Dealing With The Unexpected
19 WINTER 2022 VOL . 04 / ISSUE 02
Northern Maine
trails 85 and 81 split at Ashland , we hung a left and stuck with 85 to the scenic town of Portage , where we topped the fuel tanks and took a requisite beef jerky nourishment break across the street from Y-shape , 2,200- acre Portage Lake .
We wouldn ’ t see another town or hardly even another road for many hours as we ventured into an even more sparsely populated region – where the trees must outnumber people by 10 million to one ! My leaders wanted to show me one of the most remote areas called the Allagash ( and who was I to argue ?), so we soon hung another left on ITS Trail 20 , and things got increasingly interesting as the snow became deeper , the trail was more dynamic and we had our own special brand of chaos .
The Carl Sherman bridge helps riders cross the Aroostook River between Masardis and Oxbow .
Dealing With The Unexpected
We soon found ourselves in rapidly changing weather conditions . As the heavy clouds returned , we drove inand-out of snow squalls while strong winds rippled our jackets and tried to find openings to our skin .
Trail 20 was fascinating , with some