Grand Lake Seboeis to the Aroostook River
One in a series of Lost Routes Paddle & Portage trips in Maine
The rivers and ponds of Maine were, at a certain point in time, critical for the transportation of both people and goods. Portage trails connected many of the waterbodies to facilitate this, but in the days of powered transportation, many of these portage trails and traditional routes have disappeared - that is unless you are willing to look!
There are a plethora of wonderful and well-utilized river trips in Maine that are enjoyed by many - think the Allagash Waterway, or the Moose River Bow Loop in Jackman. But if willing to make a little extra effort with both planning and portaging, there are infininate possibilities for exploring the Maine wildernesss via a canoe, and in ways that likely nobody else is doing!
My friend and paddler-extrodinaire and I set out recently on such a trip, with difficult marshy and forested portages, hoping to navigate streams that may or may not be navigable, and essentially heading off into a wilderness of unknowns, anticipating huge challenges but with no way of knowing exactly what we might have to face. There's nothing in the guidebooks for this! Which is preciesly what makes a trip like this so amazing and satisfying.
The obstacles we faced were intimidating, and there were times I had my doubts it was doable, but by the last day, with no good options other than to continue on, as we encountered obstacles, it was no longer a question of can we do this, but what is the best way to do this!
If you want more, check out a Lost Routes Paddle & Portage trip from earlier in the summer, the Millinocket Carry...
Grand Lake Seboeis to Aroostook River Trip
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1
Evening Start
We arrived at Grand Lake Seboeis in the evening, as the gravel roads narrowed and the sky darkened, due to both to the lowering sun and the coming rain storms. Arriving at the put-in point amid a light smattering of rain, we debated camping out right there or heading the short way across the lake to a real campsite away from roads - sure enough we went with the latter option! The skies cleared just enough to allow us a dry passage across, and even get a glimpse of the sun setting, before the rain returned.
2
Rainy Evening
The rain started back up again in earnest once we had made camp, so the priority became getting the tarp up. And as the rain continuted, having dinner under the protection of the tarp. Luckily the rain let up later on, allowing us to set up tents relatively dry-ly, if our order of settling into camp was all backwards - setting up tents last!
3
Morning on Grand Lake Seboeis
The clouds were still lingering when we first awoke the next morning, but the rain seemed to be done with.
4
Our Campsite on Grand Lake Seboeis)
5
Departing Campsite
The skies were just beginning to clear as we set out to paddle up Grand Lake Seboeis.
6
Heading Into Lake Inlet
There was some breeze of significance on the lake but nothing crazy. The glassy water as we made our way up the inlet reflecting the clearing skies was quite beautiful.
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Beaver Dam
Not too far up the inlet was a beaver dam, which was the departure point for our first portage. We poked around for a bit to find the best landing with solid footing - the island of grass in this photo was entirely floating, we gave it a push and it just started spinning around!
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Relics!
As I was feeling for solid ground, I felt something incredibly solid - an old stove from what must have been a camp during logging days, passibly before the beavers built the dam.
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FirstPortage
We set out on our first portage route without gear or boat for some reconnaissance through the marsh, before coming back for first our gear, and then again for the boat.
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First Portage
This portage is how we spent most of our day. Funny thing is, if you look at our route on the map of our entire route, it looks so minuscule – small in distance, but huge in time and effort. Also, few photos, too focused on route-finding and hauling gear and boat to think about taking pictures!
11
Made it To West Branch Carry Brook!
After portaging to a per-identified clearing, it was only another tenth-mile through the woods to West Branch Carry Brook Late in the day we debated just setting up camp right there on its shores, but were feeling optimistic we might be able to find a better spot to camp further down. Plus, after an entire after noon plus of portaging, I know I for one just wanted to get back in the boat and paddle on open water again!
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West Branch Carry Brook Evening Paddle
Our evening paddle down West Pond Carry Brook was utter bliss. Clear mirror-like water, and lowering sun, the sounds of the critters around us – and the best part, it was SO EASY! Just floating along, minimal effort. We spotted a couple potential camping spots, but continued down to an old beaver dam that was our next obstacle, to scope it out, and just to enjoy the pleasant paddling.
13
Campsite Night 2
At the old beaver dam we turned around there and paddled back up to one of the spots we had seen that looked promising, not far from where we had put it, and set up camp for the night. It was a pretty decent spot to camp out, and we even braved a tiny fire by the shore.
14
West Branch Carry Brook or Portage?
We got out of the boat to scope out how much of a stream there might be past the massive dam area. We considered heading up through the woods to an old logging road that was not too far off as well, but after some reconnaissance it seemed if we could manage to get the boat through the marshes and over numerous obstacles – ie downed trees – that had formed since the dam was built, while still finding enough firm footing to get ourselves across with the boat, then there would be enough water on the other side.
15
West Branch Carry Brook Slog
We did in fact find some sort of paddle-able water on the other side, but alas, that was short lived! Most of our way down West Carry Brook at this point was wading down the brook, fighting downed trees and mini-dams below, and a jungle of alders above.
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Fighting Through Alders
This photo from this section of West Carry Brook best encapsulates the entire trip in my mind! 🙂 We told ourselves that, difficult thought it was, at least we could ferry our gear in the boat, and could make slow but OK time, compared to numerous portage trips carrying gear and boat if we had portaged up to the old logging road instead.
17
Emerging From the Alders
When at last the alders started to seem less thick, and we could see some brightness ahead, and then the brook started widening, we first barely dared getting back in the boat to paddle, but then did, but still barely dared hope we would be able to continue to paddle – but we were! The open water spread out before us was utter magic and joy. We continued paddling through and to the end of a marsh that marked our take-out point for the next portage.
18
Portage #2
This portage was all wood and no marsh, and was not too difficult for people and gear. But it presented a challenge in that the trees were quite dense in places, making it impossible to turn the canoe at all to get through them. So, we did what we had to do, including sawing down a couple little trees at one point when the boat really got stuck, and got the boat up to the logging road to where we had already lugged up our gear.
19
Logging Roads Portage
The 1.5-mile portage on logging roads to where they crossed over Lopomkeag Stream was way easier, but, it *was* kinda boring!
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To Continue or Not?
We arrived at Lopomkeag Stream late in the afternoon, and still had to go back to get the boat before we could continue on. This was our point of indecision. Chris had to get back home as scheduled, and we had no idea what might be in store for us on Lopomkeat Stream – if we would even be able to get the boat through this lower section. At this point, we had an out – we could walk 8-10 miles out on logging roads back to where we had left my car.
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Lapomkeag Stream
We went for it! After much indecision, walking out the logging roads was feeling so undesirable we decided to forge ahead. There were plenty more alder-jungles, and the water was just low enough we ended up wading most of the first portion of it, but it was doable.
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Night #3
As we mostly dragged and occassionlly paddled the boat down Lapomkeag Stream, we kept an eye out for a good looking spot to camp for the night. There was the thought to get to the River and find a good spot there, but as we passed a potential high bank with a clear understory, at around 6pm, we scoped it out and after only the breifest of considerations decided to stay there for the night. In hindsight, we would have been pretty hard up to find another spot that was open and dry past this spot; and it was a rather exceptional bank on which to camp out!
23
Lapomkeag Stream
The upper reaches of Lapomkeag Stream to the confluence with the Aroostook Rive rwould have been a blast with just another couple inches of water... but as it was, we had to get out and drag as often as not. For a stretch before the confluence there were downed-trees and little beaver dams and alder-jungles and such to deal with, but after what we had seen previously, No Big Deal.
24
Aroostook River
And... we made it! Once we reached the Aroostook River, is was easy sailing from there. Still had to pay attention due to the low water levels, and we had some fun little riffles to get through, but though it looks longer on the map, this was the easy stuff - well earned after the rest of the trip!