Archive for the ‘Canoeing’ Category

A Quick Two Weeks In Maine

Vacations are supposed to be restful, a time to recharge. This August my son Chris and I headed into the woods for our sixth summer. We hiked, canoed, fished, and camped in the north Maine woods for the fourth straight year and added to our life-long list of memories.

We roamed the 3.5 millions acres of woods, and paddled for four days on the Allagash River. We met some new people and hooked up with some old friends. One thing about the area is that it is so sparsely populated, when you do meet someone, the chances are that you know them. That’s what happened this summer as we ran into Allagash Guide Sean Lizzote at Churchill Dam one afternoon. We hadn’t seen Sean for three years. We also met Ranger Trevor O’Leary on the Allagash River one afternoon as he poled his canoe against the current. We hadn’t seen Trevor since 2007.

We had a chance to renew acquaintance with Ranger Kevin Brown. Kevin is now the head ranger. We met him one windy day a few years back on Eagle Lake. At the end of a long day of paddling, Kevin stopped at our campsite and gave Chris and me some candy. It may not seem like much, but at the time, that was the best candy either one of us had ever had. Kevin informed us that old friend Mike Hafford had passed away that winter. We had met Mike at Michaud Farm in 2007 and had the chance to talk again last year at the St. Francis gate to the North Maine Woods. Like Trevor and Kevin, Mike was an enthusiastic Red Sox fan. Even deep in the woods they manage to keep up with Red Sox Nation, usually by using their two-way radios to call out and get the scores.

Neither one of us was ready to leave when our two weeks were up. There is a quiet comfort amongst those tall pines and clean waters. There was meaning to everything and the solitude and complete silence that surrounded us was near spiritual. To sit by a nameless stream, watching fish jump and listening to birds sing; or watching as the wind drifted over a lake surface in soundless, lacy patterns; was our entertainment. There are more animals than people, and they ask nothing from you, just a look, a visual connection, and they continue on their way.

A few days after we got home I sat in the hospital waiting room with more people than I had seen over the course of those two weeks. Life in the woods may not be for everybody and that’s a good thing. We each find peace in our own way, but for us, this year getting back into the woods as deep as we could and riding the lakes, rivers and streams and sleeping under the most amazing heavenly light show Mother Nature had to offer, was literally, just what the doctor order.

Melville, Herman once said, “I am tormented with an everlasting itch for things remote.” He wasn’t talking about the TV controller.

My vacation starts in a month, but of course I’ve been preparing for it now since March. Actually, that’s a late start for me. Two years ago I began preparing for my August vacation in October. Last year I started getting ready in January. I must be getting better at this. I’ve got it down to five months of preparation.

Why so long? Well, this will be our third trip into the Allagash in remote northwestern Maine. All the planning is a result of accessibility; as it’s one of those places you can’t get to from here (so to speak). But once there, you’ll never want to leave.

Mt. Katahdin, Maines highest mountain at 5,267 feet, can be seen to the south from a hill at the northern end of Eagle Lake.

Henry David Thoreau said of the north Maine woods, “A lake is the landscape’s most beautiful and expressive feature. It is the earth’s eye; looking into which the beholder measures the depth of his own nature.”

If you ever have the chance, look into the eyes of the Allagash.

(more…)