JAY — Regional School Unit 73 directors on Thursday night, March 13, approved the annual Moose River canoe trip from July 7-11 for students and staff at Spruce Mountain High School.

Marc Keller, athletic director/assistant principal at the high school and Chris Duca, Outdoor Club advisor will lead the trip.

“The Moose River trip is a four day trip on the Moose River, which is in Jackman,” Marc Keller, athletic director/assistant principal at the high school said. “It’s actually a five-day program. The first day is here at the high school, prepping all gear, teaching kids some of the basic stuff on dry land, about proper PFD [personal flotation devices] use, basics of canoe strokes. How to set up tents so that you don’t get out in the middle of the woods and you find out you’re missing some pegs, or, you know, your important pieces, and how to tie knots. How to get canoes on and off canoe trailer.”

Students bring in all their gear that day, Keller noted. “We spend probably six or seven hours here, and then they go home that night, leaving all their gear here,” he said. “The next morning, we would leave here about six o’clock,” he stated. “We would drive through Jackman to Holeb. On the way through we would order pizza to be ready for the day that we come out.”

The group canoes about 300 yards across Holeb Pond to its first campsite, Keller noted. “We divide the group into small working parties so each group has their own responsibilities,” he said. “It could be the tarp crew, it could be the cooking crew. We rotate some of those things so that the trip works smoothly. We stay there that first night.

That day everybody is taught in-water canoe strokes, canoes are flipped to learn how to do wet water rescues and get back in canoes, Keller said. “Then we would get up the next morning fairly early,” he stated. “We would canoe roughly 13 miles down to Holeb Falls, which is the first time on the river for most of them. It’s pretty quiet, there are a couple of nice little rips for them to go through.”

Keller said it is by choice, some kids choose to walk around while others take their canoes through. “We will stay at Holeb Falls,” he noted. “We do a little science experiment there with hydraulics and rocks being thrown in at the top to see how those rocks will come out of the chute. They do some fly fishing or regular fishing.”

The following morning we would canoe from there to Attean Falls, which requires a couple of small rips, Keller stated. “The kids are becoming more comfortable by that time, they’re learning the strokes, being able to control their canoes a little bit better,” he said. “We would stay either
at Holeb Falls or we would canoe across the pond, depending on what the weather is like, what time we get there. It’s really about another hour, hour and a half to get across to the other side of pond.”

The next day they paddle about 45-minutes to where the vehicles are for the trip home, Keller noted. “They’ll be learning about the outdoors,” he said. “Obviously all of the outdoor skills along with fishing. So it’s a really good experience.”

This is the 11th year Keller has done the trip, is a Master Maine Guide. “Mr. Duca is working towards his Educational Trip Leaders license,” he said. “We will both be trained in wilderness first aid, so we will be able to take care of anything that happens out there.”

“We’ll get back here about three o’clock afternoon after having pizza at the overlook in Jackman, looking over the trip that they just took,” Keller said. “When we get back here, set up tents so they can dry out. I would come back in the next day and take care of all that equipment.”

Jodi Cordes, director from Jay asked how many chaperons there would be this year, how many kids could go.

“By state law we can’t take more than 10 a piece,” Keller replied. “If you get to that point where you’ve got 20 kids and four chaperons then that’s not a camping trip that’s a party. It’s too many people.”

Principal TJ Plourde and Paula Keller, a social worker at the high school are other chaperons.

There is a small $75 fee, Marc Keller noted. “We do have some money,” he said. “We received a grant through Teens to Trail, so we would be able to scholarship some kids if they can’t afford it. We do help them with gear. We have extra sleeping bags and things like that. We provide dry bags if the kids don’t have them.”

It’s a great opportunity for kids, Keller stressed. “We’ll probably try to keep it to a total group of around 16 or 17, maybe 18 at the max,” he added.

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