Patrik Orcutt 10.20.25
Welcome again to Half 2 of this multi-part piece I’m writing on my current journey down the West Department Penobscot River. You probably have not already, I’d extremely advocate studying Half 1 earlier than diving into this one beneath. In Half One, I’ve lined the route we plan to take and a few information on the members on this journey.
This journey was not sponsored by anybody, however I wish to thank Previous City Canoe for getting me a Discovery 158 I used for this journey and Jetboil for hooking me up with Flash 1.0 Quick boil system to prepare dinner quite a lot of my meals and make my espresso.
Canoe Protection on AllOutdoor
Packing for the Journey
Whereas I knew this explicit route we’d be taking down the West Department Penobscot River didn’t require any portages, I nonetheless needed to maintain my packing to an absolute minimal. Whereas weight was not a priority for this journey, I hate it once I overpack for any journey and have all this further stuff I by no means use. I introduced all your regular tenting stuff, however I’ll embrace an in depth record with hyperlinks beneath. This isn’t a complete record however extra of the bigger and attention-grabbing objects I introduced.
Transient Historical past of the River
The West Department of the Penobscot River, a 117-mile-long tributary in Maine’s North Woods, performed a pivotal position within the state’s logging trade beginning within the early nineteenth century. Originating at Seboomook Lake and flowing via Chesuncook Lake and Baxter State Park earlier than becoming a member of the East Department at Medway, the river was an important artery for transporting logs to sawmills and later paper mills. From 1828 to 1846, impartial logging firms drove logs down the West Department, navigating its rapids and falls to succeed in Bangor, then often known as the “lumber capital of the world.” By 1846, the Penobscot Log Driving Firm was fashioned to streamline these efforts, sorting logs at “growth” areas and rafting them to homeowners, a system that advanced into company management by the Nice Northern Paper Firm (GNP) by 1903. Damming intensified to assist this trade, with constructions just like the Ripogenus Dam, accomplished in 1916, creating huge storage for logs and hydropower. By 1933, GNP had developed a storage capability of 57 billion cubic ft, enabling year-round log drives of shorter pulpwood logs till environmental laws and the completion of the Golden Street in 1972 ended river-based log transport.
At the moment, the West Department is primarily valued for its leisure and ecological significance, following a shift from industrial use. The cessation of log drives, spurred by the Clear Water Act of 1972, and the Penobscot River Restoration Mission, which eliminated dams like Nice Works and Veazie by 2013 and put in fish passages, have revitalized the river’s ecosystem, boosting populations of Atlantic salmon, shad, and different sea-run fish. The river now helps vibrant whitewater rafting, notably via Ripogenus Gorge’s Class IV and V rapids, and fly fishing for wild landlocked salmon and brook trout, attracting adventurers and anglers. Conservation efforts, together with a 329,000-acre mission by the Forest Society of Maine, guarantee sustainable forestry and public entry for canoeing, birdwatching, and moose recognizing, preserving the river’s pure magnificence and cultural heritage for future generations.
Henry David Thoreau’s Affiliation with the River
Henry David Thoreau, the famend American transcendentalist author, thinker, and naturalist, visited the West Department of the Penobscot River in Maine throughout his three journeys to the Maine woods in 1846, 1853, and 1857. These experiences are documented in his e book The Maine Woods, a set of essays revealed posthumously in 1864, which incorporates detailed accounts of his travels, notably within the essay “Chesuncook,” named after Chesuncook Lake, a major function alongside the West Department.
Thoreau’s journeys into Maine had been pushed by his fascination with wilderness and his need to expertise nature in its uncooked, unspoiled state. The West Department Penobscot River, flowing via the rugged and distant North Woods, was a central ingredient of his 1857 journey, which he undertook along with his cousin George Thatcher and their Penobscot Indian information, Joe Polis. Ranging from Bangor, they traveled by canoe up the Penobscot River, with vital parts of their journey alongside the West Department, together with areas round Chesuncook Lake and Ripogenus Gorge. Thoreau’s writings vividly describe the river’s difficult currents, rocky rapids, and surrounding dense forests, which he noticed as a stark distinction to the tamed landscapes of Harmony, Massachusetts.
In Chesuncook, Thoreau particulars navigating the West Department, noting its wild magnificence and the bodily calls for of canoeing and portaging via its terrain. He describes the river’s position within the logging trade, observing loggers’ camps and the environmental impression of timber harvesting, which he discovered each spectacular and troubling. Thoreau lamented the destruction of old-growth forests, writing, “The mission of males there appears to be, like so many busy demons, to drive the forest in another country.” His encounters with the Penobscot folks, notably Joe Polis, enriched his understanding of the area’s cultural and pure historical past, as Polis shared information of the land and river navigation methods.
At the moment, Thoreau’s affiliation with the West Department punctuates its historic and literary significance. His descriptions proceed to encourage conservation efforts and leisure actions like canoeing and mountain climbing within the area. The West Department, now a hub for whitewater rafting and fishing, stays a testomony to the wilderness Thoreau cherished, along with his writings serving as a historic lens via which to understand the river’s enduring attract and ecological significance. That is the top of Half 2 of this multi-part piece on this river journey, make sure you look out for Half 3, the place the journey and paddle begins.
