Upper West Branch Penobscot River and Chesuncook Lake
August 2nd – 5th 2009

Ever since the epic Maine 2003 trip, I wanted to go back. There is just something about the great north woods of Maine that makes me feel at home.

We enjoy canoeing and camping and thought why not combine the two. Typically we have backpacked on our multi-day camping trips. Something about being able to not worry about weight as much and spending more time enjoy the camp life was very appealing.

We targeted the upper west branch of the penobscot for it’s remote setting and docile waters. The fine folks at Katahdin Outfitters helped us plan the perfect trip. We left our car at the ranger station on Chesuncook lake and put-in at Lobster Stream on the river.

Here is a map of our course and our camps:

View Maine 2009 in a larger map

Fishing was another draw for me. I had a great smallmouth bass day trip on the east branch back in 2003. The west branch is more known for it’s landloc salmon and brook trout. With the water being so high and being late in season, the fishing was less than stellar. I caught several creek chubs, perch and one small brook trout but not a single bass. I have to admit, I didn’t fish that hard, I was too busy enjoying the wilderness.

As you can see the camps were well established and for the most part very clean. Our favorite was the first on Big Island North. What a treat to be able spend the night in such a beautiful place. Jaimie was so relieved to see the well ventilated housed latrine. It was “a busy week” and we saw at most a group or two of people each day. The camps are quite far apart so settling in early is advised.

We had a wonderful trip and would highly recommend it!

Resources:

- Google Maps – West Branch Penobscot River
- Katahdin Outfitters – Penobscot River

This was the first time I used the GPS on my iPhone for tracking and marking waypoints. I stuffed it in a pocket on the top of my backpack and I must say it worked quite well. I used the iPhone app Trails to record the hike. The battery life was great, it only used about a third of the battery for the 3 hours it was tracking. One nice feature was the use of the light sensor (near the ear piece). When it was covered, the screen automatically shut off to help save the battery. The accuracy seemed quite good as well, there are even posts saying the phone/app bests a $200 Garmin.

Here are some pictures from our hike on the Merryman Trail at the Loch Raven Reservoir in Timonium, Maryland. We parked on Warren Rd. and had easy access to the trail. We got side tracked at the feeder stream waterfalls and took the fire road up to a neighborhood and decided to turn back (as you can see from the maps). Overall it was a nice hike and beautiful spring day. You can view more details on our Hike In and Hike Out @ EveryTrail.com.

More information about the trail can be found here.

You have undoubtedly heard about this outstanding book/movie. Well if you haven’t seen the movie yet, the consumer copy is being released on March 4th. This is a must see (and/or physically own if your primitive squirrel instincts are in overdrive).

I will warn you; when I saw this movie in the theater this past fall, it inspired me to do all sorts of things, including selling all my DVDs/CDs on half.com. With that said, the link to the right is to the Amazon Unboxed pre-order.

This is one you can’t miss.

Jaimie and I went camping at Peaks of Otter on the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia last weekend. We tent camped at site #21 and Hikes around the lake the first evening. It was a beautiful day and was quite crowded around the lodge. The park is very well maintaned and the staff is very friendly. This was the first trip with our new Mountain Hardware Casa 4 tent. Setup time is a about 2 minutes more than the average tent, but worth the effort. The design offers a roomy interior with a spacious gear vestibule. The next morning we woke up and hiked the sharp top mountain trail. We just about had the trail to ourselves on the way up. At the top, we ran into a group that took the bus up. The views are sweet, you can see a complete 360 degrees. It is also worth the trip over to Buzzards Roost. There are some cool climbing rocks and more breath taking views. Here are some pics:

… these picks are from last October in Vogal State Park, Georgia.