Topless Paddle Fairy

July 19, 2024

558.5-582.5

(Mud Pond Carry Campsite) (0.15 miles of portaging)

We did some math last night before falling asleep and figured out that even if we left early this morning we’d definitely be going Mud Pond Carry in the dark tonight which we were not about. So we slept in some and took our time eating breakfast before setting off to finish 15 miles of the Penobscot that were just as beautiful as the miles we did yesterday. This has truly been my favorite section of the trip so far. We saw a total of 4 moose today and our excitement increased with each one. The first was munching grass and trotted off, the second had a calf 😍, and the last one didn’t care about us at all and watched us paddle past from the shore as it munched on shrubs.

I paddled topless for hours and it felt so good to have the sun on my skin. We are truly in the middle of nowhere.

Next we paddled into Chesuncook Lake where we stopped at a sandy beach for a break. The wind was whipping but the sun was hot so they balanced each other out perfectly. I skinny dipped and then laid in the sand to dry while Henry fixed up the patches on our boat that had started to peel at the corners.

Across the lake was the most glorious view of big Mama Katahdin. What an incredible spot.

Our paddle across the lake was fine, my arms were tired but there were thankfully barely any waves or wind. Paddled under a bridge and into Umbazooksus Stream our very LAST upstream paddle! It was fine to start with but conditions deteriorated as always. It was very scenic though with grassy, swampy banks. Not long before it got too shallow to paddle and we both got out to pull it.

We got to the end and rolled our eyes at the fact that we couldn’t paddle the last 10 feet into the lake because of a dam that was pushing out a good bit of water with a high flow. We hauled the canoe and all of our gear up the steep, rocky bank and down the other side and finished the day with a quick paddle across Umbazooksus Lake to get to the Mud Pond portage path. The end of the day would have to be so hard. We unloaded the canoe and carried it to the campsite through a cold stream and over downed trees then returned for our gear. There are a good many mosquitoes here but not as many as I thought there would be. Mac n cheese with ground beef tonight and the infamous Mud Pond Carry tomorrow.