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The Map is Not the Territory: A Northern Maine Adventure
The Map is Not the Territory
ad·ven·ture/adˈvenCHər/
Noun: An unusual and exciting, typically hazardous, experience or activity.
Verb: Engage in hazardous and exciting activity, esp. the exploration of unknown
epicxcrider added 0 Minutes and 32 Seconds later...
The Men
Nick C - Trip Leader From: Southern NH
Nick B - Photographer From: North Jersey
Chirp - Adventure Dog From: North Jersey
Jason G - Local Man of Mystery From: ?
Josh L - Driver / Engineer From: Seacoast Region NH
Kevin J - Scientist From: Some Lonley Island
Erek J - Chef / Adventurer From: Seacoast Region NH
epicxcrider added 0 Minutes and 32 Seconds later...
The Means
2007 FJ Cruiser: Lifted, Rear Locked, 33” MT’s, Winch
1997 Lexus LX-450: Lifted, Fully Locked, 33” AT’s, Winch
epicxcrider added 0 Minutes and 38 Seconds later...
The Mission:
I had never been to the North Maine Woods. I’d always heard it was a place where you saw more moose than people, where you could drive for days on endless dirt roads. Roads where overloaded & speeding log trucks set the rules. They made the roads, they own the roads, and they will run you off them if you don’t move out of the way.
But there had to be more up North... some natural beauty in the relatively untouched lakes and rivers of the Alligash waterway. The mission was to explore the North country of New Hampshire and Maine and discover what I had been missing all these years.
Planning the trip was quite an undertaking - it took a long time to find published points of interest. I decided there would be three main destinations that would guide the rest of the route.
The Two Trains - There are two abandoned steam locomotives in the North Maine Woods, and we would try to find them
Gulf Hagas - The Grand Canyon of Maine - 5 mile long gorge strewn with waterfalls
The B-52 Crash Site - A mountain in Maine where a Boeing B-52 crashed, the wreckage remains
The rest of the route was determined by the desire to make the trip entirely on dirt roads - The Harder & More Wild the Better.
epicxcrider added 6 Minutes and 52 Seconds later...
Stay tuned for more :)
Last edited by EpicXCrider; 10-03-2011 at 03:45 PM. Reason: Automerged Doublepost
MappingNH Trail Scout
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Supporting Vendor MappingNH Trail Scout
Can't wait for the rest of this report!
Overlanding is about exploration, rather than conquering obstacles. While the roads and trails we travel might be rough or technically challenging, they are the means to an end, not the goal itself. The goal is to see and learn about our world, whether on a weekend trip 100 miles from home or a 10,000-mile expedition across another continent. The vehicle and equipment can be simple or extravagant. History, wildlife, culture, scenery, self-sufficiency - these are the rewards of overlanding.
MappingNH Trail Scout
I've always wanted to take my Jeep up there to do this... will be refreshing this thread constantly looking for more!!! :)
1999 TJ - 3" lift, 4.10 gearing, locked rear, winch, 33" AT tires
The Jeep
MappingNH Trail Scout
Living in Maine, I wish I was part of this adventure.
MappingNH Trail Scout
This sounds like soooo much fun!! Can't wait to see all the pictures!! Especially one's of those three "points of interest" you listed!
By the way... the dog is adorable!! :)
"There is no secret better kept than that between a girl and her horse"
"To ride a horse is to ride the sky"
Ok, updates may be slow because I'm still writing and editing this... but here's the first day :)
DAY ONE- Thursday 9.22.11 155 Miles
After hurriedly packing the FJ with Nick B and Jason, we were on the road at 5:00 PM headed for Concord. I would be driving for the whole trip since Nick B doesn’t drive stick and well... Jason has crashed more vehicles than I’ve owned.
In the spirit of the trip we decided not to take the highway and instead rode back roads to get there. After a short stop in Concord (so I could buy jeans and underwear since I had been too busy to do any laundry before the trip) we headed to our first dirt road of the trip: Sandwich Notch Road.
Sandwich Notch Road winds North into the White Mountains offering little challenge, though at night it is relatively untraveled. The road had previously been closed due to flooding so we were happy to find that it had been repaired and open. At this point we made contact with Josh in the LX - they were on the way from Rochester, NH and needed food. What better place to eat when you’re in the area than The Common Man?!
First we had to walk Adventure Dog and with the leash in New Jersey I found a suitable replacement...
Tree Saver Leash
Introductions were made, beer and burgers were consumed, then we were off to Sandwich Notch Road.
We made camp for the night in a cul-de-sac at the end of an old logging road, outside the State Forest land. Erek set up a pretty cool hammock with rain fly, the rest of us were in tents. It was misty and late, nobody felt like making a fire so we made do.
It was a good chance to get to know each other, everyone sat around the fire (lantern) drinking more beers and telling various college drinking tales and other fish-tales:P
Last edited by EpicXCrider; 10-03-2011 at 06:18 PM.
Supporting Member MappingNH Trail Scout
What a great way to see Maine !Planing this trip agine ?
Scott
1997 Jeep TJ ,4 inch rough county x- series lift ,SYE ,tom woods drive shafts ,BFG KM 2 33s ,smittybilt bumpers,rock-rails ,winch,skid plates ,stinkys off road full roll cage , arb snorkel and a few outer moderate add ons ,with a bunch of gear, for some moderate c6s....along with a expedition Trailer, for those trail clean ups
Member :Treadlightly
MappingNH Trail Scout
Gawd, sounds great. Ill be keeping an eye on this thread!
Supporting Member MappingNH Trail Scout 
Sounds like this needs to be an annual thing Nick!!! I too want in on this next year.
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-dave
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'07 Toyota FJ Cruiser - SOLD link...Build Thread...link..... Going to be riding shotgun for now.
DAY TWO - Friday 9.23.11Day two began at 7 AM with coffee and oatmeal for breakfast and an early (kind of) start to the day. It was still misty and we had to pack up wet sleeping gear in the hopes that it would dry later in the day.
224 Miles
Tunes for the day: Bill Cosby Standup
Josh had discovered the secret to oatmeal was piling as many other sweet things on top of it as possible. Mmmm Pumpkin.
Sandwich Notch Road (Class V - Maintained Dirt) is a nice scenic and hilly drive, so we took it slow and enjoyed the start of the fall foliage. Leaving the state forest there is a clearing and a house, which offered a few good photo ops. Foliage was at peak and pictures simply cannot illustrate the view we had through the mist that morning.
After Sandwich notch we cruised by Waterville Valley on Tripoli Road, which is another seasonal Class V dirt road. Foliage abounded casting the whole crew into a good mood. Tripoli Rd was considerably better than the highway and happened to be in good condition, covered a good distance at a good pace.
The original plan was to then take the Kancamagus highway to Bear Notch Road to Jefferson Notch Road (All class V). To make up some time - and because Jefferson Notch Road was closed due to flooding - we chose to take 93 to RT 3 to get to Groveton, NH where our next untraveled(by us) road would be.
Last edited by EpicXCrider; 11-02-2011 at 01:24 PM. Reason: Added Pictures
sounds like a blast. i have seen the b-52 site by sled in winter. its right off the main trail just outside of town.
DD= 05 nissan altima 3.5. grey
tow rig = 11 ram 2500 deep water blue. 6" bds lift and 37" nitto trail grapplers on xd hoss wheels.
TR= 11 ski-doo bcx 800 etec, 2012 polaris pro-rmk 800
MappingNH Trail Scout
Ive wanted to see the trains for a ggod long time now, if any one wanted to plan somthing like this next year, I would be up for it!Originally Posted by ne07fjc
what are the roads like getting there? i would love to do this, just don't want to be trying to squeeze the dodge down anything. if its all logging roads i'm in.
DD= 05 nissan altima 3.5. grey
tow rig = 11 ram 2500 deep water blue. 6" bds lift and 37" nitto trail grapplers on xd hoss wheels.
TR= 11 ski-doo bcx 800 etec, 2012 polaris pro-rmk 800
You'll see
epicxcrider added 0 Minutes and 50 Seconds later...
Stay tuned :)
Last edited by EpicXCrider; 10-04-2011 at 12:37 PM. Reason: Automerged Doublepost
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