The rocky Machias runs high with spring runoff, so you'll find no shortage of whitewater action. The journey also retraces the region's famous river drives, where logs were floated downriver to sawmills on the coast. We also learn a contrasting view of the forest's value from birchbark canoe builder and Penobscot tribe member Barry Dana. Wrap your arms around one and see. Timing a Maine river trip is a classic Catch-22.
Spring brings the best water levels, but also kicks off a long blackfly season.
Low water levels after July make some sections of the Machias River impassable. There are more than 1,500 species of blackflies worldwide. Luckily, only 10 to 15 percent of them feed on humans or domestic animals. There is one species of blackfly whose females feed exclusively on loons.