Day 2 Allagash Lake to Little Round Pond (ice caves)

Jess on her way climbing out of the cave. What was she thinking wearing a white shirt?



A look into the opening to the cave



Day 2

We both slept in. unusual for Dana. He made a cup of coffee and jumped in the canoe to go fishing again.

When he returned, I got up and we had scrambled eggs and bacon for breakfast. I did the dishes, Dana washed the frying pan and we took off on a short hike to the Ice Caves.
Ten minutes later we found ourselves at a small cave opening. We had to climb/ slide down into the opening. The cave was wet and cool, as expected, and the cave walls seemed to absorb the majority of the light given off by our headlamps.
We explored the first set of caverns and then decided not to continue down to the deeper chambers. Dana had attempted to descend but could not see the bottom. We had no climbing gear and all we had to get out of there was frayed old rope that someone had probably used years before.

Our loaded down canoe

The rock Jess slipped on Karma rock

We only took pictures when the canoeing was easy on the stream

When we got back to camp we spent a good deal of time breaking down camp and re-packing our things and the canoe. Our effort was certainly worth it, as the canoe was considerably more stable in the water.
We pushed off in the canoe and were surprised by the wind and waves as we paddled around the corner of the cove. We paddled straight across the lake, toward the Sandy point campsite.
On the other side of Allagash Lake the wind seemed to follow us, so we wove in and out from shore to avoid going parallel to the waves and getting swamped. Somehow we managed to make great time, even with all the weight, and only stopped two times on our way up the shore to Allagash Stream. One stop was for lunch, turkey and provolone rolled for ham and provolone sandwiches and me with mustard for Dana.
As we came up to the mouth of Allagash Stream we noticed that a large party with canoes had already taken our campsite, which meant we would be traveling on through the class I rapids to Little Round Pond.
Look Ranger Jay is headed this way in his boat. Jay pulled along side us and commented that the boat was obviously much more balanced than it was the day before. He said we could stay at the outlet campsite with the other folks, as there were two sites there but we wanted to be away from people. So jay gave us some advice about Allagash Stream. He said there would be quick water not too bad to Little Allagash Pond, it will probably be buggy, you WILL see a moose, and no one should be there so we would have three sites to choose from, and sorry it hasn’t been mowed recently. "What" I said. I asked if there were any complaint cards and he said that yes they were on white pieces of paper in the privy. He also informed us that the rough water would be on the other side of Little Round Pond after the portage. He told us to stay to the right of the first rock to avoid the first ledge and to pull out before the logging bridge to make plans before taking on the second drop. (Later we looked in our Maine River Guide book and it mentioned another ledge between the two Jay spoke of. The book suggested pulling the canoe over the ledge) hmmmm.
Just as we pulled into the mouth of the stream we decided to pull in to stretch at a large rock. Dana took a few casts and asked me to get the camera. I walked over to the canoe and Whoosh… I was on my ass in the stream. Dana’s reaction was to yell, "slow down"! Thanks babe that was truly helpful. Karma took over and as Dana stepped into a big hole on his way to help "save" me.

Little Round Pond

I got the camera, took a few pictures and we were off again. The ride to Little Round Pond was 2 ¾ miles, and we hit the class I rapids in no time. The glare on the surface made it impossible to see the rocks until you were already on top of them, so we did quite a bit of scraping along the bottom.
Towards the beginning of the stream journey we ran into a family of Merganser’s with 4 ducklings. They must have thought we were chasing them for they raced us down stream all the way to Little Round Pond. Earlier in the morning Dana had seen a single Merganser duckling by the Ice Cave campsite. I heard a duck (but at the time thought it was impossible) in our campsite but I was too comfy in my sleeping bag to take a look.

Mergansers in the distance

Messing with fishing stuff on the way to LRP

Along our Allagash Stream journey we had two close calls. The first was when we got caught on two large rocks. Dana had jumped out quickly and wanted me to stay in the boat while he tried to free us, but soon realized we were on two rocks- one directly under me. So, I was allowed to get out of the boat and help at that point. We made it out safely.

The second close call was when we hit a log that crossed the entire stream. I believe they call it a strainer. Our task to try not to go sideways and flip over! Although we struggled for a minute, we managed to beat that obstacle as well.
As we meandered down the last stretch of stream, we surprised a young moose around one of the corners. She was beautiful with her sleek, dark summer coat and she ran downstream and into the bush. (20ft away) This was the second moose of the trip if we count the one we saw at a distance during the ride to Allagash Lake carry trail.
Little Round Pond is more of a triangle shape and is surrounded by scrubby trees and wetland brush. We paddled once again, against the wind, to the portage and the three empty campsites (yay). We chose the middle campsite at the top of the hill because of its central location and the comfy grassy bedding. (Thanks to Jay’s lack of mowing) Four trails intersected at our site. The first went to Little Round Pond, our canoe, and the first campsite as well as meeting up to the trail with the privy.
The second trail leads to Little Allagash Falls, my favorite spot where there are large flat rocks to sit on and a large driftwood tree to rest your back. Here while you take in the view of falls and the pond, while enjoying the sound of the rumbling water making it’s way through the large rocks to the pool below. The third trail leads to thew bottom of the falls and where we will be hauling the canoe to tomorrow. Then our journey through the class 1 and 2 rapids will commence.
The last of the four trails was not as visible as the others. Tucked in the trees between the second and third campsite is the entrance to a long narrow trail through thick woods and wet muck. I walked quite a ways down before turning around having heard something very large moving in the woods ahead. Plus my previously dry Keen sandals were now coated with mucky mud that had splashed as high as my knees.

We set up a lovely camp again planning to spend two nights. After setting up camp I went and explored while Dana grabbed his fishing pole. While exploring I found three snakes right by the campsite. Very cool! That evening I spotted something flying above our campsite. It was a lone bat, doing acrobatics and providing us with a show as we provided him with the flames which attracted his moth dinner. Dana through a small pebble in the sky, and we watched the small winged mammal turn on a dime and check to see what it was (apparently he learned that trick as a young boy at Camp Dennen). We settled in for the night. It had been a very busy day with lots of paddling and lots more to see.

Jess's Keen sandals but more importantly a lucky striped rock

Jess under the falls

The first waterfall on Allagash Falls and a look at the pond

Our campsite at Allagash Falls

The Trip Begins Day 1 Allagash Jouney

Our Bus Painted

I wanted to give a quick recap on what had transpired prior to us leaving on this trip and what was going to transpire after we returned. Two days prior to us leaving we had both finished our last day of teaching for the year. Jess until we arrived in Alaska to start her new job and me hopeful it would be permenant. We had huge stress getting ready for this trip not knowing for sure how we were making it to Alaska by the 4th of August so Jess could start her new teaching job. The Allagash has been on my Maine bucket list since college and I was reluctant to move to Alaska without crossing off all I still needed to do in Maine. I had done the Moose River Bow trip with my son a few weeks earlier. As luck had it we found a school bus 3-4 days prior to leaving and decided to purchase it at 6pm before leaving on our trip. We parked the bus right before dark and left before sun up. This at least gave us some comfort knowing we had a plan after our return. So we begin our Allagash journey.

Start of the trip

Worthless canoe carrier

Our stuff and the hand held carrier

Day1
We woke up at 3 am, and left Troy at 4:20 am. Dana thinks we got to the drop off at 9 am, I think it was closer to 9:40 am. Packing all our camping gear in was awful. First the canoe carrier that Dana made broke. Then he and I started pulling the canoe with a large stick tied to the bowline. The stick was like a yoke used for oxen and we were the oxen.
Bumpa came with us to drop us off and help us get our stuff down to the lake. It was a mile hike in from the Jeep. Bumpa was pulling an old luggage carrier loaded with stuff that Dana had brought. The carrier did not work well. After Bumpa’s initial attempt, Dana used it and the axle bent. As he tried to get it back into place the wheel popped off. He managed to get it working again, but when I was using it further down the trail it completely snapped.
Bumpa was first to come to the fork in the carry trail. He took the low road to the right, but found no lake. When I caught up to him he had decided to head back and help Dana, so I took the left fork.
After I walked a ways, I decided to leave the gear I was hauling in case I also found no lake, but I did.
I walked up as ranger Jay was chatting with an older gentleman loading his carrier with a kayak to head back to his truck. The man said "you must be Jay’s wife?" and Jay said " No, but I’m Jay." Jay’s wife had gone into town to pick up some groceries.
When I told Jay of our hauling predicament he said "you know there is a cart at the drop off that you can use, you just have to haul it back out when you are done using it." So off I went to find the Dana’s. I sent Dana back to get the cart and he picked up the canoe and as many belongings as he could carry. Dana and I went back for a second trip and were able to get the rest of our camping gear. Bumpa by this time had enough and decided he was heading back to the Jeep and getting out of there. A side note we later found out that Bumpa got a flat on a Maine arrowhead not far from the drop off and had quite a difficult time changing the tire in the middle of nowhere. I hauled the cart back to the drop off and Dana packed the canoe and had lunch. I wasn’t ready for food yet.
Jay chatted with Dana about us having too much stuff. He was worried that we might loose our belongings on Day 2 going down Allagash stream to Little Round Pond.

When I got back we jumped in the canoe and attempted to take off. Wow we were tippy! The two clothing bags were seated high in the canoe and needed to be readjusted, so we paddled back to shore, reorganized, and were finally off.
Ripples covered the cove where water had been glassy an hour earlier. When we made it to the end of the cove and entered the lake, the glassiness had returned. We decided to stay at the Ice Cave campsite. After setting up camp, Dana went fishing and I lay down for a nap. It had already been a long day. We did have some visitors while I was napping. They were heading for the caves and stopped and chatted with Dana. Bedtime was early at the Ice Cave campsite.

Butterfly's at the Ice Cave beach

Campsite sign

The campsite night one

Our canoe tippy and partially loaded

Out fishing enjoying the night on Allagash Lake