St. John River, Maine

[PA Tripper]

Just did the St. John two weeks ago. With cold weather, wind and rain it was a challenge.

 

[alsg]

I'd recognize those wannigans anywhere. I did that trip last year with the same guides (and I will be doing the Allagash with them in June). Great trip, great river, great guides!

 

[yetii]

That looks like an awesome trip. Looks like you guys know how to eat too! I usually make some really wimpy, easy meals.

 

[Robin]

Nice trip, I enjoyed those pics. Looks like it was cold and overcast just about all the time. Well done

 

[yellowcanoe]

Chip and Lani run good trips.. Any guided trip in Maine features good food.. Not so for us on solo trips!! Cold and rainy is the norm for the St John. When I did it with friends the snow kept sticking to their glasses.. Couldn't see without glasses...or with glasses..

How was Big Rapids?

 

[PA Tripper]

Big Rapids was running pretty high. Going into the ice cold water was not an option. We ran it on river right. Everybody made it OK but we did take on some water.

 

[PA Tripper]

Running Big Rapids in a 20 foot Tripper XL was a good experience. I’m a fan of big canoes when tripping with gear etc.

 

[Richard1726]

That’s the magic week, 2nd week of May, before bugs, after floods, with plenty of water. Anyone pole upstream from Allagash in September?

 

[Robin]

#3 Duluth Pack? Love them Duluth Packs!

 

[TrailBlaser]

Looks like a great trip! You guys sure eat better than I do on my trips. Thanks for sharing the photos.

 

[surfver]

Which guide service did you use ? I have thought of doing that river someday.

I was on the Seboeis river in late May. I hit the river at 7:00 AM and it was only 48 degrees with light rain. I did the Saint Croix river a bit after that and it was 45 degrees in the morning. I figured I should have brought a wetsuit for emergency gear. What kind of cloths do people wear running rapids in cold weather like that ? Do you bring wetsuits just in case ? I figure a 3 mil suit or maybe a shorty

Despite that my hands where numb, it was the high point of the year thus far. I saw a baby moose, two other moose and a river otter

 

[dcloots]

Never canoed the St. John but just camped on the St. John at Norm L'Ataliens (Pelletier Campground) prior to setting out for the Allagash. Just returned (Trip Report coming I think). I am thinking that the St. John may be my next Spring trip. My father who just canoed the Northern section of the Allagash with our group talked a bit about doing the St. John years ago. Is this a trip that can be handled solo or is it best to have a group? What class rapids did you experience and how long did this trip take you? Great pictures and it looks like it was a great trip. Not much sun apparently, but then again it is May in Maine and we all expect the dreary and the drizzle during that time.

 

[yellowcanoe]

St John is runnable only early in the season so May it is.. Expect every sort of weather.. We had 14 inches of snow. Rapids go from deadwater ( with the dreaded north wind its a bit of a slog) to Class 3. The Class 3 can be portaged or avoided entirely by an early take out ( Big Rapids).. Big Black is Class 2+ remote and difficult to bushwhack around ( no real triail and its two miles long)
It is possible to solo. But its easier to tandem as the stern paddler can stand and check out possible lines.. There are many class 1+ rapids that you need to evaluate where the water is going. We had one solo boat that we took turns with but the lead scout was always tandem.

We took five days.That included the snow day where we could literally not read rapids in a snowstorm

 

[dcloots]

St John is runnable only early in the season so May it is.. Expect every sort of weather.. We had 14 inches of snow. Rapids go from deadwater ( with the dreaded north wind its a bit of a slog) to Class 3. The Class 3 can be portaged or avoided entirely by an early take out ( Big Rapids).. Big Black is Class 2+ remote and difficult to bushwhack around ( no real triail and its two miles long)
It is possible to solo. But its easier to tandem as the stern paddler can stand and check out possible lines.. There are many class 1+ rapids that you need to evaluate where the water is going. We had one solo boat that we took turns with but the lead scout was always tandem.

We took five days.That included the snow day where we could literally not read rapids in a snowstorm

One if not the only naturally flowing river in Maine. Talking with Norm the St. John dries up to a trickle late summer. I think I need to start researching this trip to see if this is something I want to do next Spring. Fully understand the ability to stand and scout to pick the proper lines. Difficult to do in moving water as a solo canoeist. The tandem weight helps with that. I have heard all about the Big Black Rapids and I heard they can be a violent boil.

 

[paddler123]

One if not the only naturally flowing river in Maine.

The Machias River in Washington County is free-flowing from headwaters to the ocean (dams removed a few decades ago), but that might be the only other one.

 

[yellowcanoe]

We dutifully scouted Big Black or tried to peering through spruce tangles made it difficult.. We stopped scouting when a six or eight year old in the bow of a canoe with his dad in the stern and a chainsaw balanced on the load went through with no problem..

 

[alsg]

Never canoed the St. John but just camped on the St. John at Norm L'Ataliens (Pelletier Campground) prior to setting out for the Allagash. Just returned (Trip Report coming I think). I am thinking that the St. John may be my next Spring trip. My father who just canoed the Northern section of the Allagash with our group talked a bit about doing the St. John years ago. Is this a trip that can be handled solo or is it best to have a group? What class rapids did you experience and how long did this trip take you? Great pictures and it looks like it was a great trip. Not much sun apparently, but then again it is May in Maine and we all expect the dreary and the drizzle during that time.

We may have overlapped at Pelletier's, dcloots. I was there with a large group with Allagash Canoe Trips on Friday May 28 and we left Saturday morning. We spent a week on the Allagash and then paddled down to Norm's from Allagash Village on the St. John to enjoy some bigger water and then camped overnight at Pelletier's.

A year ago I did the St. John from Fifth St. John. As others have said, Big Black can be scouted river right. Big Rapids is too long and has no real trail from which it could be scouted so it has to be done on the fly.

 

[dcloots]

We may have overlapped at Pelletier's, dcloots. I was there with a large group with Allagash Canoe Trips on Friday May 28 and we left Saturday morning. We spent a week on the Allagash and then paddled down to Norm's from Allagash Village on the St. John to enjoy some bigger water and then camped overnight at Pelletier's.

A year ago I did the St. John from Fifth St. John. As others have said, Big Black can be scouted river right. Big Rapids is too long and has no real trail from which it could be scouted so it has to be done on the fly.

Alsg, assuming you meant June 28th. We did see a large group at the first campsite June 28th, as we arrived later around 7:00pm and occupied the last or third campsite closest to the outhouses. Small world indeed. What a great place to start and finish. I was extremely impressed with the set up and Norm was a great host.

Alsg, did you paddle the St. John solo? Also how much time did you put aside for this trip?

 

[alsg]

Alsg, assuming you meant June 28th. We did see a large group at the first campsite June 28th, as we arrived later around 7:00pm and occupied the last or third campsite closest to the outhouses. Small world indeed. What a great place to start and finish. I was extremely impressed with the set up and Norm was a great host.

YES!!! June 28! Were you the guy keeping me up all night talking???

Alsg, did you paddle the St. John solo? Also how much time did you put aside for this trip?

No, I was not solo (wasn't confident enough to do Class III solo; probably still am not). I went with the same guides I just finished the Allagash with, but with a much, much smaller party. Just 3 tandem canoes in total. Five days/ four nights is what we did and it was plenty. I thought we'd have long paddling days to finish the 115 miles (or whatever it was), but the water on the St. John in May is moving so fast that we covered 20-25 miles per day only paddling about 4 hours a day and not very hard paddling at that! As you might imagine, that leaves plenty of time to set up camp and relax.

 

[Chip]

The picture of the ice banks reminds me of meeting "The BOIM" Brotherhood of I---? Moose at Priestly camp site (I can't remember what the "I" stood for). They'd had their shuttle stop and stashed 30-packs of beer (per man) near Priestly. They stopped at the ice bank to fill their coolers with ice, then stopped at Priestly for a two-night beer bash. They were an unruly bunch and we thought of continuing on, but it was rainy and late and we didn't want to get into Big Black so late in the day. So, we shared the site with BOIM, and that was one of the more interesting nights of any canoe trip. The BOIM were a bunch of 'Nam vets on an annual trip. I wonder if they still do that. Anybody else ever run into that crew?

YC, might be another small-world story if the year you saw the kid paddling with chainsaw was 2002.