The Allagash Guide

The book has some good information about packing and planning meals and shuttling. Also ideas about trip length and some good thoughts on campsites.But in general it treats the trip like car camping with a pop-up trailer and does not address paddling skills, and risks enough. I feel like anyone taking 3-12 days to live out of a canoe in the wilderness can figure out how to eat and sleep with simple guidance.The bigger questions for me, are how far will I have to carry a boat, can I use wheels, what does that mean Class1, Class 2 in the context of being alone in the middle of no where. Those are more critical concepts to cover in my mind than how to bring a bread oven on a 5-day paddle and not well covered.

There isn’t much written as a guide to the Allagash Waterway, which make this book essential. Short and to the point. Also, not an exhaustive description of absolutely everything, leaving some mystery and discovery to the adventure of paddling the waterway.

Good read. Valuable info, especially for first-time river canoeists.Circled some of the recommended camp sites on my map but wound up not staying overnight at any of them.Although I had lunch at 2 or 3 sites, I didn't notice any reason for them to have been recommended. Except for a couple of sites that were near streams and inundated with swarming mosquitos, the vast majority of the sites (recommended or not) that I saw were very good locations. (We went in early September.)(The best camp site was Hosea-B as it overlooked a gorgeous bend in the river and we saw 3 or 4 moose cross the river a couple times each the next morning.)For new canoeists, heed the warning about strong winds while paddling the bigger lakes. (I met a young couple on their honeymoon who almost called it quits after just 2 hours paddling against the wind on Chamberlain Lake. Waiting a while on the shore for the wind to settle down saved their trip.) I'm a strong guy and canoeist but found the smaller lakes below Churchill Dam to be a good workout.Having canoed rivers before (but none like the amazing Allagash), the book reassured me that I could safely do the trip with my husband who is an almost complete novice -- by ourselves, without an outfitter guide.Best time to go: normally early September.

Except for info on Allagash campsites, these is little in this book that is not widely known.

Can't say how much is actually applicable because our trip got nixed because the water levels are so low!

Anyone planning a first trip on the Allagash Waterway will benefit from this book that is a wealth of information

I thought I was buying a comprehensive guide to the Allagash. There is a little information on the history and the river, but there is a lot on how to camp etc. Not even a cursory map in the book, though of course you will want to buy a map if you are going out on the river. Not terrible, but not great.

This book is exactly what I was looking for, a detailed overview of the Allagash and details of all aspects of planning a trip on it.

Das Buch war die Grundlage für unseren Trip auf dem Allagash Wilderness Waterway und hat uns ausgesprochen gute Dienste erwiesen. Für alle die, die einen Trip auf dem AWW machen möchten, kann ich das Buch absolut empfehlen!