Blogs from Maine, United States, North America - page 50

Sunday, September 23rd, 2007. Penobscot River, Maine. First day of autumn. Darrin broke camp and continued down the Penobscot River, where he noted landscape changes indicative of the more northern landscape he had gradually transitioned to. The forests were increasingly boreal in composition, with very few hardwoods. On the Penobscot, Darrin paddled through some nice class one rapids, and saw lots of fly fishermen and moose hunters. Soon he paddled onto Chesuncook Lake, where the wind was so strong that he could see dust devils on exposed beaches where the Lake was drawn down. On Chesuncook, Darrin pulled over to the lakeshore, beached his canoe, and hiked about a mile inland to Chesuncook Village. There he discovered two of establishments that composed this village: a small church, and a general store. The general store had just ... read more

"I'm definately NOT returning to work at camp this summer, this last one, or any residential one really." Smiling as I look at summer photos, and laughing aloud as I remember all of the amazing children I was able to interact with, makes me question my statement once said with such certainty. At least for a moment. Although the kids were most definitely the most enjoyable part of the summer, Maine in all its wildness and beauty was right there, too. Acadia, Baxter, and the local ponds, coastal towns, falls, and wildlife were spectacular. Getting back down to Tennessee to see my family was a necessary precurser to a cold winter in New York! My cousins have the most beautiful babies in the world! Okay, so now I'm in yet another paradise on Earth, the ... read more

Sunday, September 16th, 2007. Along Demo Road Portage, Maine. Darrin awoke to frost on his tent and boat. After a quick breakfast, he broke camp and set out to complete the portage. It wasn’t more than a quarter mile before he was very glad he’d left the second half for daylight. The remainder of the trail was freshly cut, with sharp stumps and sections so narrow he could hardly fit his canoe. The trail was lined by thick stands of fir, fir so dense that there was no way he would have seen his way through in dimming light. After finally making his way through the fir, Darrin put onto Brassua Lake. On Brassua, a steady tailwind created big waves and propelled him across the lake to Brassua Dam. He portaged around the dam, and was ... read more

Thursday, September 13th, 2007. Flagstaff Lake, Maine. By Thursday morning, the wind had subsided enough for Darrin to complete his crossing of Flagstaff Lake. The Lake, however, wasn’t going to let him go without other challenges. Flagstaff is characterized by shallow water covering sections of wide, rocky shoals. The shoals are hidden; they can only be seen when one is about to beach upon them. While usually not dangerous, beaching on shoals is annoyingly disruptive to one’s paddling rhythm. Flagstaff’s water level was particularly low, leaving the shoals more exposed than usual; to avoid them, Darrin kept a slow pace. Entire bays were also dried up. After crossing Flagstaff, Darrin found his next waterway dry as well. He ended up dragging his canoe up Little Spencer Stream, and then portaging a long, hard, five miles on ... read more

September 6-11th, 2007, Stratton, Maine. Darrin’s stay in Stratton lasted five days. There he met many Appalachian Trail hikers, all of whom he loved reminiscing with. His stay in Stratton was longer than initially planned due to the mysterious wanderings of a package I had sent him. Mailed on August 31st via priority mail, it should certainly have been in Stratton by September 5th when he arrived. The package contained a few grocery items, as well as two maps of upcoming sections of water trail. When the package hadn’t appeared by September 9th, we figured it was missing in transit. When I checked the Postal Service’s online tracking system, it had been received at a sorting facility in Chicago on September 3rd, after which there was no record of it anywhere. Replacing groceries locally was no ... read more