On our third morning on the famed Allagash Wilderness Waterway we woke to a beautiful morning and view from the Ledges campsite on Umsaskis Lake, the calm before the storm. After getting an updated forecast, we were faced with a decision. The following day was predicting heavy rain and high winds, something we were prepared for, but never much fun on the water. After a lengthy discussion and a change to plans, the group decided to pull out a day early, before the predicted severe weather arrived. Not a big deal, but we had a lot of ground to cover on our fourth day in order to get close to Michaud Farm for an early morning exit the following day. Instead of camping for the night on Round Pond, we decided to push through and get somewhere on the final stretch of river, playing our final stop by ear depending on how everyone was feeling.
As we set out for what was to be a long day of paddling, a warm day as well, we motored our way from the Ledges campsite down to our first obstacle, Long Lake Dam. Water levels were too low for us to run the canoes over the old cribworks for fear of hitting one of the many remaining steel rebar spikes sticking out of the wood just under the surface. We decided to make the short portage on river right, which only took a few minutes. We took a short break to fish the deep pool below the dam remnants, only to find a pile of fallfish (chubs), although they did provide for some good action. From there it was a several mile paddle to Round Pond through the steady current of the meandering river. We took a short bathroom break and grabbed a snack where the Blanchette road crosses over the river before navigating the delta like entrance to Round Pond. Here lies what I like to call the icon of the Allagash, a lone very old and very large Elm tree, one of the few remaining Elm trees in Maine after Dutch Elm Disease wiped most of them out in the 1980's. The upriver facing side of the tree is visibly scarred from ice and debris flows in the Spring. I'm not sure exactly how old the Elm is but I always think to myself "imagine the things that tree has seen".
As we entered Round Pond, we were greeted by a pair of loons as we made our way over to the west shore and the Inlet Campsite for some rest, lunch, and a refill on our water bottles. A few of the crew waded out into the pond to do some fishing while the rest of us relaxed in the shade for a bit before heading on down the river to our final destination. Clouds were starting to move in at this point and the air was heavy, a good sign of incoming rain. As we rounded the point on the west shore, we passed the ranger station and were greeted by the ranger, who was out cleaning up the yard in front of his cabin. A short conversation about the weather ensued as we slowly passed by and he seemed it fit to be heading out early. We bobbed and weaved our way through Round Pond rips, which was quite shallow, leaving the distinctive green paint streaks on many of the rocks sitting just below the surface. The river moves along nicely until the Musquacook Deadwater, an wide, relatively deep, section of river where Musquacook Stream enters the Allagash from the east. The adventurous type will occasionally enter the Allagash via Musquacook Stream, a small free stone stream that is truly remote and difficult to navigate, especially in low water. To make up time, we linked up and motored through the deadwater as far as we could, making it a short paddle to our final destination, Five Finger North campsite. We quickly set up camp and got dinner going, spreading tarps around over the tents in preparation for the incoming rain. Preparation is key as the rain began as we were relaxing around the campfire, pushing everyone to bed early, although probably needed after a very long day on the water.
