Allagash ice conditions poor
Park Rangers on the Allagash Wilderness Waterway (AWW) are reporting inadequate ice on the Allagash headwater lakes to support ice-fishing activity and snowmobiling.
Matthew LaRoche, AWW superintendent, warned that Eagle Lake appeared to be especially dangerous, with only about three inches of ice, plus slush, across the lake as of Dec. 29.
“Three inches of ice isn’t very much, and that thickness may vary from location to location,” LaRoche said. He urged those heading out on the ice to play it safe and check the ice in the area in which they are traveling before venturing out.
The AWW superintendent especially warned all visitors to avoid tributary streams and traveling on the ice in thoroughfares.
Rangers on Dec. 29, measured the ice on the Allagash headwater lakes, LaRoche said. The following ice thickness was reported: Telos/Round Pond, 3-5 inches, with open water; Chamberlain Lake, 3-8 inches; Eagle Lake, 3 inches, with lots of slush on top of the ice; Round Pond (T9 R13), 3 inches, with slush and open water and Churchill, 5 inches, with some open water and slush.
“We are expecting a couple hundred people to be out ice fishing on the first weekend of the season,” LaRoche said, referring to the upcoming ice fishing season which starts Saturday, Jan. 1. “The native brook trout fishing is usually excellent when the season first opens.”
“The Allagash region received an extraordinarily high amount of rainfall this fall and early winter. Therefore, our dams at Telos and Churchill are releasing more water than normal. This will cause currents in the thoroughfares and anywhere that brooks and streams flow into the waterway,” LaRoche added.
“These currents will keep the ice from forming in these places or even worse, erode the ice form underneath,” he said.
For specific advice on ice conditions and areas to avoid, visitors should check with the AWW ranger at Chamberlain Bridge or call the dispatch center in Ashland between 8 a.m.-5 p.m., Monday through Friday, at 207-435-7963, ext.1
The AWW provides: winter campgrounds at the Chamberlain Bridge and Kellogg Brook; public drinking water, vault toilets, and snow plowing. A groomed snowmobile trail is marked from the Chamberlain Bridge parking lot to the south end of Chamberlain Lake and to Round Pond/Telos lakes.
The AWW is a 92-mile-long ribbon of lakes, ponds, streams, and river that wind through the heart of northern Maine’s vast commercial forest. The waterway became the first state-administered river to be designated by the United States Department of Interior as a component of the federal Wild and Scenic River Program.
This designation was the culmination of an effort began in the early 1960s, to protect the outstanding natural character, unique recreational opportunities, and historical significance of the Allagash River and its associated lakes and ponds.
For more information about the AWW or Maine state parks, go to: www.parksandlands.com.
