A trip down the Kennebec: The beginning

To stave off cabin fever, I decided to take a photographic trip down the Kennebec. To begin at the beginning, I have a couple photos of the river just below East Outlet of Moosehead Lake.

Drone shot of Moosehead Lake’s East Outlet (I scrambled to get that thing in the air when I heard the train whistle). The dam is visible above the railroad bridge. This were countless logs began their trip down the Kennebec after being assembled into huge rafts and towed here by steamboats like the Katahdin. Wilson’s sporting camp is in the tress on the right bank between the railroad and the lake. October 2023.

Fishermen from Wilson’s braving the raw October wind with the railroad bridge hiding the dam from view up stream. Notice that these guys don’t have gloves on and I didn’t either as I was taking pictures from the bridge. There was a biting wind coming off the lake and I couldn’t wait to get my gloves back on. These fishermen toughed it out for hours and so I tip my hat to them.

1934 photo of newly built bridge across the East Outlet (presumably the predecessor of the one I stood on to photograph the fishermen above). Note how the bridge piers are protected by a concrete bulwark upstream and log cribbing all around. (Image cropped and exposure enhanced.) Image courtesy of Special Collections, Raymond H. Fogler Library, DigitalCommons@UMaine, https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/spec_photos/2274

This undated photo is part of a stereoscopic series by D. C. Dinsmore of Moose Head Lake and Mount Kineo. (It has been cropped and the exposure has been modified for clarity). Image courtesy of Special Collections, Raymond H. Fogler Library, DigitalCommons@UMaine, https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/spec_photos/3231

Outside Images:

Wilson’s on Moosehead Lake has some livecams of the lake on their website

There is a great photo of the railrood bridge at FineArtAmerica

Below is an image posted on Pinterest