A Northern Maine Gem Pt 1  #89

How many of you have ever heard of the Allagash Wilderness Waterway? Better yet, how many of you have actually canoed the waterway from one point to another?

Now, the Allagash Waterway is a 92 mile long ribbon of lakes, ponds, rivers and streams that goes through Northern Maine and its beautiful forests. It begins at Telos Lake and winds north to Allagash. 3 The trip is quite wilderness oriented with very little if no cell service and primitive campsites. The trip itself will test your canoemanship skills in certain places along the route. There are a number of places where you can put your canoe in and start from, and each location will reduce the amount of time you spend on the water. 1

Now, I mention this because a number of years back, I made the trip down the waterway with three other friends. The trip took us three days and we put in at Umsaskis Lake. Here is a brief look at how that trip went.

I would be remiss, if I did not start by remembering two of my mates from that trip, Bill Brann Sr., who just happened to be my boss at the time where I work. Bill was an avid outdoorsman and Maine Guide who could get in a canoe and paddle it through the most treacherous of spots with ease. This will show as I move further. We also had in our group, Randy Keep. Randy also worked with me and had done the waterway a time before. He came equipped with his little 2 horse motor that would prove to be very beneficial in those dead water spots. The other cohort was Bruce Pelletier who still works with me today.

Bill passed away a few years after our trip, but his memory and what he taught me on those three days will forever live on in my mind. Sad to say that Randy has since passed away some time after.

I also remember Bill and a few other old guides I spoke with telling me to listen as we traveled down the water for voices of the past. Allow me to explain. This waterway was used heavily in years past for moving logs from one point to another to get them to the lumber mills. Without going into much detail many men lost their lives while on the log drives, and the guides will tell you that if you listen carefully very early in the morning, you can hear them yelling out directions as they moved the logs down the river. You can even hear them singing as they go about their daily activities. They mightily defined this stretch of the water and they remain today even in spirit.

So, moving on, we got dropped off at Sandy Point on Umsaskis Lake, with our two canoes and all of our gear late that afternoon and then we set up camp for the night. We gave our driver instructions to pick us up at a specific point in three days. The goal was to get a good start in the AM. Morning came and we made our breakfast and then packed up the canoes and were off. I recall it was raining and the wind was around 15MPH. Undeterred, we worked our way down stream at a slow pace. Every time we hit a dead water pocket, Randy would fire up the 2HP and he would grab our bow rope and pull us along. The weather never changed and as we got to Long Lake, the waves were crashing into the shore. We decided that we would work to the right side of the lake and that Randy would tow us along. The motor worked like a charm as the waves hit the side of our boats. At one point, we stopped on a gravel bar and I recall Bill saying that we should be very careful moving forward and stay close to the shore as the wind was really stirring up the waves. Eventually we moved on and we got to the outlet and resumed under man power. At this point we were soaked, but as part of our planning, we had made sure to pack things in waterproof bags and that was a big help. We continued down the waterway with our destination being Long Lake Dam 2 where we would put in for the night. Once we reached it, we would have traveled 11 miles of the trip. We set up camp and our tents and got supper ready. We had already seen a lot of wildlife on the water which only made this trip more special. I recall the rain continuing to fall and the tents getting very wet. Thank God we had brought a few tarps which we put up over the picnic tables. This would help us stay fairly dry and would also help the fire that we had started to get warm. Day 1 was done and although our weather was not cooperating, there was absolutely no complaining from any of us. We settled down for the night, working hard to keep our sleeping bags semi dry. We were already talking about our day tomorrow and where we were heading to. What do you think happened next????

Footnote:  Hovering over the link just under each footnote will bring it up. Click to go to the webpage.

Allagash Wilderness Waterway: 1

www.maine.gov/cgi-bin/online/doc/parksearch/details.pl?park_id=2

Long Lake Dam: 2

www.maine.gov/dacf/parks/discover_history_explore_nature/history/allagash/longlakedam.shtml

  

Waterway Map 3:

www.maine.gov/dacf/parksearch/PropertyGuides/PDF_GUIDE/aww-guide.pdf

Stay Calm and Think Part II #88

So there I was, cold, wet and not where I thought I was. At a time like this, if you have not worked on survival skills or not had any formal training, your mind can begin to wander and you can hear things that you would not otherwise concern yourself with. Every branch that cracks and every movement that you hear is amplified. Your only thought is “How do I get back to my vehicle?” But in fact, the best way to cope with this situation is to stay calm, sit down and think things through. There is a great book that my father, a retired Maine Game Warden gave me many years ago entitled, “You alone in the Maine Woods”. You will recall if you have it or have seen it because the cover is blaze orange. I still have a copy of it and have it packed in my Guide’s bag that goes everywhere with me. If you don’t have a copy and would like one, here is the link to the little book.

https://maine.gov/ifw/education/pdfs/aloneinmainewoods.pdf

Training will tell you to sit tight and do not move. Someone will find you. BUT that is not what most people do. Their desire to get out drives them to keep moving and that can be detrimental. Some might say, well Tim, you said you had some snowfall the night before, so why not follow your tracks out. The answer is maybe, but often times you have tracked a long way and maybe took a route and then doubled back, and that can cause you to again become disoriented.

I recall listening to a gentlemen tell me once about a lost hunter and what happened to him. It seems that on this day, the hunter entered the woods and was on the track of a big buck. That track took him up and down, and over and under and eventually, he found himself lost. Panic set in and he became wet, cold and lost his sense of right and wrong. He started running through the woods, peeling off his clothes. He became so disillusioned that he did not even remember that in his run, he crossed a Maine road. They finally located the hunter and he had very little clothing on and was hypothermic. He did survive, but this story can tell you what a person’s mind goes through when they are in panic mode.

So, what did I do? My survival skills started to kick in, I reasoned with myself and decided that my first order of business was to stay put and get warm. I began to pile up some dry kindling and birch bark in preparation for starting a fire. My main goal was to keep myself warm in the event I was going to have to stay there for a while. You should never go into the woods without matches and I was prepared for that. I also searched for some larger rocks by the shore of the pond. Why you say? Because rocks hold heat very well. So putting them into the fire and letting them get hot will sustain the heat available to you for a longer period of time. They tell us that if you have to stay overnight in the woods, these rocks can be put under the fir boughs you have as your bed, and they will keep you warm. The next order of business was to find a spot that I could use as a wind stop, such as a large tree with lots of spruce or fir branches hanging down, or a fallen tree where the roots are showing etc. The third thing was to find some dry fir boughs to sit on to keep my pants dry. Once this was done, I moved on to the next thing to do. If you are in distress in the woods, what is the international sign for getting help??? Yes, three shots in the air. And that is what I did. I let one and two and then three shots go off and I waited. After a time, I waited and did it again, mindful of the number of live cartridges I had, and not to use them all at once.

I then walked myself through what I needed to do next. Was there anything else I needed to do? Doing this will keep your mind off your current situation to some degree and hopefully help you get through the fear.

Well, a lot of time passed and I was thinking that I was going to have to spend the night there. I had done what I needed to do and I knew that when Andre got back to the truck and I was not there, he would either come looking for me or would get help. I decided that I would make one more attempt to send up three shots and then would settle in. As I was getting ready to do that, I heard a loud snap in the fir trees. I looked intently to see what was there and then there was another one, this one closer. I could hear footsteps and crunching. My heart started to race and I was immersed in what was making that noise. And then, there it was again, closer and closer until all of a sudden a large amount of snow fell from the fir branches and out popped Andre. I was never so glad to see him than that moment. He had heard the shots and came to investigate. His first words were”Hey there feller, where is the big deer?” My face had a smile from ear to ear and I proceeded to tell him what had happened. Once we got that out of the way, Andre said, it’s getting dark, let’s get back to the truck. That was music to a wet clothed guys ears. Andre took out his compass, got his bearing and off we went. Soon, we were at the road and the truck was in sight. We jumped in, I fired up the truck and got the heat going and we headed for home.

Over the many years since this happened, we seldom spoke of the excursion other than to have a brief laugh. I had learned a lot that day, which in fact drove me to learn more about the woods, survival, and what I could have done differently.  Today, I am much better prepared with my GPS, extra batteries and yes, a very good compass. I no longer use the bobber one. The biggest lesson I learned that day was you need to remain calm, think things through and prepare to stay warm. Also, stay in one place and always make sure you tell someone where you are going and when you will be back. AND don’t deviate from what you tell them. If you use these tips, you will fare much better and won’t waste the energy that can drive you to becoming disoriented and delusional. It’s just that simple…

Stay Calm and Think

Have you ever been in a situation where you have felt helpless, bewildered and just downright scared? What did you do? How did you get out of it? Have you ever thought about it and figured out what you could do differently the next time to prevent it? I ask these questions because I was in one of those situations many years ago and then made some corrections so as to not duplicate it again. Let me explain.

As I recall, I woke up to a nice cool, crisp morning in Northern Maine. The sun was out and snow had fallen during the night. My day consisted of spending time in the woods with my brother in law, Andre’ in back of St. Francis, Maine hunting for white tail deer. Now, Andre’ was a very accomplished hunter. He had learned the ropes from his father and from other experiences. I remember he picked me up early that morning and we headed for the big woods around 1^st Pelletier Pond. The air was crisp and calm. It was a perfect day for our hunt. We drove to St. Francis, got on the dirt woods road by Chamberlains Store and headed toward the pond. The road still had not been plowed as was the custom there and we were one of the first vehicles to drive over it. We finally arrived at the pond and got ready for the hunt. Andre’ had hunted this area many times and knew it well. I on the other hand had never hunted there and was more interested in getting my bearings right. But being the young know it all, I felt good about what I was about to do and had no qualms with how I was about to do it. I had taken every liberty to dress appropriately and felt warm and comfy as I left the truck. That morning, I had pinned my liquid filled bobber compass on my jacket and was using that as my directional guide. Remember, that was over 30 years ago and they had not yet made GPS’s. I took a bearing, and off into the thick spruce I went. I started with the pond on my left side and headed north. It was not long before I cut a track of what looked like a big buck. I took another look at my compass and that deer was headed northwest through the cedar swamp. Feeling no fear, I headed in the same direction after it. It took me up a mountain and down the other side, then it changed direction on me and circled back in a southerly direction. It’s as if he knew I was there and was going to take me for a nice walk. We did that for what felt like an eternity, with him not stopping and me not giving up on the prize. Eventually, we came to a pond and I noticed that I was on the right side of it. I looked down at my compass and it was stuck. Yes, stuck in one position. It was BROKEN! I had brought another compass, but when I checked my pockets, it was nowhere to be found.

I stopped my pursuit of the whitetail and now my thoughts turned to where I was. I had read a lot about being turned around in the woods, but I had never had the opportunity to be one of those people. They say that landmarks look the same when you feel disoriented and your mind begins to play tricks on you. To that I say, true and true. The pond on my left looked identical to 1^st Pelletier, so all I thought I had to do was walk around it and the truck would be parked on the southern end. So, off I went. I did that for about a half an hour and it finally dawned on me that it was not the same pond, and the truck was nowhere in sight. The snow had been pretty fluffy and deep that day and I began to feel the sweat running down my back, and my clothes were now all wet.  I recall thinking, ok what do I do next?

Part 2 to come!