The Seboomook, really a headwater river to the mighty West Branch of the Penobscot River provides an outstanding whitewater experience for beginners to experts. It kind of reminds me of bowling. Experts can go and try for strike after strike while the beginners can put up the bumpers and try to knock over a few pins. In either case, you can all be there together, bowl a few frames and have a few laughs.
Can’t really do that skiiing. Experts grow bored on the green trails and double black diamonds terrify novices.
I find the Seboomook like bowling, everyone can go together and have a great time. The Class III drops provide safe, exciting and easily recoverable adventure spots.
And, I just have to say, Seboomook might just be THE BEST stretch of river for beginner whitewater canoeists or kayakers. Here’s why:
- Safety
- Fun
- Scenery
- Seboomook is a pool/drop river meaning that each rapid ends in a slow-moving pool perfect for recovering gear and people if necessary
- I’m a licensed Class V river guide and Swiftwater Rescue Technician. I’ve paddled Seboomook dozens of times and never felt bored!
- I see eagles EVERY time I’m there. Over half the time I a see moose on the way. Several times I’ve seen bear on the drive.
Getting to The Seboomook
Maps and Directions
Soon after the Katahdin General Store, cell phone coverage vanishes like beer on Friday night. Take screenshots of maps and directions or, more radically, have detailed paper maps handy. Your cell phone will not work!
If there’s any downside to Seboomook, it lies in the journey: it’s a haul no matter how you look at it.
Our south of the border (Kittery!) friends know all about the bottleneck tolls in Hampton, NH! The Maine Turnpike sports 3 lanes, both north and south from Kittery up to the Portland area. Except for high traffic days of summer and holiday Fridays and Sundays, traffic moves at speed limit speeds most of the time.
From Portand north, the highway drops to two lanes. Most of the time the lanes provide at least “speed-limit” speed travel. Construction, or “orange cone season” as we disaffectionately call it, can reduce travel to one lane and reduced speed at times.
Just north of Bangor, traffic drops considerably and the speed limit increases to 75mph. Woo-hoo! Be wary of moose, however, especially while driving at night.
Access Millinocket by taking I-95 Exit 244 in Medway. Head north on route 157 /11. Observe posted speed limits in Medway, East Millinocket and Millinocket! The police officers there are professional and friendly, however, they take their speed limits seriously! It can be tough to slow down after driving 75mph up the highway, and we’re certainly ready to “BE THERE” at that point, but save yourself a speeding ticket! (Don’t ask me how I know this”¦.)
Millinocket
Millinocket serves as a gateway town to the North Woods. Once a booming mill town, now it sort of languishes in transition from paper production to tourism. However, it offers free town-side wifi and a place to refuel vehicles and stomachs.
If you are an Irving fan, you can find a convenient Irving station a few hundred yards past the stoplight in Millinocket. If you want to support a more local establishment, you can stop at Katahdin General, referred to as “The KG” by the locals, just before you cross under the train trestle leaving Millinocket.
Either way, pit-stops grow increasingly scarce past there, so be advised!
After passing through the stoplight in the heart of downtown Millinocket, the road winds right, then left, past the Katahdin General Store, under a train trestle then into the working forest. Dubbed “the Old State Road,” this mode of travel seems more like “old state” than road. Frost often heaves rocks up into the road making significant bumps. Often twisty, it also offers few opportunities to pass the old guy hauling a boat or camper.
Driving the Golden Road to Seboomook
Between North Woods Trading Post and the Penobscot Outdoor Center, the Golden Road and the State Road run parallel to each other. You’ll need to hop on the Golden Road on one of the crossover roads between those two establishments.
The Golden Road, built by Great Northern Paper in the early 1970’s, stretches just under 100 miles connecting Millinocket with Canada. Nudging the Penobscot River for a chunk of its traverse, the Golden Road provides excellent access to wilderness points along the Penobscot Corridor.
It can be rough, however! Some of it is “kind of” paved. Most of it is dirt. After rain, it’s washboard and potholes. With sharp shale rocks.
 You don’t need four-wheel drive or a high clearance vehicle, but I recommend taking it slow! Sharp shale wreaks havoc on tires! In fact, I also highly recommend traveling with a tire patch kit and a compressor.Â
I’ll bet I stop and help 4-5 people a summer who have punctured both their regular tire and then the spare. At night with no cell phone coverage and AAA 45 minutes away, the ability to repair a flat can save you from spending the night in the car!
Bicycles and motorcycles are prohibited on the Golden Road. So are Lamborghinis. (Just kidding…but who would destroy one there?)
If you see a logging truck coming, pull over and stop. Really. They go fast and don’t stop. You won’t be able to see past the dust anyway. Be safe!
Caribou Checkpoint
Continue on the Golden Road past Abol Bridge Campground and Store, Horserace campground, and Big Eddy Campground, to the Caribou Checkpoint. Here you will need to stop, register and pay $11 for resident day use or $16 for nonresident.
Proceed on the Golden Road for a little over 20 miles until you reach the Seboomook dam road. Take a left and head towards Seboomook Dam. (You will have to stop at another remote (and a bit odd, if you ask me) checkpoint where you’ll have to get out, and make a call from an outbuilding so they can lift the gate).
Cross the dam, take a left, and drive about a mile to the put-in.
Places to Stay Near Seboomook
Roll Dam
Staying right at the take-out is certainly convenient, has views of Roll Dam Rapid, and is buggy as hell. I’ve NEVER been there without black flies. If you have a bug jacket or immune to black flies, it’s a cool place to stay.
If you want to be close to the rapids but farther from the bugs, the sites right next to the dam tend to be breezier and less buggy.
Although an hour away from Seboomook, Big Eddy Campground at the tailwaters of the Class V Cribworks Rapid on the Penobscot offers fantastic riverside sites and some of the friendliest staff on the river.
Seboomook Put in and Takeout
Most people put in at a culvert about a Mile downstream from the dam. A few hundred yards upstream from the culvert is a double drop that is an outstanding kayak play spot at around 3000 cfs, so you can put in there if you want.
The take-out is located about 1.5 miles downstream at Roll Dam. You can shuttle vehicles, “Ghost Shuttle,” (hope that there’s someone running back and forth and catch a ride with them), or just walk. (I’ve done that a few times). Bicycles are technically not allowed on the logging roads up there. Technically.
Seboomook Water Levels
I’ve never seen a “bad” water level. I’ve had fun no matter what the flow. The clips and pictures I include in this post are at a fairly low 600cfs level. A bit scratchy in places but certainly passable.
At 1800, the waves and holes get bigger, but still nothing I would consider dangerous.
At 3000, the drop above the culvert becomes two large glassy waves.
I shot the footage for the article at around 600 cfs if I remember correctly. The lines don’t really change at higher water. The waves are just a little juicier!
You can check dam release levels at the Brookfield site here.
Flotation
You’ll note in the video clips that I run my canoe with full flotation. Is it that gnarly, you ask?
No. Not really.
But I LOVE, REALLY LOVE, my boat. And I don’t want to take any unnecessary chances.
I paddle an Old Town Appalachian and they don’t make this canoe anymore. Which is a shame because it’s a fantastic boat! I’ve navigated 8-foot standing waves with it (check out the 19:00 minute mark), canoe camped, and paddled 10 miles of flat water at a stretch.
I’ve also seen boats wrapped and wrecked without flotation, so I use my end and center float bags as good insurance!
Seboomook Rapids
American Whitewater lists the rapids on their website and provides some pictures and brief description. They provide letter names for the rapids. (But left out H. What the hell?)
I will provide the names as I know them and provide short video clips as well.
Entrance
After a 3/4 mile flatwater paddle, you finally reach the whitewater. The first rapid, called A,B and C Ledge by American Whitewater, makes an S-turn over a 300 yard span.
At the top, there’s a glassy surf wave river left and, at higher water levels (1500cfs, if I remember correctly, a surfable hole river right.
Just below the surf wave is a small hole that can flip a canoe if not run straight. There’s a big eddy river left after the drop.
The second drop (B-Ledge) angles to the left, provides a nice deep hole with eddies on both sides.
After making a sharp S-turn to the left, the final drop (C-Ledge) can be run far river right.
Triple Drop
I find these 3 drops the most “technical” on the river. (Although the last drop at Roll Dam can present some challenges, too.)
The first drop (D-Ledge) is a river-wide hole. Although at “normal” flows (600-1500 cfs) I’ve never seen it “keep” anyone, it could be a bit sticky. If you’re nervous about it, angle just a bit right to left and push into the big eddy on river left.
I’ve heard people refer to the 2nd Drop (E-Ledge) as Meat Cleaver as a result of the narrow rock on the left-hand side. Although I’ve run this drop in many places, I find the easiest line is right up against the ledge on the left, essentially sneaking between the ledge and the Meat Clever rock. The big eddy on the left here makes an excellent recovery spot if necessary. Based on the amount of green paint on the on river left, I would say many people have used the ledge as a portage path.
After bending back to the right, the river once again turns left and cascades over some rocks at the 3rd drop. (F-Ledge). There’s a small hole here that upended my 15-year-old daughter in her kayak last summer, but, for the most part, it’s pretty benign.
Particle Accelerator
Particle Accelerator, (G-Ledge) is one of my favorite spots on the river. It’s such a great place for beginning boaters, too. The narrow slot drops 4 feet between the shore and an island. The shore and island provide not only excellent recovery eddies but also great vantage points for encouragement and video documentation of paddling glory!
Although not particularly “regular” or retentive, the hole at the bottom can be a fun (and deep) surf.
Megan’s Mom
The next little drop I would call innocuous, except my friend Megan’s mom hit a wave sideways here, flipped an inflatable kayak, tumbled over a rock and cracked a rib. I certainly don’t mean to be callous, instead, I’m honoring her resiliency on th trip!
So keep it upright here, it’s shallow! Stay just right of center.
The Labyrinth and Move Maker
Most of the water pushes to the left here, so that’s the route I usually take. However, the labyrinth (I-Ledge) offers many routes through the rocks.
The left run, however, brings you through Move Maker, a popular play spot. I find, like Particle Accelerator, the hole to be awkwardly shaped for me to have much control in it, but it’s deep and offers great eddies for recovery.
Just below Move Maker on river left are two smaller drops before the river turns to the right, then drops left into one of the bigger holes (J-Ledge) of the run.
Roll Dam
Having commercially guided this trip for both kayakers and canoeists, I’ve seen Roll Dam (K-Ledge) present challenges. (And, I must confess, I got stuck in the bottom hole in my kayak once and had to swim out!)
The holes on the left can be a bit sticky. Often I try to start in the center, turn to the right and upstream ferry to the river right along a long tongue, then turn left again and run the drop.
At higher water, a runnable line exists down the left shoreline.
And at lower water, you can stand up and wade over to the hole and yank your kayak out. Yes…I know this from experience!
Conclusion
Whether I make this trip with my guiding buddies, with family, or guiding novice paddlers, I always have a great time at Seboomook!
The low-risk but dynamic drops make for a stress-free afternoon on the water.
Enjoy…I’ll see you on the river!