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Home RV #60
The North Maine Woods has a number of sporting camps within its
boundaries. Many are very well run and offer the perspective customer a chance
to spend time, whether it be to fish, hunt or just relax and take in the
scenery.
TC and I have decided to try to visit some of them, and when
we found out that our youngest son was coming for a visit, we decided that the
Deboullie area would be a good place to go. Now, Deboullie has a number of
excellent trout ponds within the park, which is owned by the State of Maine. It
also has an excellent sporting camp situated right on Island Pond. I have heard
that the pond has always been a great place to fish. When we found out that our
son, RV, was coming, we immediately decided to book a stay at Red River Camps.
We contacted the owner, Jen Brophy via email and found that she was extremely
quick to respond. Jen let us know that she did have availability on the day we
were looking for and just that quickly, we were reserved. There are several
plans that you can take while at the camps. The American plan allows you to
take advantage of full meals while there, with Gloria doing all of the cooking
in the main lodge. The Housekeeping plan allows you to do the cooking, while in
the confines of your specific cabin.
On the day we were scheduled to drive in, we left our home
and headed to Portage, ME where we entered the North Maine Woods via the fish
river checkpoint. Once through, we took the Hewes Brook Rd. It wasn’t long
before we came up on a Chevy pickup towing a boat and trailer. Shortly after,
we ran smack dab into a dust bowl. Allow me to explain. On this day, they must
have graded the road, because the dirt was very fine and powder dry. As we came
to this stretch of the road, the truck in front of us, which was traveling at
about 15 mph, made our travel miserable. We could not see one foot in front of
us. Now, anyone who has traveled the woods roads, knows that a dry dusty dirt
road can be very dangerous, not only because you can lose sight of the truck in
front you, but from any oncoming trucks, including trucks loaded with as much
tree length logs as they can load on. Fortunately, we did not meet any this day
and we were able to keep track of the truck in front of us. Eventually, we came
upon the road that we needed to take to get to Deboullie. We continued to
follow the truck with boat in tow. Generally, the rules of the road indicate
that when someone is following you and they seem to be faster than you, you
pull over and let them pass you. But this guy would have none of it. He stayed
in the middle of the road and just kept going. We followed him at about 15-20
miles per hour the entire way into the park until he finally took a left to go to
where I thought he might go, Togue Pond. After we escaped the truck, the plan
was to drive to the camps, check in and put our gear in the cabin, and then do
some fishing at one of the ponds. As we drove into the camps, we were
immediately met by Gloria. Gloria is the jack of all trades at the camps. She
cleans the camps, cooks and just about everything else. She greeted us, and
then took us inside where she let us know that we were going to stay in the
cabin marked Denny. She also let us know that dinner was served at six pm. We
also met Jen Brophy. Jen is a second generation owner, having purchased the
camps from her mother and father. Once we had checked in, we drove up the hill
to our cabin, and what we found was a very clean well maintained cabin with hot
and cold running water as well as full bathroom facilities. We put our gear
inside and then made our way to do a little fishing. First, we decided that we would have lunch.
TC had packed some food for us, so we made a group decision to go to Pushineer
Pond to see if one of their campsites was available. When we got there, we found
one and spread our things out and had lunch. When we finished our lunch, we
packed up and headed over to Perch Pond. As we drove in, we noticed that there
was a large party of people at one of the campsites. We stopped and were
immediately greeted by several of them. Now, for any of you who know the Martin
family from St. Francis, you know that these guys are in a class all their own.
Lance Martin came over and we introduced ourselves and immediately everybody
remembered everybody from past years. At one point, someone under the tarp
yelled out to TC, hey, you went to school with me. Then to top it off, another
one of the Martins let us know that his daughter had just gotten married to a
young man who went to school in the engineering program at UMO. In this little
world, after hearing the name of the man, our son piped up and said that this
man had been his roommate during his first year at UMO. Then Lance let us know
that they really rough it when they come to this campsite, which incidentally,
they do every year on the same dates. In the camp was a generator and a
refrigerator. That’s right, a refrigerator. Lance told us that last year, they
had brought a freezer, but that did not work so well because it froze
everything. Then he showed us a hand carved trophy of a fish with a few names
on it and said it was awarded to the person who catches the biggest fish every
year. He said that one year, someone brought up a big frozen fish they had
caught and tried to pass it off as being caught at the outing. They said it
took them a little while to figure out that it did not get caught there and
that guy was disqualified. We also noticed that someone had a pontoon boat
parked at the shore. Now, for all of you folks who don’t know about Perch Pond,
if you pushed the boat out and got the motor up to ¼ speed, you would then need
to power it down and find a way to turn it around. Said another way, the pond
was far too small for the boat, but they said they were enjoying it anyway. We
eventually had laughed enough and decided that it was time to move on and do
some fishing. We made our way over to Upper Pond and had a real good day. My
job on this trip was not to fish, but just paddle TC and RV around. I was kind
of like a guide.
When we returned to Red River Camps that evening, we noticed
that there were a lot of people there. Jen told us that she had eight cabins on
the complex, and all were full. As we waited for the six o’clock hour, we sat
on the deck of Denny and looked out at the complex and the spectacular view of
Island Pond. Clearly, this was a place where you could come to relax and enjoy
the fact that there were no phones or the hustle and bustle of the busy world. We
eventually made our way to the main lodge and sat on the deck that overlooks
the pond. Several more people showed up waiting for the bell to go off
signifying that dinner was served. While waiting, we got to meet a couple from
southern Maine that had just come to relax, hike, canoe and kayak. They told us
that they generally take a week and vacation in Maine, usually at a sporting
camp.. There was also another party comprised of a father and son. The father
was from Maryland and the son, South Carolina. They had been coming to the
camps for a number of years and I found their knowledge of the Deboullie area
to be quite good. As we finished up our dinner, we heard some knocking at the
sliding glass window next to our table. We looked over and found a group of
ducks on the deck at the slider pecking away at the door to get in. We watched
them for a few minutes and they never stopped their assault on that door until
finally, Gloria went over to open it and shooed them away. Our final
conversations that evening centered on trying to catch a few fish on Island pond
before dark set in. So, we excused ourselves and headed back to the camp to get
prepared. RV and I grabbed a canoe on the dock and headed out on the pond.
Joining us in an adjacent canoe were the father and son. We fished until dark
and only finally surrendered when the headlamp came out and we could not see
for the black of night.
That evening, we slept remarkably well and arose to a
beautiful clear morning with the water as calm as it could be. We found our way
to breakfast which Gloria had made and then said our goodbyes and proceeded to
fish two other ponds before we headed home. We rode over to Denny Pond and
tried our luck there using sink tip lines. Denny is very clear, but also very
deep and using the fish finder I have, I noticed that the fish were in the deeper
parts of the pond. Galilee pond is a short walking distance away from Denny,
and we all decided to take some time and hike into it. We found it to be a very long narrow pond at
the foot of a big rock ledge. Although we did not fish it this day, TC and I
promised that we would come back and try it before the season was over. We then
decided that we would drive over to Perch again, and this time, put our canoe
in the water. We had a great time fishing it, but who we ran into as we were
coming off the water bares discussion. As we came off, a truck pulled in with a
boat in the back. As they drove in, we could hear the dogs in the truck making
their presence known. The driver got out, with a Coors light in his hand and I
instantly knew where he came from by his accent. If you have never been to the
Allagash or spoken to someone from there, you just can’t appreciate how they
talk. TC and I grew up in Fort Kent and we heard it all our lives, but have
never gotten tired of it. Well, this gentleman had us laughing to tears in no
time. He asked where we were from and when we told him, he said, you won’t
catch me there, no sir. I don’t like driving in that much traffic. When RV told him where he lived, which is
outside of Boston, the conversation was even funnier. He said you’d have to put
me in a net to go there. He also kept saying that Deboullie was the “Purtiest”
place in the world, yes sir. Then he let the dogs out of the truck and what we
saw were two little Yorkshire Terriers. This guy told us that they were the
best fishermen in the group. They go in the boat, spot a fish and dive in
grabbing it and then return to the boat. When we had laughed as much as we
could, we decided that it was time to leave. When I turned back to look at
them, I noticed the two dogs, paws up on the side of the boat looking down at
the water. Maybe he was not telling a fib about their diving in. No, that can’t
be.
Afternoon came and we
made our way back home. We had really enjoyed our time at Red River camps and
the whole Deboullie region. Jen and her whole gang had made us feel welcome and
the atmosphere was outstanding.
Sunday came and RV had to head home. As we took him to the
airport, there was a touch of sadness that he was leaving so soon. I always
tell people to enjoy their family when they are young, because time passes
quickly and they will be gone before you know it. But, I looked at the weekend this
way, TC and I had gotten to spend some quality time with him and had been able
to take advantage of our region and the Red River Camps. I expect that we will
do this again, and the next time, maybe stay a little longer.
As we get closer to November, and the upcoming bear
referendum vote, I urge you, and all Maine voters to take a look at the Maine
Department of Inland Fisheries website. They have added a page that talks about
the referendum and have provided some excellent information. You can find the
page using the URL below.
