Barefoot Portage

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Tuesday, September 25th, 2007. Chamberlain Lake, Maine. To avoid paddling in heavy winds, Darrin rose before dawn and began the day’s paddle in the dark. He set out across Chamberlain Lake, and felt fortunate to view a molten copper sunrise on the water before the sky became a continuous sheet of clouds. His first portage was Tram Portage, and getting to it proved to be much like the Mud Pond Portage. Chamberlain Lake had been drawn down for winter, leaving 300 yards of exposed mud flats between the water’s edge and the portage trail’s beginning.

Darrin set out, barefoot now, and trudged through more mud to reach the portage trail. Tram Portage turned out to be very interesting, for it had once been an old pulp log trail. Today, it was a resting ground for relics of logging in earlier times; train engines and all kinds of metal machinery sat in the woods.

From Tram Portage, Darrin paddled across Eagle Lake to Priestly Point campsite, where he would spend the night. His pre-dawn start enabled him to arrive at camp before noon, leaving him plenty of time for bathing, shaving, laundry, and clothes mending. His clean clothes dried fast in the still-strong wind; he had to place rocks in the pockets to keep them from blowing away.

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