Everyone had a long drive up so let's just get into it....
The first night at Sebasticook Lake Campground, Jarek was the first to arrive. Cris, Kevin and myself arrived after dark. We missed Jarek on the first pass and had to turn around and meet him as he was closer to the gate then we had expected. The gnats were out, it was dark, it was late, we were all tired so we set up camp in a hurry. Jarek crammed into the back of his newly acquired D1 with his son Miłosz, Kevin, Cris and I popped open my 10 person Coleman. Little did we realize how steep of a hill we were on, we instantly began sliding down hill to one side of the tent... Just as we begin to wind down we hear a train horn in the distance. It blows again this time just a bit louder. Once more, again, louder and the train is getting closer. It goes about 8 or 9 more times and continually increases in volume. Finally it's so insanely loud we can't help but sit up and look out the open window. We realize the train is going all of 15mph as it passes by about 100 feet from out tent, it blows one more time... Not to worry we get another visit at around 6am on Saturday morning as he heads back out of town.
Saturday morning we met up with Steve, Brian & Adrian at the WalMart to pick up some food for the weekend. We gas up, get some D&D and head North towards Sangerville, and stop at the Trading Post in Greenville for a quick last stop where some people grab magnets, bug spray and top off our tanks. We get back on the road and continue on North on Scammon Rd towards the B-52 crash site as the dark skies begin to drizzle. We drive up Elephant Mountain which is a dirt road with a few potholes, following signs to the crash site we didn't expect to see. A short walk into the woods and we were surrounded by parts from the B-52, tires, gears, part of a wing and the tail section. Little American flags are stuck into every crevice of the plane. We hang the flag I was given by the VFW in the tail section with some wire Cris found on the ground. We walked around and paid respect for some time before heading back to the parking lot to snack on MRE's in our camp chairs.
We head back down the mountain and head North along the Eastern side of Moosehead Lake. Our next stop is at some river rapids that run from Ripogenus Lake to Millinocket Lake. We pull over snap some pictures dip our toes in the water and carry on North towards Telos Checkpoint. We need to pay a usage fee to use the North Woods as it's run by a co-op of different logging companies who maintain roads and set campsites. We check-in and head North. We make it all of 200 feet from the checkpoint when "MOOSE" comes over the CB. Everyone gets out with their cameras and starts snapping the female who was bathing in a lake near the road. She quickly got scared of us and headed into the woods leaving Brian with nothing but LCD screens with moose pictures to look at. We head North to our first campsite on Umbazooksus Lake. We set up quickly lakeside, get some chicken on the grill and start pounding down adult beverages. It's not long before things get out of control and Jarek convinces Kevin to go fishing with a net in the brisk water of the lake. They pull a bunch of fish in the dark and Adrian and Brian clean them and we get them on the fire. Most wake up with a bit of a headache and we slowly pack up and get things moving North towards the trains.
We head North towards a 1-mile hike to the trains. We have GPS location on the trains but are unsure of which is the best road to park our trucks. We take a grassy road that looks a little soft. Adrian leads in his heavy Toyota and we quickly realize we are in for a bit of a mud fest. Everyone gets through with a bit of the skinny pedal, and a some drifting from Jarek and his bald tires. Eventually we get to the end and realize it's a dead-end that is not close enough to the trains and we have to trek back through the mud to get out to the main road. We make it out and around after a few recoveries, we park the trucks and set off for the trains. We thought we were in for a 1 mile hike but missing the trail, we ended up hacking our way through some bush to get back on track. After a very humid hike that was eventually a couple of miles long we make our way to a trail full of the train car wheels and track. Just further down we reach the locomotives and everyone starts climbing like children at a playground. We quickly hike back on the correct trail and have lunch back at the trucks. We continue to head North around Eagle Lake so we can head towards our Sunday night campsite on Indian Pond.
As we are heading south we find a "may be impassable" road that we need to pull a couple of trees out of the way to continue forward. The grass is tall so and the road looks like it has been left untouched for a couple of years. Time passes and we get to a massive obstacle. A beaver has damned a creek that leads into Lewis Pond and has turned the road into a pond of it's own. We are left to decide to either conquer this crossing or turn back and find another route. We decide to give it a go, Jarek and Kevin walk-in and the rest of us begin clearing logs on the shore. With a combination of a chainsaw, an axe and a winch we were able to get enough big logs out of the way to attempt a crossing. One of the logs actually broke the damn and water began pouring out of the pond and heading downstream. The beaver no where to be seen, everyone crossed successfully. We head around a turn only to find a bear on the trail, scared it runs off into the woods. Just a couple minutes later Jarek realized the Beaver pond had left him with a present in the form of a leech. We make it to camp late, cook up some burgers and head to bed with hardly any alcohol in our systems.
Monday we had a long trek south with not much planned in the way of sightseeing. We decided to try a few more "may be impassable" roads. One road we had to cross a deteriorated creek drainage system which had a piece of plane wreckage buried in it. Jarek punctured his tire on the wreckage and needed a change. We carried on down the trail and it got very soft as we entered a marsh. Mud flying everywhere and Jarek in tow, Kevin came speeding down the rutted out road left behind by Brian and Adrian. Cris later attempted to roll his truck on another creek crossing as he got a bit sideways. We finish the trail and continue to head south to our final campsite on Endless Lake. We pass by the rapids and this time everyone quickly jumps in to wash up. The water was so clean and cold but no one seemed to care as it was the most refreshing part of the trip yet. We get to Endless Lake with daylight to spare and grill up some brats and dogs and enjoy the sunset by the fire. The wind begins to pick up, droplets begin to fall and we all run to our tents as the rain moves in.
Tuesday morning we pack up camp and head through some rough dirt roads and get through an Indian reserve before finishing right on the edge of 95 just before noon. Something strange did happen on this trip, Steve didn't need to fill up his Defender with diesel fuel while the rest of the group were constantly discussing how much fuel was left in the tank and cans. We pose for a group picture and then everyone breaks off to gas up, air up and head south back towards New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
Subject: Trip Summary: Maine 2013 
Thu Jun 27, 2013 9:21 pm
