Oh the Penobscot River how I love thee. Although there are several options for whitewater rafting in New England, the two best happen to both be in Maine; the Kennebec and the Penobscot. This past weekend I had an opportunity to travel up and take one more trip on the river as part of a larger story which will be published later this year. The idea is that I will compare and contrast different parts of the country for their rafting and the areas that surround their rafting industries. Instead of just critiquing the actual rafting, I will compare one to another and also compare the companies I deal with alone the way. First company? Penobscot Adventures.
Penobscot Adventures P.O. Box 721 Bingham ME 04920 877.356.9386 www.penobscotadventures.com
I sent out a blanket e-mail asking companies if they might be willing to sacrifice a more experienced guide (and ideally someone more invested in the company) for a day of rafting with me. The first e-mail I received was from PA (although three other companies responded with interest). Maureen McDonald, co-owner and wife of Dan McDonald, was incredibly helpful with setting up rafting and lodging, promising the best guide she had for that day and being just invaluable with lodging. Although The Big Moose Inn (88 Pine St, Millinocket, ME - 207.723.8391) was definitely overpriced but considering it had a bar downstairs and was next to a campground, it was incredibly quiet - a real treat in a whitewater area. The average guest tends to be in their 20's or 30's, male, drunk, and obnoxious. To have a peaceful nights sleep the night before rafting really was delightful.
The Penobscot is a river that I have grown to love. After years of going with middle schoolers at the summer camp I worked at I feel incredibly fortunate to have traveled down the river with so many excellent young people and so many excellent guides. I have lucked out time and time again and was expecting the same experience on this trip. Rapids such as Exterminator and the Crib Works always left me with a racing heart and I still never felt anything but safe on them.
To become a raft guide you don't need to be able to do a whole lot. You don't need to be in good shape (strong yes, healthy no). You don't need to cut back on drinking or hard living. You don't need to be educated about anything but the river. What do you need to become a raft guide? You need to be good with people, you need to know that you are providing people with a once in a lifetime experience, and you need to make sure you are keeping everyone safe. Until this past Saturday I have never felt unsafe on the Penobscot River.
The 'best guide' that I was provided was Dan McDonald, the co-owner of Penobscot Adventures. I was immediately excited at the prospect of having an opportunity to go rating with the owner of PA (as I had previously gone rafting on the same river with the owner of New England Outdoor Center - which I will share with you later). The trip started out fairly well. We geared up at their camp and met with the adorable couple in their 50's who would be the only other two joining us on our boat. The other boat was five huge guys from Nova Scotia and their guide was going to be a portly comedian named Bob. We started the trip at the lower half of the river and when I inquired why Dan told us that it was because the upper half was more challenging and that it gave us a chance to learn to work together. This is certainly correct, the majority of the Class IV and V rapids are up top and it is actually a great idea to practice lower down (even if I don't personally like the shuttle back to the top - it drags the day from a five/six hour trip to an eight hour one).
The second we were on the water though everything changed. Dan immediately started criticizing everyones stroke and instead of just trying to teach it actually just insulted the crew saying; "None of you have ever been taught how to paddle."
Now I haven't been guiding on the Penobscot for more than ten years as he has but I've gone rafting more than twenty-five times, ten or so on the Penobscot. I've gone on 40 and 90 mile canoe trips and I have been told over and over by countless guides and friends that my stroke is correct; I've even asked to be critiqued by folks I felt did a terrific job. Dan felt that his experience trumped any of ours and broke the first cardinal rule of guiding; he was rude to his customers. This is a once in a lifetime experience for many people as I mentioned and for the couple with us he was just beginning to make it one of the most stressful life experiences they would probably ever have.
While talking about how I didn't know how to paddle, Dan also insisted on pointing out that I had no idea how to properly hold on. He asked if Northern Outdoors taught me and I said yes, to which he replied, "I knew it. I could tell from the way you hold your paddle." Ladies and gentlemen, I've never gone rafting with Northern Outdoors. Time and time again during this trip he talked trash about other rafting companies even having the audacity to talk about his superior safety record.
Having gone in boats over the first fall we were going to take I knew the exact two routes that one can take and I immediately knew that the tail end of the boat was not where it should be. I'll take credit for my falling out to an extent, had I been faster with grabbing the hold on rope (which he never called for me, or the 50 year old grandmother who fell out as well, to hold onto) I would have never fallen into the water. She was a whole other story. I took in a deep breath of water and I was freaking out; I couldn't breathe and I was not close to the boat. When I finally got back next to the boat they were in calm water and where was Dan? In the back, watching two other people lift me into the boat. Second cardinal rule broken; never make your guests feel unsafe. It is his job, his responsibility to make sure that everyone gets back in the raft and he should be number one trying to help us both in, especially when in water calm enough that he has no need to steer.
From that point on it was just one unpleasant experience with Dan after another. The boat was noticeably shaken up after this experience and he insisted on doing some waterfall surfing, which is nerve-wracking for me at times and literally no one in the boat was having a good time. Being in a service field is about being able to read your customers and it was clear that he had no skill in this at all. He could not read the fear on that woman's face, or the discomfort on the faces of the rest of us. Once done with surfing he had the gall to actually make fun of the woman for her fearful behavior. How dare he. Who does he think he is? This woman had never gone rafting before and because of his incompetence he tried to make her feel bad.
I have never met anyone with less empathy and more arrogance.
I could go on and on about the things that made this a terrible experience (like the fact that he asked us our political leanings, our feelings on global warming, swore profusely, and talked about the best way to murder someone and get away with it) but instead I'm going to just say that under no circumstance would I recommend anyone in any situation to go rafting with this company. Now, I'm going to switch gears and talk about another outfitter who deserves some credit.
New England Outdoor Center 1221 Medway Road, Millinocket, ME 207.723.5438 www.neoc.com
During our raft expedition with PA, the owner made a comment about how big businesses were just better sometimes and that's why they become so big. NEOC is a perfect example of this. They are bigger, they have a nicer facility, they've been around longer, they have learned how to be a big business. For a long time I felt that NEOC improperly dealt with their campsite (as every time I have stayed there it has been near impossible to get a good nights sleep because of all the drunken debauchery taking place - which NEOC does nothing about). The last time I stayed there this was the case and even after several complaints about the offending group from several guests, nothing was done. The next morning I started off disgruntled (as did 2/3 of the other folks waiting to raft). A few attempts at light-hearted humor by the staff didn't go over well and they realized they should cut it out. What was their solution? They put that group with their craziest guide and separated everyone else up accordingly. I ended up with the owner of NEOC and it was the best experience I have ever had rafting outside of a camp group.
He was cordial, down to earth, knowledgeable and not condescending. He realized that we were not locals, and he didn't treat us as any less human because of that. He knew that we were on our vacation and catered to us flawlessly. It was a mixed group of myself, a friend, and a family (teenage and older). He kept it fun, lively, told jokes that were just racy enough to interest the teens and funny enough to keep us laughing. He pointed out animals and tried to help anyone who seemed as if they might not be having the time of their life. And guess what? Everyone had the time of their life.
All in all, the Penobscot River is gorgeous, it's got some nice big falls, and some nice rapid series'. Coming up, reviews of the Kennebec, the Salmon River in Idaho, the Colorado River in Colorado, and several others TBD!