Trailbound 1 to Churchill Dam

We awoke at Trailbound 1 to an overcast sky, but no rain to start, a wonderful beginning as it was the first day re-packing everything into bags from an overnight in the tents. It didn’t take too long for the scouts; minor reminders from our guide, a gentle prod here and there, and with a grab and go breakfast in our bellies, we huffed everything down the still muddy slope and back through the poison ivy to load into our canoes. The hardest part for the scouts was getting used to the idea that their feet would be wet from launching the canoes in the water, not resting on the rocks of the shore to preserve the integrity of them. It was something I would come to remind them of the entire week right up until the end, although some were better than others. Once we loaded everything in the canoes, the two meager cups of coffee I had barely scratching the sleepiness from my brain, we began our paddle across Grand Lake Matagamon back to where we left our van to get a ride farther north to Churchill Dam on the Allagash River. When asked how long the ride would be, we were told it was going to be 5 more hours. I didn’t think there were 5 more hours left in Maine, but apparently I was mistaken.

In the canoes on the way over, our guide had to work out some kinks with some of the scouts who struggled with keeping the canoe in a straight line, likening the 2 mile straight paddle into a 3.5 mile serpentine slough. It took a little coercion, but we managed to make it across, all in one piece, a light rain briefly brushing past and ensuring that any heat would not become an issue. Pulling up to the dock and and getting our feet wet again to unload our gear, we met our driver Rick, a gentleman in what I could only guess would be his late 70’s, who schooled us on how to properly load canoes and more than once made it clear he was ready to clear out, not because he had anywhere to be besides driving us, but more due to the fact that there would be other crews coming across for their rides away from camp. 5 canoes loaded on the trailer, our gear stowed below and all 11 of our crew crammed in the van plus Rick and we were as ready as we could be for another 5 hour drive, only 1.5 of which would be on pavement. The rest as we found out, would be on logging roads going a mere 30 mph to avoid slashing our tires on the sharp stones or gutting them in any of the plentiful potholes we would encounter. On the long meandering ride, we learned that Rick rarely drives higher than the speed limit and after hour 4 on a bumpy road, the scouts begin to go a little bonkers and begin spouting nonsense. I may or may not have instigated a few of those as I was beginning to lose it a little myself and felt the tendrils of a caffeine withdraw headache creeping in.

Almost to the minute, we arrived at Churchill Dam after our 5 hour drive and began the process of unloading the canoes and gear and transporting them the short distance by hand to our campsite along the river, what they call cells along the Allagash. This particular camping area had 3 cells, but we were the only ones camping right there. We did see a few other people planning on putting in the next day, but could not tell where they were put up. It seemed we had the place to ourselves. As the adults watched, our guide Eden taught our scouts how to set up the dining fly over the picnic table and told them one more time that the adults were now on vacation and she expected the scouts to be taking care of everything, including tent set up, cooking, cleaning dishes, etc. At first, the adults, myself included, sat around and watched, but in order to keep from going stir crazy, we did help with the collection of firewood so we could eat a nice hot dinner when the time came. Once the tents and our campsite were fully set up, a few of us decided to go for a quick paddle on the lake opposite the dam, near the area where we had seen our first moose eating in the tall grass along the water. Some scouts went fishing, the sun was out and drying everything off, and it was turning into a beautiful afternoon.

The day was a relatively long one with our 5 hour drive and initial paddle across Lake Matagamon and we ran into a few issues at our campsite. Nothing major luckily, but at one point we had to take away fishing and water privileges for a few scouts as they forgot what the buddy system was (if you leave the campsite, tell an adult and go with a buddy, fairly simple), and another issue with a knife where a scout was whittling too close to others and had his knife taken away for the rest of the day. He did have his toten chip, (a card that indicates the scout had gone through knife safety training) but due to the length of the day and how tired everyone was, I opted not to cut a corner off and just hold his knife till the next day. Other than those few small issues, the scouts were getting along, cooked a good dinner, and upon darkness arriving, we were all ready for bed. The next day would be our first full day on the water and we would be starting it off with some white water canoeing. I was a touch nervous, but sleep came swiftly and my headache from lack of caffeine began to diminish.