The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (IF&W) has adopted new, less restrictive length and bag limits for much of the Allagash Wilderness Waterway (AWW). These new rules take effect on January 1, 2018, for: Eagle, Churchill, Umsaskis, Long Lake and Chase Rapids. Fishing regulations have not changed for...
Read moreThis year, the Allagash Wilderness Waterway Foundation (AWWF) partnered with Chewonki of Wiscasset, Maine, to offer two all-expenses-paid paddling and camping trips on the Waterway for youth living in gateway communities of the Waterway. With the generous support of local partners, the Quimby Family Foundation, and the Defoe Fund, 18 students from the Katahdin...
Read moreLegendary Maine Wilderness Guide Gardner Defoe led groups of youth down Maine rivers for over 25 years. A recent film called, Defoe’s Way, produced by O’Maine Studios and funded by L.L. Bean, tells the inspiring story of Defoe’s life and his many journeys down the Allagash River. The alumni of these programs were profoundly...
Read moreAllagash Lake is the Holy Grail for fishing in Maine. With vehicular access limited to a mile or more from the shore, and motorized equipment off limits there, a trip to Allagash Lake is among the last of Maine’s true wilderness adventures. Spring, around the time of ice out, is a...
Read moreAlthough I had worked along different stretches of the Allagash starting when I was fresh out of college in 1979, my first canoe trip down the entire river was with my daughters, my husband, and a few friends in 1999. I’d paddled many rivers in Maine, but never the Allagash. It seemed like an ideal river...
Read moreI probably need to fact check the year, but if memory serves me, then I think 1979 or 1980 (age 20) was the year I made my first trip to the Allagash. I had done a lot of backpacking, some canoeing overnights, and some whitewater paddling, but this was my...
Read moreMost of my initial dealings with the Allagash Wilderness Waterway were work related. While I had read about and dreamed of a trip on the Allagash for years that didn’t really occur until after I went to work for the Department of Conservation as its Personnel Manager in 1984. It...
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