moosehead Lake in Maine and looked forward to going to Umbagog at the next chance I had before things get to frozen over up there.
Finally I had a 'window of opportunity' to take a couple of days and head on up and a chance to get away from things.
It certainly does get dark early these days I was "in for the night" by 6:30 pm. on those nights...such a late night rowdy fellow.
Orange was the color of choice for my hat...I had read that it was the 1st weekend for NH Moose hunting season, at least in that area. Since Umbagog is in both Maine and NH and is a combination of State, Federal and private ownership, I wasn't sure if all lands were open for the season.
However, I was going into some prime Moose country. Visibility would be the way to go.
Putting in at the Errol Dam I was reminded that I was heading up stream to go into the Lake, the water was running high so I hugged the shore line and made use of any slack current I might find along the way.
It took about an hr, give or take, to come into the main part of the lake . I was extra cautious to make note of where the Androscoggin River enters Umbagog as I would be approaching my return from a different direction. I also took a GPS waypoint in case it could come in handy. I didn't want to get confused where the Magalloway River enters, as there are various 'floating marsh land islands' areas surounding it.
Sun the 22nd... the water was surprising flat after the previous days wind that had howled through the White Mnts. Now as I paddled along the views of the snow caped mnts in the distance were beautiful.
Mid afternoon, I had made camp, leaving me with a chance to go exploreing and paddling about...no wind no waves!
Keeping my sleeping bag and a bivy bag with me, I seized the chance to cross over to the other shore... Tyler Point and Tyler Cove. Though the wind is known to come up suddenly, I had good luck and could zip along to my hearts content.
Returning to camp a couple of hrs later, I was just finishing supper when I felt the 1st rain drops. Hustling about... things were gathered up....ahh.... but for the very last... a nice cup of hot chocolate as I snuggle into my sleeping bag. Bedtime.. all of 6:30 p.m...during the night I could hear it snowing...6:30 a.m. I look out to see it still snowing...
Being there in the middle of Umbagog with it snowing all around was very, very beautiful.
Clearing weather found me packed and headed out...thing was it was 4 pm Monday and would be dark by 6:00 pm. Still calm wind, though I had heard it blow through in the night, conditions were good (though lightly raining) and I decided to give it a try for the north east section of the lake, as I had never been there before.
No other boats, nor did I ever see another soul ...it was a great time to be on the water. I turned into a large cove past some camps and several islands, I was looking for one in particular...but this cove seemed to be narrowing into a river and I thought I could hear rapids..indeed tuns out I was heading towards Rapid River, now part of the Northern Forest Canoe Trail.
I thought there was some kind of camping up ahead, but I was fast running out of daylight and had to make land fall and get some kind of shelter up.
I found thicket of small pines where I could land and drag the boat up the banking. No food... no fire... having already eaten, I just had to sleep for the night.
The tent was such a "soggy sponge" of a shelter when I set it up, that I actually pulled out my bivy sack and used that inside the tent!!
I bivied in my own tent and that worked out excellent...it's like having fresh sheets or something like that. It meant not having to sleep with your face in a puddle of wet clothes for example.
The next day I was off to Sunday cove where the Island I was looking for was about 45 minutes from where I called it a night... so my less than scenic overnight was the right choice... otherwise I would have paddling around in the dark and rain etc etc...
Rapid River it turns out has quite the bit of history to it. I would like to go back to there and see what it's all about.
It was a very nice trip.
I saw no other boats or people other than the 1st day and played it carefull not going poking around into the marsh land areas I stayed more out in the open or along a hard shoreline.
It was a great trip and glad I was able to be paddling up there before it freezes up.
Earlier this fall I was able to go To Moosehead Lake in Maine and looked forward to going to Umbagog at the next chance I had before things get to frozen over up there.
Finally I had a 'window of opportunity' to take a couple of days and head on up and a chance to get away from things.
It certainly does get dark early these days I was "in for the night" by 6:30 pm. on those nights...such a late night rowdy fellow.
Orange was the color of choice for my hat...I had read that it was the 1st weekend for NH Moose hunting season, at least in that area. Since Umbagog is in both Maine and NH and is a combination of State, Federal and private ownership, I wasn't sure if all lands were open for the season.
However, I was going into some prime Moose country. Visibility would be the way to go.
Putting in at the Errol Dam I was reminded that I was heading up stream to go into the Lake, the water was running high so I hugged the shore line and made use of any slack current I might find along the way.
It took about an hr, give or take, to come into the main part of the lake . I was extra cautious to make note of where the Androscoggin River enters Umbagog as I would be approaching my return from a different direction. I also took a GPS waypoint in case it could come in handy. I didn't want to get confused where the Magalloway River enters, as there are various 'floating marsh land islands' areas surounding it.
Sun the 22nd... the water was surprising flat after the previous days wind that had howled through the White Mnts. Now as I paddled along the views of the snow caped mnts in the distance were beautiful.
Mid afternoon, I had made camp, leaving me with a chance to go exploreing and paddling about...no wind no waves!
Keeping my sleeping bag and a bivy bag with me, I seized the chance to cross over to the other shore... Tyler Point and Tyler Cove. Though the wind is known to come up suddenly, I had good luck and could zip along to my hearts content.
Returning to camp a couple of hrs later, I was just finishing supper when I felt the 1st rain drops. Hustling about... things were gathered up....ahh.... but for the very last... a nice cup of hot chocolate as I snuggle into my sleeping bag. Bedtime.. all of 6:30 p.m...during the night I could hear it snowing...6:30 a.m. I look out to see it still snowing...
Being there in the middle of Umbagog with it snowing all around was very, very beautiful.
Clearing weather found me packed and headed out...thing was it was 4 pm Monday and would be dark by 6:00 pm. Still calm wind, though I had heard it blow through in the night, conditions were good (though lightly raining) and I decided to give it a try for the north east section of the lake, as I had never been there before.
No other boats, nor did I ever see another soul ...it was a great time to be on the water. I turned into a large cove past some camps and several islands, I was looking for one in particular...but this cove seemed to be narrowing into a river and I thought I could hear rapids..indeed tuns out I was heading towards Rapid River, now part of the Northern Forest Canoe Trail.
I thought there was some kind of camping up ahead, but I was fast running out of daylight and had to make land fall and get some kind of shelter up.
I found thicket of small pines where I could land and drag the boat up the banking. No food... no fire... having already eaten, I just had to sleep for the night.
The tent was such a "soggy sponge" of a shelter when I set it up, that I actually pulled out my bivy sack and used that inside the tent!!
I bivied in my own tent and that worked out excellent...it's like having fresh sheets or something like that. It meant not having to sleep with your face in a puddle of wet clothes for example.
The next day I was off to Sunday cove where the Island I was looking for was about 45 minutes from where I called it a night... so my less than scenic overnight was the right choice... otherwise I would have paddling around in the dark and rain etc etc...
Rapid River it turns out has quite the bit of history to it. I would like to go back to there and see what it's all about.
It was a very nice trip.
I saw no other boats or people other than the 1st day and played it carefull not going poking around into the marsh land areas I stayed more out in the open or along a hard shoreline.
It was a great trip and glad I was able to be paddling up there before it freezes up.
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