New to Kayak Camping Trip

The 2013 New to Kayak Camping Trips

This year we plan to offer three sea kayak camping trips. The trip dates are; May 4&5, June 8&9 and July 13&14. We would like to keep the size of the group to no more than 6 campers on each trip due to group size limitations on some of the islands. That means we are looking for up to four campers to join us on each trip. It is open to both men and women on a first come first served basis via PM or e-mail.

You do need to have paddling skills which would allow you to complete a L3 trip as outlined on the NSPN web site. Therefore, we reserve the right to deny participation if we believe a paddler does not have the basic paddling skills to successfully complete a L3 journey. Each trip will be run as a CAM trip. You will also need to be a member of the Maine Island Trail Association (MITA) (www.mita.org). For the May trip, a dry suit is required. A dry suit is optional on the June and July trips.

Although we have titled these trips as new to kayak camping, if you are a novice camper or have not gained much experience camping on islands off the coast of Maine, feel free to sign up for one or more of the trips described below.

May 4 and 5 Trip

Tentatively, we are hoping to explore Muscongus Bay during the May trip. We will probably camp in the inner section of the bay as well as explore as much of the bay as weather and time permits. During the first weekend in May last year, we camped and explored the bay and it was wonderful at that time. We will be camping on a MITA island and maybe visiting several other MITA islands. At the end of the trip, it is our hope that you will come away with a good understanding of launching and camping opportunities in the bay for future trips.

June 8 and 9 Trip

Tentatively, we are hoping to explore the middle section of Casco Bay and camp on a Maine Coast Heritage Trust Island (MCHT) (www.mcht.org). This section of Casco Bay has great MITA islands to explore, seal colonies as well as osprey and eagle nests to view. It is one of my favorite sections along the coast of Maine. I suspect there will be more than enough for us to see and you may be visualizing return trips to this section during the off seasons.

July 13 and 14 Trip

Tentatively we may paddle in the eastern end of Casco Bay in the Sebascodegan Island waters. There is much to see in this section and great camping sites. I sense that these waters tend to be “off the beaten path” and I can’t understand why. Once you gain the knowledge of this area, I suspect you will return often.

So there you go! Once you sign up and we approve, we will guide you with more information to help us all have safe, comfortable and fun trips. We encourage you to see if any or all of these dates work and whether these locations hold any interest for you.

Please PM either of us or you can reach Warren via e-mail (wjosh51 at yahoo dot com)

Warren and Pru