Rangeley Lakes Camping
I don't remember how this all started or who instigated this trip back in '97. I think it was me. Back then Tatiana and I were both working for L.L.Bean. Bean had some land on Rangely Lake in Western Maine. The town of Rangeley is close to the major ski areas in Maine, Sugarloaf USA, Bigelow, etc. It's a couple of hour drive from Portland Maine and easily reachable from NYC or Boston, or even Qubec, PQ or Montreal. Perfect location really. Lakes, White Mountains in NH, ski areas, the ocean a few hours drive away. It's a decent way into the woods for something so close to "civilization".
Anyway, LLBean maintains a set of year-round cabins and a seasonal tenting area there for employees to use. Access is through the lottery system. You can apply for a weekend or a week at the cabins. The fee was ridiculously cheap. Everything is provided for. Beds, linens, furniture, electricity, heated showers, firewood. Even an outboard and gas down by the dock. You just show up with food and whatever else you want to bring, skiis or whatnot. Fishing license is on you. Of course all the gear is Bean gear so it's pretty good kit.
So I applied for and got a cabin for Labor Day weekend in September of 1997. Wayne and Debbie were going to drive up. Uncle Leon was going to fly in later and I would pick him up and drive back to Rangeley. At least i think this is what happened if memory serves me correctly. I might be messing this up with another trip but whatever. So we set out to our destination, the Black Ghost cabin. You fly fishers out there might recognize this as a famous(?) fly. Weather was good. Back then Maine used to cool off mid August so that Septembers were super sunny warm days and cool nights. Now I think it's in October sometime. Everythings warmed up so it's shifted by 6 weeks or so. We settled in to the cabin and got arranged and decided to do some hiking. I had heard of a couple of local waterfalls that were decent hikes and easy to get to with short drives. Everybody was up for it and off we went. First destination was also the closest. It was a bunch of grouped small falls reachable from a roadside picinic/rest area. We took Wayne's red van. Wayne and Uncle Leon had video cameras. So we were ready for anything. Smalls Falls was a pretty good warm up hike for what was to come later. Too bad it wasn't summer. There were a lot of little pools where you could get in the water and cool off. Fish? I would imagine in some of the deeper spots there might have been a brookie or two hanging out. We didn't have any fishing gear or licenses so that wasn't on the books so to speak. After the "mighty" climb along the Sandy river to the top of the falls we came out on a timber road just off the main state road. Much fun. We headed back to the Black Ghost for a good dinner and relaxation. The Black Ghost cabin caretaker was happy to see us and hang around but didn't have much to say. Needless to say she/he got a lot of attention. Next day were going to reach for the gusto. Angel Falls. The largest or at least the highest falls in Maine at 90 feet.This hike was going to be a bit more strenous. The description said the trail was marked with red blazes but that some scrambling and fording was needed to reach the base of the falls. In spring, with winter snow melt runoff you probably wouldn't be able to get in there. On the way in you could tell how high and wild the water was at it's peak. Being September, basically late summer, there was a reduced flow but we still had to get our feet wet. The drive there from the Black Ghost was back the way we drove in up over the so called "Height of Land". It's a big overlook of the entire area. Equipped with a convenient boulder for resting or photo taking. We stopped there to get the view, take some photos and videos before heading back into the woods. (See the big rock we sat on) Into the woods. We found the red blazes for the trail and set off. Video cameras at the ready. I led in to pathfind with Tatiana and Debbie. Wayne and Uncle Leon, with cameras, took the more "dangerous" way in, complete with color commentary. Actually Wayne was also backstopping Uncle Leon so he wouldn't lose his balance. The video isn't the clearest given the technology of the day but you get a good idea of how loud the water was and the trail in. It was pretty rocky, not too steep, not as steep as Smalls Falls anyway. But we had to keep crossing and re-crossing the stream. No way to do this in spring or with any good amount of water flowing. It must really roar in there even after a decent thunderstorm. We got ourselves together with a couple of walking sticks and on we went. We helped each other passing the stick across the water and showing the best foot placements to get across. It was a lot of fun. At the end... the reward. Angel Falls. It wasn't Niagara Falls but still pretty impressive. Worth the effort. Kind of bittersweet to look back at the video now and the time but it was a lot fun. Wayne and Uncle Leon have left us behind. I miss them both. The calls and the shared laughter are still with me. Now shared with you. Hope you enjoy the video. The video is an hour in length. There are no chapter marks but there are sections for each day. Rough video chapter times
L.L. Bean Rangeley Camp
Smalls Falls
Chip M. Onk
Height of Land
Wayne Debbie Tatiana Uncle Leon
David and Tatiana Rangeley Lake in background
Angel Falls!
Debbie and Tatiana at the base of Angel Falls
Wayne at the base of Angel Falls
The top of Angel Falls
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