Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Canoeing/Kayaking Outfitters
Overnight trips average $100-150 per person, per day. Half-day
guided trips run in the vicinity of $50. Basic rentals cost between
$25 and $45 per day. Most rentals include life jackets, paddles
and car-topping gear.
Allagash Sporting Camps
Box 169A, Allagash 04774
Trips: Allagash, St. John, Big and Little Black Rivers. May-
October. Canoe rentals, canoe trips.
398-3555.
Birch Point, Inc.
Box 120, Pleasant Lake, Island Falls 04747
Canoe rentals. May-October.
463-2515.
Maine Canoe Adventures
Box 105, Route 161, St. Francis 04774
Canoe rentals. Canoe trips, on the Allagash and St. John. May-
October.
398-3191.
Pelletier's Campground
PO Box 67, Saint Francis 04774
Canoe rentals, canoe trips. May-October.
398-3187 days; 834-
6118 evenings.
St. John River, T-9, R-17 WELS
Sister to the nearby Allagash, the St. John is a wild and remote river best
run in the spring before low water takes too heavy a toll on fragile boats.
It flows the sea in nearby New Brunswick and was named by French ex-
plorer Samuel de Champlain.
The 70-mile paddle from Moody Bridge (on the American Realty Road
bridge in far northwestern Maine) to Allagash Village takes several days
and features rapids up to Class III and some of the wildest most remote
scenery in the East. There are numerous campsites and other points of
interest, including abandoned farms and logging camps. Only one other
bridge and a single ranger station (Nine-Mile Bridge) is passed.
By early summer dropping water levels force canoes to be walked down
several stretches. The rapids also become bony, causing rocks to rip at the
bottoms of canoes and kayaks.
The North Maine Woods office receives daily readings on the water level
in the St. John. Officials consider 3,000 CFS (cubic feet per second) the
