Maine High Adventure

[Lexington76]

My Venture crew will travel to MHA this coming summer- does anyone have any suggestions or past experiances? I am looking for a way to travel from Bangor airport to the base & back after the trek- also a place to stay the night before we set off from MHA- anyone have suggestions?

 

Thanks!

[local1400]

Calico Penn is a former MHA staffer. He could provide some info. You could try Cyr Bus company (Bangor and Old Town) for charter service. Katahdin Area Council's Camp Roosevelt is only 30 minutes from Bangor (albeit East of, and away from, MHA).

[eagle90]

We attended the Maine Base back in 1984, so my advice is very dated. We stayed at a campground (Matagamon Wilderness Campground) right near the base. Advice - BRING TONS OF INSECT REPELLANT! They are the size of small birds!! Seriously, it is some of the most beautiful country and outstanding canoeing I have ever done.

 

Dale(This message has been edited by eagle90)

[CalicoPenn]

My advice will be a bit dated as well - Maine High Adventure, based out of Matagamon Base, is now run by the Katahdin Area Council. When I was on staff, it was a National High Adventure Base (like Philmont).

 

How much time do you have on your trip from the airport to the base (or vice versa)? If you have lots of time, you could drive from Bangor through Baxter State Park from the south gate to the north gate, stopping in one of the campgrounds within the park for the night. Baxter State Park is not a typical state park - it is very very large (209K+ acres). The road through the park is about 94 miles - and is a rustic road (it will take 3 to 5 hours to go from one end to the other). To reach the southern gate (Togue Pond gate), head to Millinocket then drive about 20 miles to the gate. If this sounds appealing, make campground reservations - all camping is reservation only. To maintain the wilderness feeling, cell phones, stereos, i-pods, handheld video games, two way radios, etc, are banned from the park.

 

If you don't have a lot of time to do this, you can drive up to Patten, visit the Lumberman Museum then head to Shin Pond and stay at the Shin Pond Village Campground.

 

Calico

[moxieman]

Ah, you're heading up north of my way and deeper into the Maine Wilderness.

 

A few things to note:

 

On Baxter State Park: http://www.baxterstateparkauthority.com/

Under rules/regs: "VEHICLE SIZE LIMITED - no vehicle over 9 feet high, 7 feet wide or 22 feet long for a single vehicle, 44 feet for a double vehicle. Please note: Dual-wheeled vehicles are usually oversized."

 

So, if you charter with a bus company, like Cyr Charter Bus Lines (http://www.cyrbustours.com/), forget about going to Baxter State Park, unless they have smaller vehicles other then full size buses (which they might, but I've only ever seen them drive full size buses).

 

I would also highly recommend that if you charter a bus, that you don't go to Mattawamkeag Wilderness Park. They don't call it wilderness for nothing. It's roughly 7 miles down a twisty, windy logging road (passably by two-wheel drive car). Those 7 miles take about 25 minutes to drive. If you go by regular vehicles, it's a nice camp ground. Their website is: http://www.mwpark.com/

 

I'll have to hit the Bangor phone book at work to see if there are other charter companies in the area. Cyr does an excellent job. But as I've stated, they won't work with the overnight suggestions of Baxter or Mattawamkeag (other then KSR).

 

Patten Lumberman Museum as others have already mentioned has a website: http://www.lumbermensmuseum.org/

 

Depending on when you come up, and if you are willing to drive on the east side of the Penobscot River (and not take I-95 north), you could swing by Leonard's Mill (http://www.leonardsmills.com/) for their living history day usually held the 2nd Saturday in July. The grounds of this late 1700's-style lumbering camp/village are open year-round, but they have folks in period costume doing 'period' activities during their various living history days.

 

Katahdin Scout Reservation is about 15 miles east of Bangor. If your trip coincides with their summer camp schedule, you might be able to get a couple of meals (dinner/breakfast) along with a place to pitch your tent for the night. Contact Katahdin Area Council for details:

http://katahdinareabsa.org/

 

There isn't much more I can give you about that area. There's very little out there.

 

[Lexington76]

Thanks to all for the replies and good info!!

 

Steve Hendrix

[le Voyageur]

I worked there in 2004....give the Base a call, and make arrangements with Dave, or Ray to have your crew transported by one of their vans...

[moxieman]

Well, my apologies for taking a bit longer to get this info then planned. If the suggestion of making arrangements with the base directly doesn't pan out, I did get to the copy of the Bangor area phone book today.

 

According to the yellow pages in said directory, Cyr Bus Lines will cater to a scout troop. It is the only charter bus line in the Bangor area that is listed.

 

There are two other charter services listed, but they aren't in Bangor:

 

Custom Coach & Limo of Portland (2 hours sw of Bangor):

http://www.customcoachandlimo.com 800-585-3589

 

Northeast Charter Tour of Lewiston (1.5 hours sw of Bangor):

http://www.northeastchartertour.com 888-593-6328

 

 

One last little secret about the Maine North Woods. If the black flies are out, better have some Avon Skin-so-Soft. No, seriously. For some reason the stuff works and is one of the few things I've seen work against those nasty little buggers.

[local1400]

Regarding your previous post about Cyr Buses Moxie, they have a large fleet of school buses of all sizes and I think some of those are the vans, too.

[CalicoPenn]

Back in the 80's, the most successful Avon sales person in Maine was in Shin Pond (you will drive through it from Patten to Matagamon). The only product sold was Avon Skin-So-Soft - and it was sold right from the shelves of the little camp store at Shin Pond. I don't know if the store is still selling it (Avon wasn't happy with the "retail sales" aspect of this venture but couldn't argue with the success - and couldn't argue with the affects of Skin-So-Soft, which is why their insect repellent line is named Skin-So-Soft), but if they still do, you'll have a handy source for it if you aren't able to get it.

 

Has anyone noticed a difference in the effectiveness of the original Skin-So-Soft and the Skin-So-Soft Insect Repellent line that Avon now makes?

 

Calico

[moxieman]

Original Skin-so-Soft all the way. The "Insect Repellent" version works like most other insect repellents when it comes to Maine black flies--it's a seasoning to add flavor to your skin for them to enjoy, sort of like adding mustard, Tabasco or other seasoning of choice to your favorite dish.

 

We use to laugh at the OFF bug repellent commercials back in the 80's. The ones where there's a $100 bill in the glass case filled with hungry mosquitoes and if the passerby was willing to reach in they could have the cash and they'd refuse until they could spray their arm with OFF. That would never work up here. It's misnamed. That stuff is "ON" up here. Absolutely no effect on the bugs...though you'd swear it attracted rather then repel'em.

 

Ben's 100: Back when it was 100% DEET (you know, that nasty stuff that if you dripped it on your nylon tent it would dissolve it), it was one of the few things that worked other then Skin-so-Soft against Maine black flies. But I haven't seen 100% DEET Ben's in years.

 

The only other thing I've ever seen work against Maine Bugs was "Olde Time Woodsman". That stuff stank, was highly flammable, but it repelled bugs (and fellow scouts) very well. I suspect it was "Human repellent" that made the bugs think you were one of them. You'd lather that on your skin and it would change your skin a few shades darker. "Good stuff." Wish I could still find it around here. If it's still around, you probably can't get it shipped due to the flammability.

 

[le Voyageur]

 

 

This should help.....

 

http://www.mainehighadventure.org/reservations.html

[CalicoPenn]

Oh yeah....Olde Times Woodsman - I remember that stuff - you could tell a person wearing it was approaching you from 500 yards. On the other hand, it was great for crews coming in from the backcountry after a week with no showers (and even better for the Staff who could then approach the crew, screw up their faces and say "what in the Sam Hill is that awful stuff you're wearing - go take a shower before dinner" without offending the wearer).

 

Calico(This message has been edited by CalicoPenn)