CanoeSherpa: Saco River Trip

Ah..... Day 2. We wake to a sunny morning under the leantoo and a hunter driving up to our fire. The polite old gent hops out of his Ford to assess who we are and what we're doing at his leantoo. Us being paddlers and him being an Outfitter, we get along just fine. Kind and courteous he dismisses our visit as necessity from the prior days rain and rising water levels. A five minute conversation passes and he's on his way to check the fields for deer. But remember folks, this is private property, however our kind was welcome there. IF anyone reading this post decides to camp at the leantoo, I urge respect with a "leave no trace policy" to not ruin it for the rest of us, but I'd rather you camp somewhere else! Now that's my public service announcement.

Scott and Doug make their way up the Old Course as leave our site Saturday morning.

The morning menu consisted of eggs and Elk sausage stuffed with jalepeno and cheese. Good stuff. We eat then assess the river for what the day may bring. Overnight the river rose about 3 feet under the heavy rains of the day before. We could physically see the Old Course back filling from the volume of water coming down the Saco. Water was being pushed upstream which made our ascent an welcoming surprise, but a return paddle to our almost our demise.

Keyser Pond looking North at Mount Washington

Trusting the helpful hunters guidance on mileage, our ascent was 1-1/2 miles to the pond, which we had other expectations based on other reports and published articles of this section of river. As we enter the pond we can immediately see a snow covered Mount Washington to the North, or left of the pond as we enter. A fairly large pond, the surface was glass with nice panoramic views of surrounding topography. Assuming a launch can be found on the pond, this would be a great put-in and start to a trip.

A view of my bow heavy boat in Keyser Pond just before descending the Old Course.

Time passes and it's time to go, so we begin our 3 mile slog against the current as we descend the river back to the main channel. Constricted areas of the Old Course yielded heavy current, and me with my bow heavy boat did not fair well under those constricted currents. Shortly into our ascent I'm forced to pull aside and reassess my gear situation and exchange weight. Once we return to the covered bridge, the river opened and yielding a milder current.

Back into the main current we catch a surface speed of about 3.5 - 4 miles / hour, so we were hauling. Making our way downstream we pass the Fire Wardens home on the left, then I realize I made a fatal mistake. The mistake being we dropped Doug's car off at Walkers Bridge, not Brownfield as expected. We dock at the bridge and immediately ask a hunter in a kayak how we get our shuttle to Brownfield, and Doug and I begin to haul ass to get this shuttle done. 2:30 Saturday afternoon under cloudy skies, and NOT expecting to drive, we're driving to get my truck to Brownfield. Less than an hour passes and we're back on the water by 3:30 as Scott patiently waitS for our return. Remember this folks, Brownfield is Route 302 in Fryeburg, to Route 5 to Route 160. The shuttle from Swans Falls to Brownfield Bridge is about 12 miles.

Once on the water we begin looking for a place to camp. Below Walker Bridge you'll find many "No Alcohol" Signs posted on trees both river right and left. At about 4:15 we settle for a nice spot just past mile marker 12 on river left that has a high bank and easy canoe access. A fairly level, grassy spot with a pond behind us we make a fire and establish camp.

My tent nestled along the high bank just below mile marker 12, river left

I have dinner detail that night, which was a hearty beef stew which Doug complimented with a bread. We mark a steak in the rivers edge to pay attention to rising or receding water levels, and after about two hours the water was in fact receding. At times we could hear either road traffic or boat traffic from across the river, but couldn't quite establish where it might have been coming from. The site was abundant with wood and an easy spot to establish camp.