Maine Mountains, Lakes & Rivers

Maine's Androscoggin Watershed
Students on our Backpacking & Caneoing courses will canoe in the upper reaches of the Androscoggin watershed. The Androscoggin is fed by Aziscohos Lake, the Magalloway River, and the Rangeley Lakes: Cupsuptic, Mooselookmeguntic, and Richardson. Indigenous Abenaki peoples used the Androscoggin as both a means of transportation, between winter habitats inland and summer living on the coast, and as a source of food. Later the Androscoggin River was used to move logs to mills downstate during the logging boom of the nineteenth century. These days the lakes and rivers are used primarily by canoeists, fisherman, and other recreationalists. Some of the portages students may encounter have been in use for centuries, such as along the Rapid River.

Maine Mountains
Students on our Backpacking & Caneoing courses will backpack in the mountains of western Maine and northern New Hampshire in one or more of the following areas: the Appalachian Trail, the White Mountain National Forest, the Carter-Mahoosuc Range, the Grafton Loop Trail, or in the Caribou-Speckled Mountain Wilderness. These spruce-fir and hardwood forests are home to hundreds of species of birds as well as moose, deer, and black bear. Rock climbing instruction will take place at one of many granite cliffs students encounter along their expedition route. Most of this hiking terrain is protected from development and offers both pristine and established camping, rushing waterfalls, twisting streams, and spectacular views from rocky summits.

Maine Northwoods
When students embark on a Hurricane Island Outward Bound School Whitewater Canoeing program, their wilderness classroom will be the Penobscot, Kennebec or Allagash watershed(s) in Maine’s Northwoods, the land that Thoreau immortalized in The Maine Woods. The known history of this five million acre forest begins with the indigenous Abenaki people, who lived along the banks of these rivers during the winter, planted crops in the spring, and then traveled downstream by canoe to coastal summer sites. After the discovery of massive white pines in the 17th century, these waterways were used by Europeans to transport logs from the forests to the mills downstream. These days, some of the forest is protected for recreation and the lakes and rivers are used primarily by canoeists, fisherman, and other recreationalists.

Maine Rangeley Lakes
Students on our Rangeley Lakes Canoeing programs will canoe in the upper reaches of the Androscoggin watershed. The Androscoggin is fed by Aziscohos Lake, the Magalloway River, and the Rangeley Lakes: Cupsuptic, Mooselookmeguntic, and Richardson. Indigenous Abenaki peoples used the Androscoggin as both a means of transportation, between winter habitats inland and summer living on the coast, and as a source of food. Later the Androscoggin River was used to move logs to mills downstate during the logging boom of the nineteenth century. These days the lakes and rivers are used primarily by canoeists, fisherman, and other recreationalists. Some of the portages they may encounter have been in use for centuries, such as along the Rapid River.