October 18, 2023 - Annual Foliage Flight
Day Two - Part Two
Northwest Maine - St. Johns River
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| Now heading north into the remoteness of northwestern Maine. |
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Looking west into Canada.
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| Approaching some lakes. Maybe Canada Falls Lake? |
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Sun starting to come out; good news!
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| I didn't expect to see so many roads out here. I guess they are logging roads. |
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| Flying low over a swampy area. |
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Looks like a gravel landing strip but not on the charts.
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| So pretty in the sunshine. |
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| Passing another logging road. |
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Civilization! A camp at the northern tip of Baker Lake.
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| Continuing north over a sea of trees. |
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| If you look closely, you can see some of the evergreen trees are considerably taller than the majority. |
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A single white tree trunk -- dead? -- towers over the forest.
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| I start to see the beginnings of a river. |
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| Lots of yellow intermingled amongst the green. A couple of super tall trees tower over the rest. |
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Definately looks like a significant river. I look on the chart and see the Saint John River begins around here and is going my way. Sweet!
I didn't realize it but the St. John River started back at Baker Lake. But in my defense, the river was small and narrow until around this area.
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| Following the St. John River North-Northeast. |
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| A confluence of two branches of the St. John River. The one at top left forms part of the Canada/U.S. border for awhile on Maine's western edge. |
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| Islands in the river. |
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A perfect river to fly. Wide, but not too wide. And most important: no civilization.
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| Ah, I spoke too soon. A bridge allows the St. Juste Road to cross the river. This road runs west and crosses into Canada. |
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Awesome scenery.
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| What's left of a bridge where Realty Road used to cross the river. |
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| An good-sized abandoned airstrip. This one is on the chart, but marked as not operational. |
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Continuing on.
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A little shack sits all by its lonesome in the middle of nowhere.
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I really didn't expect to find this awesome river today. It ranks on the short-list of best rivers I have flown.
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Another bridge in the middle of nowhere. Blanchette Roads heads off northwest to the Canadian border.
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| Then I was surprised to notice it was clouding up. |
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What's with the sudden overcast?
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| But then just as suddenly I was through it and back into the glorious sunshine. |
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Starting to come into civilization.
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| St. Clair Island in the middle of the river. |
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| Approaching the Walker Brook Road Bridge. |
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| Definately past peak up here. Many trees have no leaves. |
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A tree with bright orange leaves at lower left.
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Approaching the little town of St. Francis on the right side of the river.
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| A better look at St. Francis. |
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P65
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| A bunch of islands -- Hafey, Grew, Foley -- in the St. John River. At some point in there is the Canadian border. |
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Now everything on the north side of the St. John River is Canada. That's the Canadian town of St. Francis de Madawaska.
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| Approaching Clair Fort Kent Bridge. On the U.S. side of the bridge is the town of Fort Kent and the "America's First Mile" sign. This is mile one on Route One. It starts here in Fort Kent and ends on Key West Florida. 2446 miles later! |
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Zooming in. You can see the border crossing stations. And the America First Mile sign.
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Continuing on. Canada on the left and the U.S. on the right.
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| Oh Canada. |
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| In the distance at center is the U.S. town of Madawaska. At center right on the top of the plateau is my destination. |
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And there it is. Northern Aroostook Regional Airport (KFVE).
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| Turning left base for runway 32. |
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Safe on deck at N. Aroostook, parked in front of the fuel pumps. The FBO building is at left.
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| Not much activity here at the top of the U.S. I talked with the owner of that Luscomb. He owns that green hangar on the end. |
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| Looking northwest. |
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| I got to meet Matt, the friendly airport manager. They have a courtesy car, which you would need because there is nothing within walking distance. The nearest hotel/motel is 4 miles away. I might make this my base next year. |
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The no-frills FBO building. Still, it has everything you need.
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A closer look at the Luscomb.
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