Maiden Voyage!! Cedar Strip Canoe /Allagash Lake Loop Trip in Maine, June 2020
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- Опубликовано: 18 сен 2024
- In this video I test my recently built cedar strip canoe in the wilds of the Allagash Region. My starting point for the trip / put-in was Graveyard Point at the Northern section of Chesuncook Lake which is a state maintained access point for Chesuncook Lake. I then paddle through Black Pond, Caucomgomoc Stream, Caucomgomoc Lake, Ciss Stream, Round Pond, Portage 2.25 miles into Allagash Lake, Paddle Allagash Stream, Chamberlain Lake, Portage to Umbazooksus Lake and Paddle the Northern reaches of Chesuncook to complete the loop. Paddled 30 miles or 48 Kilometers on my final day which was challenging in itself.
This trip presented many challenges and was tiring on all levels. It was worth it to challenge myself once again. Trips likes this help me appreciate the conveniences in life and this one certainly did that. This trip was an amazing experience filled with breathtaking scenery and wildlife. I saw three people during my 5 day trip.
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Thanks for watching!!
That canoe’s amazing! Looks like I’m gonna have to check out Maine one of these days, beautiful
River Slug Outdoors thank you! I enjoyed building the canoe! I was inspired by several on RUclips and forums that I follow. Maine has many paddling, hiking and outdoor opportunities. It is a great place!
Simply awesome!! Impressive, humorous, informational and greatly inspirational. Thanks for sharing.
Comments like these make it all worth it! Thank you for taking the time to watch. Certainly happy that you enjoyed it. Have a great day Darrell!
Love the videos!! AMAZING scenery!!
Thank you Josh!
Wow! That was great Dave. ! Brought back memories of an excursion across Caucomgomoc into Ciss Stream and Round Pond back in 1970 in a 18 Foot Gruman. You made it look easy. I would have been a little concerned with the Cedar Canoe but you handled it Great. I attribute that to your excellent craftsmanship and Canoeing skills. Thank you for sharing this excellent video
Thank you sir! Always great to hear when someone says it brought back memories! Ciss Stream and Round Pond are gems!! Ciss Stream especially with the crazy wildlife scene! Happy to share my trip and thanks for watching!
Congratulations on your first solo with ' Bela Christina ' Dave ! Thanks again for sharing your solitary retreat in the beautiful Allagash region ... in the Great State of Maine! Your newly built cedar strip canoe looks like it handled well ... and she looked pretty snappy as you shared your journey. Loved the ' Duck Boat comment at the beaver dam.
Was with you in spirit as you did the loop ... but I have to say ... those 2 mile portages are killers! Thanks again for the great video Dave . Keep a'goin Mr. Maine Tripper !
Appreciate it Pistol! Happy Fathers Day and we will find some time to sit around the fire and talk about some more!
Great video. I may have to try this trip.
It is a rigorous yet enjoyable trip. I hope that you tackle it. Thanks for watching and enjoy your trip!
Awesome ! Great video man. Looks like the weather cooperated ! Just got back from Richardson late yesterday. Video should be up soon. Lot of people there boating. I guess folks needed to get out . Way more boats than ever before. Remote, no. But still a beautiful trip ! Great campsites, and a lot of paddling. It was great seeing your new boat in action. You must be proud. No way I would take my boat down those rock gardens ! My boat is strictly for lakes and relatively flat rivers. Happy Father’s Day !
Looking forward to watching your video Craig! The weather cooperated for you as well I would assume. I misjudged the water levels on both streams and hoped for slightly higher water levels but with no rain I knew that I would be in for some trouble. I managed to get through them, but not without a lot of extra effort and some hard knocks on the canoe. From here on out the cedar strip will only be used in flat water situations. Need to get the canoe back in the shop for some inspection, sanding and re varnishing....lol. It was a great trip, challenging, fatiguing but well worth it. Hope your trip was awesome!
Great video. I've been on a lot of those waters. Suggestion, you should have taken one more day and visited the Abandoned Engines and Truck line between Telos and Chamberlain. You were right there. You could have overnighted at Nugents camp on the East side of Chamberlain Lake. Good trip.
Thanks for the comment Joe. I know exactly what you are saying. I should have taken one more day to fit that in. I guess I will just have to plan another trip. Still so much to see on those big headwaters. Thanks again for watching, appreciate it.
When you were leaving Canvas Dam and announced you planned to make Allagash Lake that day I thought No Way! My hat's off. That's a tough days run. I now see why you wanted to go further than you did the first night. You really should give poling a try. I think you will be glad you did. I've gone up to Allagash Lake both ways. Good move not doing Mud Pond Carry. The wheels wouldn't be much help there.
Thanks for watching and leaving a note. Poling is very intriguing to me and I certainly plan on practicing the poling technique in the future. Making a pole while in camp can also create some busy work I figure. I certainly hope to give it a go in the near future. Most of my canoe trips will be planned for the late summer and Fall this year so I hope to add that in to my skill set since it clearly seems to be very useful. Thanks again for watching. Very much appreciated!
Great video Dave.... what an adventure.... I'm sure you'll have many more in that canoe.
Appreciate it Greg! Just returned from a camping trip with my son using the canoe. First time Canoe was used tandem and it handled great! Enjoying your flight videos. Awesome stuff Greg!
Great video. Your canoe is beautiful. We have been to a few of those places you went thru. Hopefully this summer we will get to Allagash Lake.
Thank you Sally! Happy to hear you enjoyed the video. The canoe was very enjoyable to build and to actually set out on an adventure with the Wabnaki it made it even better. If you have never been to Allagash Lake I am certain you will be quite impressed with the quiet solitude that exists there. Thanks for following along and leaving a comment and I wish you the best in 2021!
Wow Dave!
I won't be trippin this Summer, but in 2 weeks I'll be paddling and fishing waters local to Bangor & Newport in my new Predator 13.
Enjoy the Old Town Predator!
@@mainetripper And Dave, forgive me for failing to say that your new ride is one gorgeous canoe. One of these days I hope to build one of Rob Macks Georgian Bay kayaks.
That loop trip is awesome. I planned that almost exact trip many years ago but never went due to severe work injury.
It is a great trip indeed. Depending on how hard you want to push it can be done in 2 nights 3 days or it can be planned to be more leisurely for a 3 night or 4 night trip. 2 nights / 3 days is hauling ass in my opinion. I have done it both ways and looking to the future 3 night minimum will always be planned.
Ahhh the new boat out on a sweet trip. Some of those shallow areas could be run with a pole, and its super fun.
Need to learn the art of poling!
@@mainetripper I'm down in the Machias area. It would be cool to meet somewhere some time and paddle and pole a bit if your interested.
@@downeastprimitiveskills7688 My aplogies for not responding to this particular message. I missed it entirely and caught it tonight while looking through some new messages. I am definitely interested in learning how to pole a canoe. I have a couple trips planned and will be looking for the perfect sized spruce to dabble with it. At some point we should definitely meet up so you can show me some tricks. Presently looking for a MadRiver Explorer or a decent Old Town Camper or similar so that I can adventure on some shallower streams and pole when necessary. There is always something to learn. Again...sorry for the 1 year late message. All the best.
@@davidcloutier6771 An older Camper would make a great shallow river boat. I'm attending the Maine Canoe Symposium coming up on June 11, they are running some poling clinics and even though I pole a lot I'm eager to hear and pick up new ideas and techniques.
@@downeastprimitiveskills7688 June 11th I will be in CT for a graduation party. It would be great to see a poling video with your current and new techniques learned at the symposium.
Lovely canoe! For what it's worth using small diameter line while lining a canoe through rapids is not a great idea. While the line may be strong enough the small diameter poses a real risk to your hands via rope burn or worse.
The rope that I use is a Kevlar rope sheathed with a very comfortable nylon. I have never had any issue with rope burn or losing control of my canoe with the chosen line. I would be interested in learning about your experiences with rope burn and using a smaller diameter lines. I prefer the line that I use because it stores neatly and tightly. Thanks for watching the video! Appreciate it.
@@mainetripper As someone who earned a living (of sorts) as a professional charter boat captain I must admit that I have suffered more than a few rope burns in my time…the worst ones always seemed to involve small diameter lines, particularly when using manila cordage. So I guess I tend to shy away from rope smaller than 3/8”. When I was a rock and ice climber years ago we used 11mm climbing ropes but I see that climbers these days have transitioned to 8 and 9 mm. My guess is high tech materials have changed the rope scene and not having had any experience with the type of rope you refer to my comment may have been out of date. Next time I'm at Hamilton Marine I check out some of the new materials. Thanks for the update!
Thanks for the great video. Alan G passed this link on to me. Beautiful canoe, congratulations. We are planning a similar route in hopefully in the near future. I liked the upside down camera effect - don't see that ever. I was wincing every time the canoe bounced off a rock while you were lining up stream. BTW, how was the fishing? And, was it worth bringing the wheels on this particular trip? It seemed that you packed pretty light with freeze dried food, etc? Funny how often the last day often is a long day.
Thanks for watching the video! The wheels were a godsend at least for me on this trip. Are they necessary.....that depends. Round Pond into Allagash is 2.2 miles. I initially was going to carry the canoe overhead but at that point in the day the wheels made it tolerable and allowed me to push on physically. It is also helpful to have a cart on Caucomgomoc Road. If you were to bypass the Mud Pond Carry like I did (Banged my knee up a bit on Caucomgomoc Stream) then wheels are definitely necessary for Longley stream road to Umbazooksus Lake (8 miles) Not much luck fishing but I did not invest a lot of time this trip fishing. Allagash stream and Caucomgomoc stream had fish that I sighted but they did not bite. I bet a fly rod would be best.
I’m planning on doing this trip ( starting at Umbazooksus west ) in a couple weeks. I’m really interested in the Mud Pond carry.
JD, it is a great trip. I never made it on the Mud Pond Carry though. I tweaked my knee pretty good on Caucomgomoc Stream which forced me to change my plans. I hope to get the Mud Pond Carry done this year at some point. Enjoy your trip. It is rigorous but well worth it.
I have been thinking of building a canoe and I watched your videos building this canoe. Very enjoyable and instructive. Do you like the way it handles with one and could 2 people day trip in it. Thank you
Pat, the Wabnaki has been a solid solo canoe performer for me. I have taken the canoe into some tough terrain and it has outperformed my expectations. Very stable and tracks very well. I am able to stand in the canoe with no issues whatsoever. I have used the Wabnaki in a tandem situation once loaded with plenty of gear. It was a trip with my son and I and once again the canoe handled very well with two paddlers loaded as well as unloaded fishing. I have zero complaints about this canoe. If you choose this design per Gil Gilpatricks book Building a Strip Canoe then I think you will be very pleased yourself. Hope this helps and thanks for stopping by and watching. Appreciate it!
What was your start and finish date? I've never plan trips to BSP or the Gash between late May and Mid July because of the bugs!
I think my travel dates were June 9th to the 14th on this trip.
@@mainetripper How were the bugs? I was there (Eagle Lake) Jun 18-25th 2020 but only after calling ahead to make sure bugs were minimal!
I don’t recall the bugs being too much of an issue. They were there but Deet is a good friend.
Nice video Dave ! Seeing Moose is a rare thing ! A highlite for sure. How did the hull hold up ?
The hull performance was better than expected. The rock that met the underside of my canoe when I was eddying out on Allagash Stream didn’t agree with the hull too much! I will reach out on the forum and discuss further. Basically I loosened a plank just a touch! Hard impact with an unseen perfectly conical shaped rock that the canoe teetered on. Bad luck really. Watertight integrity was maintained though. Epoxy and glass is an amazing thing! Allagash Stream is not meant for cedar strip canoes. I was hoping for slightly higher water levels. If that were the case it would have been smooth sailing.
@@mainetripper The Old saying ! " If you Built it ? You can fix it !"
Sanded the hair line crack on the inside. Outside hull was not affected. Sanded the Poly off down to the glass and fiberglassed and epoxied the area. Looks great actually. Just in time for a flat water trip with my son this weekend
What size canoe did you build? I’ve got a cedar strip I bought at a great price but @18’ it’s a bit long for solo.
The Wabnaki Canoe that I built is a 16’ canoe. Plans for the canoe are available from Gil Gilpatricks 2nd edition “Buulding a Cedar Strip Canoe”. Plans come with the purchase of the book. Having used this canoe in some harsh environments in Maine, I highly recommend this canoe for speed and stability. I moved the bow seat more towards the center line to assist with solo paddling. It has worked out great.
Wow! Congrats on your maiden voyage and it was a doozy! How did your wabnaki perform??
The Wabnaki was much faster than I thought and it tracked very well. I did end up lowering my seat a couple inches before the trip and the stability was amazing. I stood in the canoe often and paddled to stretch my legs at times and the stability was amazing while doing that as well. The canoe took some hard knocks on Allagash Stream which was a little nerve racking. Some minor repairs are necessary but cedar strips are not meant to be operated in low water conditions in which I was operating.
@@mainetripper that's consistent with my experience as well. It also handles big waves surprisingly well, too. What kind of repairs do you need to do?
Hey it floats!
Not only did it float but it’s performance was exceptional. The decision to go with the Wabnaki design paid off immensely. Those Big Lakes need a canoe that is stable and can track well and this canoe did both!
wow what a beautiful canoe and such a nice area to go This is BlindOwl with my newest channel for my drone flights
Thank you very much!