Advocate I
Finally made it up to the Ghost Trains in the North Maine Woods this week. Only spent one night in the NMW but I think we are going to be going back again soon.
Headed out bright and early on day 1. Told the family I wanted to be on the road by 6am. 7am saw us headed out not bad considering that was my true desired start time. Pretty straight forward drive bombing up I-95. Had our first little excitement of the day north of Bangor. Horrible rattling noise that would go away when accelerating. Luckily it was just the heat shield above the muffler. The metal had fatigued around the bolts holding it up and it had falling onto the muffler and was smacking the driveshaft. Couple of washers to hold it up and we were off.
We stopped at Adol Bridge Campground and Store for lunch. Watched a few rafting parties go by.
Checking in at Telos Checkpoint went smoothly. Gentleman manning the desk had a print out of directions with mileages for the Ghost Trains. We paid our fees and were off again. There is now an established trailhead for the walking path to the trains, plenty of parking, and a privy (which my wife was very happy to see). The trail to the Ghost Trains is very well marked with blue paint. There was a crew of young people doing trail improvement when we went through. Putting in some rock stairs on the side of a hill that was getting eroded from foot traffic.
The trains themselves are almost overshadowed by all of the other train related articles scattered through the woods, huge gears, sprockets, wheels, steam shovel. The boys enjoyed climbing up on the trains and asking a thousand questions about all the graffiti and why people wrote all over the trains.
We headed back to the vehicle but had a spot of trouble. Seems one of the rear tires fell victim to the shale on the roads.
I had a full size spare so I wasn't too worried but decided to try and repair the tire. My eagle eyed oldest boy actually found the hole in just about a minute while the tire was still on the vehicle. Was able to get it plugged up. A helpful stranger backed his pickup to our vehicle and pulled out his full sized 110v Air compressor. His truck has a built in inverter! He plugged in the compressor and pumped us up to pressure in a heartbeat.
By this time it was close to 4pm and the boys were worried that someone would beat us to our planned campsite. My oldest had been asking to camp by a lake or pond so I had planned for us to over night at Wadleigh Pond Beach Campsite. But when we got there the road in was blocked off by a rock. The campsite is still open you just need to carry your stuff in. We headed down the road a bit further to the 2nd of three Campsites on Wadleigh Pond. Wadleigh Pond South Campsite was the second planned campsite but it was occupied. So we spent the night at Wadleigh Pond Campsite. Once again my wife was very happy to see a freshly built privy.
The next morning we headed out between spurts of rainfall and headed towards the 20 Mile Check point. We scouted out a few potential future campsites suggested to us by a couple of individuals we met. One gentleman actually lives only 15 minutes away from our home. He had a camp on Wadleigh Pond and suggested a few places for future camping.
In hopes to see some wildlife besides birds we headed off the main dirt roads and followed a few of the lesser travel ways. We didn't get to see any of the elusive moose but I almost hit or ran over about 5 separate grouse families that were sitting grass of the road way.
We had lunch at Caucomgomoc Campsite. The road into the campsite was lined with multiple camps/cabins. We were told that they were mostly hunting cabins and most of the time no one stays there. Caucomgomoc Campsite had multiple firerings and tables for about five camp site. Yes a privy too. From there we continued past Lost Pond Campsite. Finally saw a young moose much to the glee of my wife. Since moving Maine with me in '07 she had only seen four moose, today she was able to add three more to that tally.
Finally made it through 20 Mile Check Point. I ignored Google Maps and took the path I had mapped out via GaiaGPS to try and stay on as many dirt roads as possible. Was able to make down to Moosehead Lake before hitting Pavement.
A successful first outing. I definitely see the draw to having a pullout kitchen and fridge/cooler. Definitely would have made setup and breakdown go a little faster. Especially when stopping for meal breaks during the day being able to access food, food prep, and working area without having to half unpack.
P.S. I attached a Route built in GaiaGPS from the Telos Checkpoint to the Trailhead of Ghost Trains. This is the route the NMW is directing people to when heading up there. Most of GaiaGPS Public Tracks are using a different road that is much more overgrown and doesn't lead to the Trailhead/Parking area.
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Headed out bright and early on day 1. Told the family I wanted to be on the road by 6am. 7am saw us headed out not bad considering that was my true desired start time. Pretty straight forward drive bombing up I-95. Had our first little excitement of the day north of Bangor. Horrible rattling noise that would go away when accelerating. Luckily it was just the heat shield above the muffler. The metal had fatigued around the bolts holding it up and it had falling onto the muffler and was smacking the driveshaft. Couple of washers to hold it up and we were off.
We stopped at Adol Bridge Campground and Store for lunch. Watched a few rafting parties go by.
Checking in at Telos Checkpoint went smoothly. Gentleman manning the desk had a print out of directions with mileages for the Ghost Trains. We paid our fees and were off again. There is now an established trailhead for the walking path to the trains, plenty of parking, and a privy (which my wife was very happy to see). The trail to the Ghost Trains is very well marked with blue paint. There was a crew of young people doing trail improvement when we went through. Putting in some rock stairs on the side of a hill that was getting eroded from foot traffic.
The trains themselves are almost overshadowed by all of the other train related articles scattered through the woods, huge gears, sprockets, wheels, steam shovel. The boys enjoyed climbing up on the trains and asking a thousand questions about all the graffiti and why people wrote all over the trains.
We headed back to the vehicle but had a spot of trouble. Seems one of the rear tires fell victim to the shale on the roads.
I had a full size spare so I wasn't too worried but decided to try and repair the tire. My eagle eyed oldest boy actually found the hole in just about a minute while the tire was still on the vehicle. Was able to get it plugged up. A helpful stranger backed his pickup to our vehicle and pulled out his full sized 110v Air compressor. His truck has a built in inverter! He plugged in the compressor and pumped us up to pressure in a heartbeat.
By this time it was close to 4pm and the boys were worried that someone would beat us to our planned campsite. My oldest had been asking to camp by a lake or pond so I had planned for us to over night at Wadleigh Pond Beach Campsite. But when we got there the road in was blocked off by a rock. The campsite is still open you just need to carry your stuff in. We headed down the road a bit further to the 2nd of three Campsites on Wadleigh Pond. Wadleigh Pond South Campsite was the second planned campsite but it was occupied. So we spent the night at Wadleigh Pond Campsite. Once again my wife was very happy to see a freshly built privy.
The next morning we headed out between spurts of rainfall and headed towards the 20 Mile Check point. We scouted out a few potential future campsites suggested to us by a couple of individuals we met. One gentleman actually lives only 15 minutes away from our home. He had a camp on Wadleigh Pond and suggested a few places for future camping.
In hopes to see some wildlife besides birds we headed off the main dirt roads and followed a few of the lesser travel ways. We didn't get to see any of the elusive moose but I almost hit or ran over about 5 separate grouse families that were sitting grass of the road way. We had lunch at Caucomgomoc Campsite. The road into the campsite was lined with multiple camps/cabins. We were told that they were mostly hunting cabins and most of the time no one stays there. Caucomgomoc Campsite had multiple firerings and tables for about five camp site. Yes a privy too. From there we continued past Lost Pond Campsite. Finally saw a young moose much to the glee of my wife. Since moving Maine with me in '07 she had only seen four moose, today she was able to add three more to that tally.
Finally made it through 20 Mile Check Point. I ignored Google Maps and took the path I had mapped out via GaiaGPS to try and stay on as many dirt roads as possible. Was able to make down to Moosehead Lake before hitting Pavement.
A successful first outing. I definitely see the draw to having a pullout kitchen and fridge/cooler. Definitely would have made setup and breakdown go a little faster. Especially when stopping for meal breaks during the day being able to access food, food prep, and working area without having to half unpack.
P.S. I attached a Route built in GaiaGPS from the Telos Checkpoint to the Trailhead of Ghost Trains. This is the route the NMW is directing people to when heading up there. Most of GaiaGPS Public Tracks are using a different road that is much more overgrown and doesn't lead to the Trailhead/Parking area.
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