Maine Trails Guide Service

03/31/2025

2025 FEATURED CANOE TRIP: 4 NIGHT / 5 DAY ALLAGASH RIVER

- On this trip we'll paddle over 53 miles from Umsaskis Thoroughfare Bridge to the small village of Allagash, Maine. We'll canoe through some of the most beautiful scenery in the eastern United States and with a little luck, we'll see plenty of wildlife including moose, deer, black bear, ospreys & bald eagles.

- This is our most popular trip as it is a 4 night/5 day trip that covers most of the river portion of the Allagash Wilderness Waterway. We have two portages, one around the old Long Lake Dam, the other around Allagash Falls. We will paddle plenty of flat water, quick water and some Class II rapids. Campsites each night will be riverside, and each day there will be plenty of time for relaxing, swimming, fishing, or moose watching.

- A trip through history, the Allagash River is a treasure worth seeing and experiencing!

$995.00/PERSON (minimum party of 4)
* (Allagash Waterway camping fees not included)

03/30/2025

Dear Friends,
We're already booking professionally guided canoe & backpacking trips for the 2025 paddle season! Please let us know if we can take you on a "trip of a lifetime"!
Richard Aspinall
Master Maine Guide

Since 1997, Maine Trails Guide Service has been guiding traditional Maine canoe trips on the world famous Allagash Wilderness Waterway and the Penobscot River Corridor, as well as paddling & backpacking trips to most of Baxter State Park! Richard Aspinall - Registered Master Maine Guide

03/30/2025

The spring weather has finally arrived and wildlife is wasting no time shedding winter’s grip to enjoy the spring season!

For many of these animals, such as black bears, they have lost a significant amount of body weight and are on the move looking for food after emerging from their winter dens. While denning, black bears enter a state of torpor, slowing their metabolism and respiration, breathing only once per 15 to 45 seconds, and dropping their heart rate to 8-21 beats per minute. Even with a lowered metabolic rate, bears still lose significant body fat. Unlike true hibernators, bears don’t eat, drink, urinate, or defecate during this time.

Once spring comes and bears emerge from their dens, they are working to regulate their bodily functions slowly until normal activity ensues. Bears will seek out limited springtime foods such as insects, grasses, sedges, leftover hard mast from the fall, and other early spring vegetation. While natural foods are limited, bears may take the risk and wander into backyards in search of easily accessible food. It is especially important be proactive about securing and removing backyard attractants this time of year to prevent conflicts with black bears.

03/17/2024

FEATURED CANOE TRIP: 4 NIGHT / 5 DAY ALLAGASH RIVER

- On this trip we'll paddle over 53 miles from Umsaskis Thoroughfare Bridge to the small village of Allagash, Maine. We'll canoe through some of the most beautiful scenery in the eastern United States and with a little luck, we'll see plenty of wildlife including moose, deer, black bear, ospreys & bald eagles.

- This is our most popular trip as it is a 4 night/5 day trip that covers most of the river portion of the Allagash Wilderness Waterway. We have two portages, one around the old Long Lake Dam, the other around Allagash Falls. We will paddle plenty of flat water, quick water and some Class II rapids. Campsites each night will be riverside, and each day there will be plenty of time for relaxing, swimming, fishing, or moose watching.

- A trip through history, the Allagash River is a treasure worth seeing and experiencing!

$995.00/PERSON (minimum party of 4)
* (Allagash Waterway camping fees not included)

03/17/2024

Spring conditions have arrived early across much of Maine this year following a relatively mild winter, and bears are getting active earlier than normal, too.

03/16/2024

03/12/2024

FYI ... Best viewing locations in Maine and Eastern Canada!

03/10/2024

The 2024 Solar Eclipse: Know Before You Go

03/04/2024

FYI.....

BAXTER STATE PARK:
TOTE ROAD CLOSED TO SNOWMOBILES:

Starting today, March 4th, the Park is temporarily closed to snowmobiling. Our gates at Togue Pond and Matagamon will be closed. The Tote road now has long stretches without snow cover, and in the remaining areas the snow cover is quickly thinning. We will reopen to snowmobiling if the snow cover is restored this month. Visitors can keep updated through our website News posts, our daily conditions report (on our website or by phone), and through our social media.

03/04/2024

Northern Lights tonight in Aroostook County, Maine. Wishing I was at the basecamp tonight! What a great show!

02/25/2024

2024 FEATURED CANOE TRIP

MAINE TRAILS GUIDE SERVICE
WWW.MAINETRAILSGUIDESERVICE.COM

5 Night/6 Day ALLAGASH RIVER CANOE TRIP
(CHURCHILL DAM TO ALLAGASH)

- On this trip we'll paddle 63 miles from Churchill Dam to the small village of Allagash, Maine, with the option of paddling through Chase Rapids, the most taxing stretch of whitewater on the Allagash River, or using the portage service to avoid them. We'll canoe through some of the most beautiful scenery in the eastern United States and with a little luck, we'll see plenty of wildlife including moose, deer, black bear, ospreys & bald eagles.
- This is a very popular canoe trip as it is a 5 night/6 day trip that covers all of the river portion of the Allagash Wilderness Waterway. We have two portages, one around the old Long Lake Dam and the other around Allagash Falls. We'll paddle plenty of flat water, a lot of quick water and some Class II rapids.
- Campsites each night will be riverside, and each day there will be plenty of time for relaxing, swimming, fishing, or moose watching.
- A trip through history, the Allagash River is a treasure worth seeing and experiencing!

5 Night - 6 Day
$1,100.00/PERSON (minimum party of 4)
* (Allagash Waterway camping fees not included)

* Groups less than 4, please call for "custom trip" prices & details

ALL ALLAGASH WATERWAY TRIPS INCLUDE TRANSPORTATION TO AND FROM THE WATERWAY, MEALS, INSTRUCTION, MOST GEAR & EQUIPMENT AND GUIDE.

02/21/2024

Allagash Wilderness Waterway Conditions

02/20/2024 11:30 AM EST
The head-water lakes of the AWW are frozen over except for areas near thoroughfares and tributaries. The ice is about 12 inches thick in most places. Ice is thinner near the middle of the lakes and in ares where current exists. Check ice often as you travel on the lakes. Let a friend know your travel plans before leaving on your trip.

02/10/2024

"They say some people love rivers, and if you do, you do. As if a feel for rivers is something you are born with, like blue eyes. Or maybe a love of rivers is something you come down with, like a fever. But for me, it's more like something to work at. A love of rivers grows deeper and richer the more you try".

- Robin Cody - "Voyage of a Summer Sun; Canoeing the Columbia River".

- Picture taken just north of Twin Brook Rapids, Allagash River!

02/04/2024

A cold winter's night at the Grindstone Basecamp! 14 degrees! All is quiet on the river tonight.

01/31/2024

A little chilly at the Grindstone Basecamp tonight!

01/26/2024

“Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world's great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs. I am haunted by waters.”

- Norman Maclean, A River Runs Through it and Other Stories

*Photo taken from our front yard, Maine Trails Guide Service Grindstone Basecamp, T1R7, Grindstone, Maine.