Whitewater Rafting New England

If you live in New England, there is little doubt that you’re wondering when the rain is going to cease. Rain or shine, the group that joined me on the Penobscot River were not going to be detoured by weather. The 9 gentlemen in my raft were on a collective 40^th birthday Maine adventure vacation. Or as we like to call it, a “Mancation.”

Despite a bit of overcast, the day could not have been better. A great run through the gorge & crib had the boat cheering for more, and Nesowadnehunk Falls was happy to oblige. On the lower river, I came to find out that for some this was their 4^th trip down the Penobscot River. It was an awesome day and great crew. I hope to see them again when they return to The Forks Resort with their kids for a Maine family vacation.

Maine is a paradise for outdoor enthusiasts. We enjoy four very different seasons to fish, hike, ski, snowmobile, raft and generally revel in the great North Woods. As president of an outdoor company I get to play outdoors all year-long and when I’m not working I can often be found hiking, biking or exploring with my family and friends – it’s all good - summer, fall, winter there’s never a dull moment. There’s just one season I’m not so keen on – bug season, it generally starts around Memorial Day and lasts through until the first week of July. It’s not that you can’t go out in June, it’ just that you’ve got to make extra preparations to cover up, lather on the bugspray and prepare to get chewed.

So when I heard about Insect Shield clothing I had to try it. I ordered a couple of bandannas to start and they seemed to work, my neck didn’t get munched, so I ordered more; some socks, a shirt, a tee-shirt – the works, I bought clothing for my two young sons and it does the job. Insect Shield clothing is treated with a man-made version of a natural repellent found in chrysanthemum flowers. The treatment lasts for up to 70-washes and protects against mosquitoes, ticks, flies and no-see-ums. Now I’m not for a moment suggesting that Insect Shield clothing will save the world (although if you check out their Global Health Efforts you'll see they are doing their bit!), but anything that makes bug season bearable and enables more people to enjoy their outdoor adventures has my support.

Give it a try for yourself, you can find it locally in Maine at LL Bean’s or for a list of national retailers go to www.InsectShield.com, it just might make your next Maine family vacation that little bit more comfortable.
 

This afternoon, I checked out the course for the fun run component of the upcoming Kennebec River Brewery, Raft ‘n Draft weekend. With all the dry weather we’ve had this past few weeks I have to report there’s not a lot of mud in sight, although Wednesday and Thursday it looks as if it will rain, so things could change dramatically.

The 3.7 mile run starts in the campground at Northern Outdoors at 10.30am and winds north along The Forks Area Scenic Trail for about 1.85 miles. The first section is undulating with some nice views of The Kennebec River. The course then crosses route 201 and climbs a steep dirt road for what seems like an eternity, but is in fact just 0.9 miles and an elevation gain of just over 500 feet.

Finally, it’s all downhill, back to The Forks Resort using the ATV Trail. Be advised, this last section is rocky, muddy, slippery and steep, but once back at the lodge there’s plenty of hot showers and perhaps a cold handcrafted beer as a fitting reward for your morning run. See you on Sunday. 

The Maine whitewater rafting season is underway and now with the Memorial Day holiday weekend comes the unofficial opening of Maine's ATV Trail System. Reports from riders in the area this weekend are that The Forks Area trails are generally in good condition with just a couple of wet spots. We had over twenty five riders stop in off the trails for lunch coming from Solon, Bingham, Rockwood and Greenville.

The connecting trail from the Boise Road to Northern Outdoors will be closed through the week due to an active logging operation and is only open on Saturday's and Sunday's and Monday May 25th. Riders leaving from Northern Outdoors will need to trailer their ATV''s a short distance to access the trail system during the week. 

Area ATV Trail Maps are available at the main lodge at Northern Outdoors. We are also working to get them online.

Please remember riding on private land in Maine is a privilege, our rural economies and lifestyle depend on your respect for private property.

Have fun, ride responsibly, ride safe, and respect private land.
 

We are pleased to announce that the Kennebec River Pub & Brewery is included in the new Maine Beer Trail which debuted on May 11th.

The purpose of the Trail is to entice visitors and residents of Maine to recognize the vibrant micro and craft brewing industry found throughout the state. The Maine Beer Trail brochure, with a map of the state's breweries and brew pubs, is available at The Kennebec River Pub & Brewery, as well as at Maine Visitor Centers and participating breweries and brew pubs (we’re at stop number 6 on the map, located just below Moosehead Lake). Downloadable brochures are available from Northern Outdoors' website and from the Maine Brewers' Guild website.

To celebrate the new Beer Trail, and craft brewing in general, we will be hosting a number of Brewery events this summer. The first event is less than two weeks away, our RAFT n' DRAFT n' MUDRUN on May 30th.  Raft the Dead River at the "Wicked Fun" level of 5500CFS, then return to The Forks Resort Center main lodge for a Pig Roast, brewery tours, beer tasting, and live entertainment on Saturday the 30th. Then if you are up-for-it, bring out your "inner athlete" and run for laughs and zany prizes in our first ever 4-Mile Mudrun/ Walk/ Crawl on Sunday morning, May 31st. 

We think it’s a magical combination, whitewater rafting and fresh brews handcrafted on site – come up and join in the fun.
 

We kicked off the 2009 Maine Whitewater rafting season today with a trip down the Dead River with 56 adventurous souls.

After weeks of preparation it's always nice to get the first trip of the year on-the-water.

Now we can look forward to three more Dead River trips in May, whitewater guide training which starts on May 14th and our first ever Raft-n-Draft event on May 30th sponsored by our very own Kennebec River Brewery. There will be beer tasting, live music, a pig roast, brewery tours, did I mention the beer tasting? rafting on the Dead River and for those with any energy left on Sunday there's a 4-mile mud run/walk/crawl to celebrate spring in Maine.

In addition to rafting we're also gearing up for spring fishing, our new hut-to-hut hiking program and the arrival of Maine's ATV season at the end of the month.

So, don't sit around lamenting the woes of the world, grab a paddle, your hiking boots, a fishing rod or your ATV keys and get up here to The Forks to shake off the winter cobwebs and start to enjoy the benefits of Maine's great outdoors. 

 

Working as a whitewater raft guide on Maine's Kennebec, Penobscot and Dead rivers, I take great pride in guiding adventures from around the world down the best whitewater the northeast has to offer. Over the course of a day the questions can range from routine to bizarre. A question I hear as often as "how deep is the river?" is "what do you do for vacation?" and my standard answer is "Visit other rivers of course!"

Since my first year working in the adventure tourism industry I've heard rumors of a river comparable in volume to the Grand Canyon with the color of the Caribbean Ocean, framed by the snow capped Andes mountains. I've finally made the trip to visit this magnificent river the locals know as Futaleufu and it is everything I'd heard and more. 

I'm here for a relatively short period of time - just over a month to train with Earth River Expeditions as a safety cataraft guide accompanying commercial trips to pick up any rafters who should fall overboard in the big rapids and would otherwise be swept away down stream. My multiple week training although never truly over was formally just finished after running Inferno Canyon, a two mile stretch of river with five class-five rapids, several of which need to be run back-to-back without scouting. I was especially on edge knowing our group would be the first to run the canyon this season and that like all the rapids on the Futaleufu the winter flooding has a tendency to change the rapids from year to year, sometimes for the better ...sometimes for the worse. All this was running through my mind as the head trainer explained last years lines to multiple class-five rapids I wouldn't see until I was dropping into them. I ran second, behind the guide with the most experience among us, trying to focus on his angle, position and speed as we rowed steadily into the misty entrance of the rapids. Being positioned on a metal frame between two large tubes allows the massive waves to crash through the frame and threatened to rip me from the cat, pulling hard on the oars to keep from being tossed into the water, huge boulders slide past our small cats and waves seem to crash everywhere as I tried not to stare too long at some of the biggest holes I'd ever seen. As we emerged from the dark canyon into welcome sunlight I smiled as I looked ahead to the coming trips on this amazing river - a trip that has already been one of the best vacations I've ever had and I'll surely never forget the mighty Futaleufu.  

Submitted by Nick Atwood 
Northern Outdoors Adventure Program Director