GILEAD – Three bald eagle sightings to start the week was extra-special for more than one person paddling the Androscoggin River on Monday.
“It’s the signature bird of the signature event,” said Barbra Barrett during the afternoon, about the bald eagles and the Androscoggin River Source to the Sea Canoe Trek.
It was also a day to meet and greet new friends or share stories with repeat trekkers.
Monday was the seventh day of the 20-day adventure, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this summer, and the first of 13 day trips in Maine.
Preceding day-section paddles all began in New Hampshire, starting July 5 at the headwaters of the 170-mile-long river.
A trek coordinator, Barrett of Albany Township said she saw two bald eagles, the last one flying right overhead near the paddlers’ takeout at trip leader Jeff Parson’s business, Bethel Outdoor Adventure and Campground on Route 2.
At least one bald eagle a day has been sighted since July 5, she said, including an adult and two fledglings in an active nest in New Hampshire, where the eagles are listed as state-endangered.
On Monday, the first bald eagle was spotted flying downriver ahead of the pack of 52 men, women and children paddling in 18 canoes and 17 kayaks shortly after the group left the Gilead Bridge boat access site.
One of the co-organizers of the Source to the Sea canoe trek, Marcel Polak of Woodstock, who wasn’t on Monday’s outing, recently noted that trekkers began seeing bald eagles 10 years ago, “but not as much as now.”
“It’s the one species that we’re seeing more and more of,” he said.
Trekkers Monday also enjoyed an idyllic paddle down one of the river’s more scenic areas, whisked along at a fast clip by the strong current through a winding channel of S-turns along riverbanks lined with hardwoods.
Thunderstorms and heavy downpours in the river’s upper watershed Sunday night created high, sediment-laden water the color of chocolate milk by Monday morning.
Barrett and others compared the river to the Appalachian Trail, which has also been flushed heavily this year by spring and summer rains.
“The Androscoggin is becoming like the Appalachian Trail of river trails. We average 600 to 700 people a year, and a lot of them are repeats. People are coming back, so something good is happening here,” she said.
The goal of the trek is to cultivate awareness and foster continued stewardship of the river.
More than 50 percent of the total trekkers come back every year.
“They’re not through-hikers, or paddlers doing the whole trek, but rather, day-by-day, section-by-section paddlers,” Barrett said.
Jim Peary of Jackson said he’s been doing the canoe trek for the past six years, two to three days at a time.
“It’s like the Appalachian Trail thing,” he said. “I do it in sections, because it’s easy to get on, easy to get off. I’ve got three more days next year – and I’ll have it done.”
Don “Duct Tape” Nodine, 63, of Millinocket, agreed with Peary, about why he has section-paddled the trek in the last three years.
“It’s the free shuttle service, safety in numbers, interesting noontime speakers, the camaraderie and talking with people who share similar interests,” Nodine said.
Camaraderie was important for Pam Rousseau of Auburn, a physics teacher at Mountain Valley High School in Rumford.
“I think that was the best section,” she said. “That was awesome, and fun to do with a group, and getting to know people who come back year after year.”
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