Golden Road - Millinocket Maine to Canada 

Hello Matt, it can indeed be an adventure, I would strongly recommend for anyone contemplating it, to have a heavier 4wd vehicle. The Main Golden Road track itself doesn't require 4wd as such, but the much heavier springs and shocks that are typical equipment for these vehicles, will make the trip safer and more enjoyable. There are many narrow and medium offshoots off the main track, at various intervals, and some of these are very rough and uneven. There, I'd recommend 4wd with a suspension lift, and at minimum full chassis bashplate armour as it is very easy to puncture an engine oil pan or transmission pan. I have full armour from the front bumper to the tailshaft housing of the transfer case, so the only thing really exposed is the driveshaft. My rear diff also has an armour girdle to prevent debris from peeling back the stamped steel diff cover, which of course would then leak out all the gear lube. If you are doing any offroad travel at all, or contemplating it, a DeLorme trail guide is almost mandatory. Unfortunately, even the DeLorme has some faults, it doesn't rate the "roads" and tracks as to width, roughness or condition, which we found out the hard way when we got eyeballs-deep in the narrow rough, up near Harris Dam on the "road" called Dyer's. That one is only suitable for quads and side-by-sides, we averaged about 1.6MPH trying to crawl our way out of there, after taking a Frontier places it has no business being. That was also my first real offroading trip, back in 2018, and I've learned quite a bit since then, plus added all the aforementioned armour plates and a 2" suspension lift. Brochu Road paralleles Dyer's for a stretch; and eventually merges about a mile or so before Moosehead Lake, that one is much wider and can be traversed safely.

Yeah, anything hauling four or five rear axles with duals on every one, has gotta be carrying some serious weight. And they don;t slow down for anything smaller than themselves, unless it's solid stone. A very interesting place to visit that 99.5% of even the population of New England will probably never experience. We've been three times, but only end-to-end, once. My daughter, who is 19, was driving most of the outbound segment, she was always a little afraid of my truck, even though it isn't even a full-size, but agreed to drive the Golden Road cause of how empty it is, and once she got a few miles under her belt, was just fine and felt kinda silly having feared, for the whole time I owned the truck ( since March 2018 ). She did get surprised by one of these beasts coming the other way, but after the initial "jump surprise", handled it like a pro, slowed down and moved to the extreme verge on the passenger's side, to give him as much space as possible. All was fine, we were nowhere near collision and he roared past in a cloud of gravel dust and diesel haze.

@@frontiergeek4953 they are really impressive. And no, they don’t stop. We saw a pickup that had to bail into the woods just to not get obliterated! Yeah, not too many people head up there unless you are serious about hiking/rafting/kayaking. That is one of the most appealing parts of that area, it is still a true wilderness.

Wow, I'd never heard that story. Moosehead's beautiful, great ride out to Harris Dam as well, but we made the mistake of taking Dyers "Road" once to get there from Harris Dam, wow what a Charlie Foxtrot that was. Over 3 hrs to get about 4 miles. Took Brochu the second time, the DeLorme is gold but man, it'd be great if they'd rate the trail's width and conditions. My wife's from Waterville, so of course still plenty of family in the area and vacation there as often as we can make it up. The drive from MD's 10+ hrs on a real good day.

Yes the ground on the north end of Moosehead Lake now occupied by the Seboomook Wilderness Campground was once a POW camp in WWII. A large percentage of the prisoners came from Rommel's Afrika Korps in north Africa.

@@mikewells6164 interesting to learn about thanks

Yes, that's true, as it's considered "off-road" by public infrastructure transit, they can run whatever they choose, I've seen up to 4 axles. Cool story, thx for sharing.

@@frontiergeek4953 it was all owned by paper companies...it is privately owned still to this day...so there is a lack of restrictions on what these trucks can haul and do...and the trucks as you said own the road so pull over and respect the industry and almost always will have no issues enjoying what this part of God's country has to offer...keep adventuring my friend

Yep, especially the Yellow Kenworth and Red Peterbilt at the end, they are Quebec trucks with planetary drive axles. When you see that the mirrors are install on the cab protector frame so they can be extended over 14 ft wide, you know it's a Megaload, 300 000 lbs and over :)

Andrew, sounds like you've had a good time out there as well, we still haven't seen a Moose in the wild, in all our excursions. We are looking at NoBo twin-axle off-road trailers in the 22 to 24' class as my wife and daughter both, are no good with bugs and not fans of thin unsecure tents. It is what it is LOL. The scenery out there is magnificent, never seen anything like it, we've done Indian Pond road to Harris Dam, Dyer's road and Brochu road to Moosehead Lake, Stud Mill road to CCC road, and the run to Pittston Farm. I did three years worth of trails out there on Michelin Defender LT tires and by the Grace of God, never had a flat, but for certain, some of those "roads" are very abrasive and will chew you up. I have General Grabber Load E's now and had my Bilstein 6112 HD front coil-overs mounted 5 days before we left to do this run. They handled the trails very well, good for washboard and uneven travel surfaces. Never even aired down. First year up there we made the mistake of getting into Dyer's road, recommendation for anyone, unless you have a quad-sport, side by side, or are just a masochist, don't. It was barely wider than the truck, very rough, some big rocks, and drop-offs on both banks. We averaged about 3MPH, and that was including the better stretches on the approach and departure segments. And at that point all I had was stock Pro4 bash plates and street tire LTs on a stock ride height. Now I have full chassis amour and a 2" suspension lift. Fun fact, my wife's from Albion ME and as of 2022 they still have no electric traffic control signals anywhere in town, only Stop and Yield signs. Yes, the boons for certain.

Does the Peltiers still take care of the Golden road?

Hello, thanks for writing in. I do indeed have Load E General Grabber AT/Xs and honestly, even when I only had LT Michelin Defenders, never got a rock cut or a flat tire. Now, with standard P-Rated tires, I wouldn't recommend, and would heartily agree with you there as far as baby SUVs and the tires they come with. And you are correct, these should be classed Logging Trucks.

Very cool! Have a great time, that's a perfect time of year to be up in the woods. Temp's should be dropping into a nice range w/o having hit the "are you kidding?" yet marks that January and February bring. 7 days, I'm jealous, maybe someday we will too .............. PS: Do you have a HAM or CB radio? There's pretty much zero cell service in most areas. I have a Yaesu FT8900r four-band HAM on-board.

@@frontiergeek4953 I have been going to Maine every year now for .. 8 years. Every time we explore a different area. I have been to Baxter state park a few times to hike Katahdin and Knifes edge (great hikes) perfect time of the year as all the leaves start changing. I have a handheld Garmin GPS for emergencies, but use Gaia on my tablet and phone. Yea I loose cell service quickly once you leave the main roads lol but that's part of the fun of it!

Katahdin's a great hike if you can handle it, I have bad knees, a bad back and a trick hip so my hiking days are slow and usually pretty short anymore LOL. Handheld Garmin's a very smart move, enjoy your time away and be safe. Honestly when you get far enough back in the bush, it's pretty smart to go armed as well, a machette, knife & pistol may be good preventive measures as well, especially if you plan on overnighting.

MURS radios are technically required to be installed in every vehicle on most of those roads per landowners documented list of rules and requirements believe. Don't hold me to that statement as I suppose rules could have changed but I'm local to the area my whole life and it's been this way long as I can remember. It's imperative that you have a MURS radio so that you can hear these big trucks calling mile markers so you can make sure to get out of the way. They don't need to move over for passenger cars. These trucks have the right of way. Most people know and understand this logic but it's in written form because of the ones who apparently didn't get it.

@@colefarley7976 everyone used to have radios, better to be out of the way in a good spot or be caught on a narrow corner and shoved into the woods . Paper company trucks don’t stop for passenger vehicles. Come a long way since the logs was boomed down the rivers and to the mill

Heya there Big Guy, thx for writing in. Actually, the condition of the surface wasn't that bad, for a trucking road that sees vehicles in the 120k# class. Yes, I've heard that Pelletier name before and I think you may be correct. We went in mid-August and there were few bugs to be found, which was kinda weird, but we were thankful we weren't eaten. We did get some skeeters at the cabin as nite began to fall, but the daytime was pretty calm, but we never camped on the road area itself, or any of its offshoots ( and there are many ). My Bilstein 6112s up front proved themselves very capable as even with my 20 yr old daughter at the wheel, the ride was certainly tolerable and for the most part, actually comfortable. I love my Bilsteins and would never switch to anyone else.

Thanks for sharing! I'm going to have to look for that next time we are up in that area, we homebase from Waterville area, so we end up on Stud Mill or some of the others that are closer by, more often. Great tip for the viewers in the area, thank you.

You're welcome. Stud Mill is at the top of my list. Takes me into my favorite county in Maine...😊 If I might briefly pick your brain, any access problems? did you end to end in one day? @@frontiergeek4953

We did indeed end to end, both ways in one day. About 196 miles plus transit. It was a long one, got my daughter to drive nearly the entire outbound leg. Was pretty funny, she was the one that proposed the trip in the first place, but then didn't want to drive my truck cause according to her, "it's too big." Got out to the Stud Mill, stuffed her behind the wheel and within about 2 miles she was having the time of her life. A good day, that one was. Need to do it again some time. No access issues but as well as I recall, there is a toll facility about half way up that you need to get a permit from. You'd think once you got off the Interstates they'd be done picking your pockets. Not so.

Amen to that, Virgil. Now all they need to do is vote that whackjob Gouverneur Mills out and get sanity back. Paul LePage, the previous Gouverneur, is now by State Statute, eligible to run again after his 4 year hiatus, and with all the businesses she's ruined and ill-will she's earned, it should be a landslide. He was very much loved in the State, but he served out his two terms and was ineligible for a third. Until now.

@@frontiergeek4953 he earned a rest! Yeah I miss him!

I believe that may be correct, I saw a few outbuildings and one giant facility with 10 to 12 fair-sized structures on a secondary road, but did not seem to be anyone about, so not sure if they were just down for the weekend or was fully abandoned. It looked like it'd been sitting for a while, some of the doors were wide-open; but in midstate Maine many buildings have that "almost abandoned look" as finances are tight and the winters are brutal on paint and wooden siding. That facility appeared to be plenty large enough to saw logs, but all the trucks we observed were heading North to the mills and pulping facilities in Canada, with full trees as cargo. So your estimation is probably right.

Indeed so. Wolverines !!!

Well….a miniature wolverine. They are a separate species and if I’m not mistaken, quite a lot smaller

Hello Nate, thanks for writing in. Well, the lumber companies actually own these roads / trails, so use by other vehicles ( like us ) is only by the indulgence of the owner(s). According to that, and their absurdly high weight, often 120k# or more, they have the right-of-way 101% of the time. So yes, I always give them a wide berth cause they won't slow down unless a wreck is imminent, and at that point it might even still be optional, I'm not even sure if they even brake for Moose, the only animal the Highway Patrol advises all motorists to swerve to avoid. Even given that, your chances of getting out alive are usually rated no better than 50 / 50 if in a passenger-sized vehicle.

L

A fisher cat is actually a member of the weasel family, and I'd never even heard of them either, til we saw one run across the roadway and quickly disappear into the underbrush on the verge. It was jet-black and very fast, didnt have a gait like a cat and I wasn't actually sure what I'd just seen, til Caren aka The Director, looked it up. From dec.ny.gov/animals: The fisher, also known as the 'fisher cat', is a large, dark, long-haired member of the weasel family. Their stature is relatively low to the ground, with short legs, small ears and a well-furred tail. The color of their fur varies from dark brown to nearly black. Females and juveniles usually have a more uniform color, and males will have a blonde or grizzled appearance due to multi colored guard hairs around the neck, upper back and shoulders. There is considerable evidence of dimorphism between the sexes, with males weighing between 7 and 13 pounds, and females between 3 and 7 pounds. Total lengths for males range from 35-47 inches, and females, 30-37 inches. Fisher have large, wide feet with five toes on each foot and semi-retractable claws. This makes them well adapted for walking on snow, climbing trees and grasping and killing prey. They are capable of rotating their hind feet nearly 180º, which allows for a headfirst descent from trees. As with all members of the weasel family, both sexes have large anal scent glands which may be used to mark territories or attract potential mates. Distribution and Habitat Found exclusively in North America, fisher inhabit a band of forested and semi-forested land from coast to coast, and prefer extensive closed canopy forests. In the east, they range from Virginia north to Quebec and the maritime provinces of Canada. They use deciduous, coniferous and mixed forests. Historically, their numbers experienced a severe decline during the late 1800s and early 1900s due to over-exploitation and loss of forested habitat due to unregulated logging and the clearing of land for farms. Reintroduction programs have proven to be effective in restoring populations, along with regulation of trapping opportunities and the initiation of reforestation programs. Food and Feeding Fisher are a dietary generalist. They eat a wide variety of small to medium sized mammals and birds, and a variety of hard and soft mast such as beechnuts, acorns, apples and berries. However, they have been considered a specialist in that they are the only known North American mammal that succeeds in killing and consuming porcupines. They will consume the entire animal, leaving nothing but a quilled hide and a few of the larger bones. Other prey items include rabbits, squirrels, mice, shrews, and carrion from large mammals such as whitetailed deer. Carnivores such as bobcat, coyote, red and grey fox and some raptors serve as competition for prey items, and fisher have been documented to travel over a hundred miles over the course of a few weeks in order to meet the demands of their dietary requirements.

It’s a fisher and their mean as a Rattlesnake

Hello Geoff, we started from a rented cabin in Millinocket at the very beginning ( or end, depending on your perspective & preference ) and ended at Canada, then drove back again.

Hello William, thx for writing in. Yes, some property's are indeed private and are usually posted as such. Most of this area is owned by paper companies or logging concerns and are public access as long as you do not damage the local environment, and above all, get the heck out of the way of the giant logging trucks when they're on the move. They have the right-of-way not only legally, but by sheer bulk, 120k# and up. Quite impressive when a 9 axle rig hauling monstrous tree trunks blows past you at 40MPH with a huge cloud of dust trailing behind.

Hi there Frank, yes, yes you are, thank you so much for subscribing and hope you enjoy the content. I'm a one-man shop and so do everything, conceptualizations, equipment prep, filming, post-production editing and uploading. It's a hobby really, makes me no money, but I enjoy sharing what I've learned, with other Nissan fans. Greatly appreciate everyone who's come along for the ride, as of this month it's been 2 yrs 8 months since launch.

Yeah, no joke, what is with that? Is my picture hung up in the Moose Post Office, Ten Most Not Wanted? Run away if you see this man, or this truck LOL.

Hello Roberta, I'm sorry, don't recognize what Jan Stamp means. Please elaborate?

Hello Dennis, thanks for writing in. Okay, so to your question, that piece at 6:45 is actually a side-spur off the Golden Road that we decided to go explore, logging trucks do not use that spur, except perhaps at low speed while extracting timber from a new site, they would never be flying through as shown in some of the other footage. But they do roll through at a pretty nice pace and yes, the engines are fairly loud as they pass by, those big diesels are earning their keep pulling the loads they are moving. We also enjoy being 100s of miles away from time to time, a good HAM radio or sat phone is pretty essential if you have a breakdown or medical emergency. Verizon doesn't reach that far and for certain they can't hear you now.

@@frontiergeek4953 Thanks, I'm from western Mass. and born in western Maine. I drove up to Allagash one time just to get to the end of the road. I would have loved to continue on the lumber road there to Ste. Pamphile Quebec. Thats where my Father was from. However I wasn't sure I would get there so I turned back. I love these videos. I would have thought you would have seen alot of Moose there also.

LOL yeah, I expected to see at least one as well. I think they must have my face on the Moose Post Office wall ten-most-wanted list, they avoid me like the Black Plague.

Hello Jake and thanks for writing in. I have been on the Golden Road at least four times, but never after dark, so well ..... honestly, I do believe we do share our earth with species yet unknown to "mainstream science", so, if you've seen them, I can't say I can confirm or deny who or what you saw. Interesting times, for certain.

Hello Fredrick, I'm not really sure on that one. It's bumpy, for sure, but no ginormous potholes, honestly there are asphault roads here in Baltimore metro that are worse. Good shocks are pretty much a must and you'll make about 25 to 30MPH max.

@frontiergeek4953 the shaking on washboard roads is minimized at 40-50 mph. Sounds counterintuitive.

We tried that, it might have been an interaction between the truck's wheelbase and the harmonic period of the spacing of the ruts, but above a little over 30MPH it got pretty uncomfortable, tested once up to about 50 or so. We kept the speed down. I would expect a longer, heavier vehicle would be much less affected.

@frontiergeek4953 for my Ford E250 it is ususlly 45mph

Beats me, they must have seen or heard us coming LOL. Nary a piece of wildlife to be found. But a Fisher Cat made an appearance.

Hello Paul and thx for writing in. Some folk had mentioned that the logging roads chewed up tires and they had multiple flats. That has not been my experience, my truck came with Michelin Defender LTX which are basically Load C street tires for trucks, not an aggressive tread by any stretch. And they ran fine for two yrs. So, when I went to replace, I knew I wanted something more aggressive for gravel and sand, and a much heavier carcass to avoid gravel and rock cuts and bruises on the more gnarly trails in Maine and Virginia, so now I'm running General Grabber A/TXs in LT235/86r16 size, to keep the weight down somewhat. The OE size LT265/75r16 Grabbers are about another 7 or 8 pounds heavier yet and I simply didn't want that much rotating mass, you can definitely feel it fighting to spin up to speed. I did the RPM bump and 2 degrees ignition advance that others on Club Frontier had tried, $30.00 in parts and software total, and that helped with low-end grunt to get the heavy wheels spinning quicker.

I run ten ply tires on my Silverado, if you are going to spend time in the NMW invest in some . Spend two to three weeks a year up there . Live in Maine.

Thanks for writing in Clinton, wow, I'd be honoured to be included. I have hours of raw footage gleaned from 4 different cameras, but unfortuntely it looks like by the time we made the Canadian border, only one was still running, the hardwired unit in the cab. The Hero's are nice cams but they do have some nasty tendencies to shut down and / or overheat when kept in a sealed enclosure for water and dustproofing. But I guess at that price point, that's pretty much what you get. I've had great fun with them. We will have to figure out a way to correspond that won't expose any emails or contact information publicly. I found your website, kinodv.net/clint-conley, what about a contact through there?

A fisher cat is actually a member of the weasel family, and I'd never even heard of them til we saw one run across the roadway and quickly disappear into the underbrush on the verge. It was jet-black and very fast, didnt have a gait like a cat and I wasn't actually sure what I'd just seen, til Caren looked it up. From dec.ny.gov/animals: The fisher, also known as the 'fisher cat', is a large, dark, long-haired member of the weasel family. Their stature is relatively low to the ground, with short legs, small ears and a well-furred tail. The color of their fur varies from dark brown to nearly black. Females and juveniles usually have a more uniform color, and males will have a blonde or grizzled appearance due to multi colored guard hairs around the neck, upper back and shoulders. There is considerable evidence of dimorphism between the sexes, with males weighing between 7 and 13 pounds, and females between 3 and 7 pounds. Total lengths for males range from 35-47 inches, and females, 30-37 inches. Fisher have large, wide feet with five toes on each foot and semi-retractable claws. This makes them well adapted for walking on snow, climbing trees and grasping and killing prey. They are capable of rotating their hind feet nearly 180º, which allows for a headfirst descent from trees. As with all members of the weasel family, both sexes have large anal scent glands which may be used to mark territories or attract potential mates. Distribution and Habitat Found exclusively in North America, fisher inhabit a band of forested and semi-forested land from coast to coast, and prefer extensive closed canopy forests. In the east, they range from Virginia north to Quebec and the maritime provinces of Canada. They use deciduous, coniferous and mixed forests. Historically, their numbers experienced a severe decline during the late 1800s and early 1900s due to over-exploitation and loss of forested habitat due to unregulated logging and the clearing of land for farms. Reintroduction programs have proven to be effective in restoring populations, along with regulation of trapping opportunities and the initiation of reforestation programs. Food and Feeding Fisher are a dietary generalist. They eat a wide variety of small to medium sized mammals and birds, and a variety of hard and soft mast such as beechnuts, acorns, apples and berries. However, they have been considered a specialist in that they are the only known North American mammal that succeeds in killing and consuming porcupines. They will consume the entire animal, leaving nothing but a quilled hide and a few of the larger bones. Other prey items include rabbits, squirrels, mice, shrews, and carrion from large mammals such as whitetailed deer. Carnivores such as bobcat, coyote, red and grey fox and some raptors serve as competition for prey items, and fisher have been documented to travel over a hundred miles over the course of a few weeks in order to meet the demands of their dietary requirements.

@@frontiergeek4953 I stand corrected! Very informative! Thanks

For this section, yes. The side trails are the rough ones, many side trails. And even this section is much rougher than it appears in the videos, max about 30MPH before it shakes your fillings loose.

Hello Buck, thank you for the observation, I will attempt to have better narration in the future, the channel is always a work in progress. Glad you enjoyed the video footage.

I'm sorry but I don't follow what the "boomer logic" refers to.

@@frontiergeek4953 I know

Ah, no kidding. Thank you for the clarification. It appeared abandoned, so not sure if the facility is still active, we didn't see any people or vehicles around.

@@frontiergeek4953 yes sir it probably hasn’t been used in years but somebody still owns it contact Pelletier logging they could probably put you in the direction of the owner but it’s most likely on leased land from the Papermills what I’m trying to say is the structure is owned by a logging company and the land is owned by a paper company. Still cool beautiful country

Hello Hollow, thanks for writing in, I did shorten it in later videos, as a few others had asked that as well. I'm getting ready to completely change the intro in the next video.