NYCkayaker Maine Trip Report

[Mo Fridlich]

Trip Report:  Maine Island Trail - Isle au Haut

    Every year when the time comes to do this trip, there are new surprises 
and interesting developments. You may remember the wonderful report done by 
the late Jeff Hoyer who's eloquent writing was quite touching. Good writing 
is not my forte, but here it goes:

Since I made a reservation that would allow up to 6 people to participate, I 
invited quite a few people and none was able to join us. I resigned myself 
to the 2 people that had committed and went ahead with our plans. Less than 
a week before departure I was informed that the others would not be able to 
do the trip. In a last ditch effort I decided to post an invitation to the 
list, but the short notice had no takers.
    My wife kept saying this trip "was not meant to be". Pre-paid 
reservations and the need to get away made me decide otherwise. I loaded the 
car and took off on my own on Sunday June 15th. The drive took almost 10 
hours taking the scenic route with a stop of in Camden. I made it to the 
Stonington camp ground by early evening and set up my tent.
    Next day was overcast, cold, rainy and foggy. I decided to check out 
Deer Island and have lunch in Stonington. After lunch I returned to the 
campground and ran into two guys unloading their kayaks. Carl and Peter form 
New Hampshire, going out for a paddle which they agreed to let me join. I 
welcomed the opportunity and we left to paddle to Steve's Island (part of 
the Maine Island Trail), where they had several friends that were spending 
the night. It was about 3 miles from Stonington, most of them paddled in the 
rain. When we arrived the rain stopped. We were greeted by a couple that had 
already set up camp. Three other paddlers had not arrived and Carl was able 
to raise them on the VHF. We spotted them as little dots that slowly grew 
and arrived 20 minutes later. After hanging out on the island for a couple 
of hours the three of us returned to the campground in Stonington.
    Tuesday I awoke to pouring rain. By the time I crawled out of the tent 
my two fellow paddlers had already left to join their friends on the 
islands. The rain finally stopped but the fog was still quite dense. I 
decided that I would spend the day exploring the Deer Isles and not go 
paddling. Checking the weather forecast, the next day was going to be worse. 
Now I had to decide how I was going to get out to the Isle au Haut. Paddling 
on my own in dense fog was not too appealing. Yet the wonderful hiking 
trails on the Island were beckoning to me. Besides that my new camera was 
anxious to capture the pixels of the Islands beauty.
    As I got into Stonington, I had an idea. I stopped at the Mail Boat 
Terminal and made arrangements to leave the following morning and get 
dropped off at Duck Harbor. I would not be paddling and only spend one night 
on the Island but I would have 2 days of great hiking.
    Next morning, as the weather predicted, we took off in dense fog for the 
quickest trip to the Isle au Haut that I had ever taken. When I got to Duck 
Harbor I was greeted by the Ranger who checked my permit. He informed me 
that no one had showed up in the last week and I would be the only person on 
the lower part of the Island that is part of Acadia NP.
I set up my tent under the lean-to, had lunch and went on a 5 hour hike. The 
trail that is often crowded with hikers was all to my self. On my return I 
scrounged up a pile of firewood for my night time entertainment and took the 
quarter mile walk to the hand pump for my supply of water.
    Carl and Peter had mentioned that their group had a couple of nights 
reservation at Duck Harbor. As I walked back to the camp site, I realized 
that it was already 6 PM and the prospect of company now seemed remote. I 
rounded the turn that offered a beautiful view of the cove and as I prepared 
to take a picture, I noticed 5 kayaks pulling in. Grateful for company I 
rushed to greet them.
    We wound up having a great evening around the campfire. It was the 
latest we all got to sleep in the past few days. The next mornings rain made 
us all sleep late. After breakfast the sun finally made an appearance. 
Everyone, except Gary, decided to do the hike I had done the day before. 
Gary and I decided to explore an other side of the Island. At 4 PM the Mail 
Boat arrived. Garry helped me carry my gear down to the landing and off I 
was, returning to Stonington.
    I was looking forward to my last day since the weather had finally 
cleared. As I checked in with Captain Bill at the campground I noticed the 
weather report for the following day: "overcast with dense fog!"  I was 
hoping that the forecast would prove wrong, but no such luck. I awoke to the 
fine drizzle that the fog creates. Realizing that it was not going to lift, 
I launched my kayak and headed towards town staying out of the main shipping 
channels. Fisherman's traffic in those waters is quite heavy and you do not 
show up on their radar. Extra caution is advised. As I crossed over to an 
island Carl and Peter emerged from the fog. They were returning to drive 
home. After a brief goodbye I continued my paddle. Hugging the shore I made 
it into Stonington to navigate through it's maze of anchored fishing boats. 
On the way to Crotch Island, a former granite quarry, I was startled by a 
schooner under full sail emerging from the fog like a ghost ship.  The 
"Crotch" of Crotch Island was also very spooky in the fog and made my repeat 
visit a new experience.
   I packed my gear the next day and bid my farewells to my host Captain 
Bill, but guess what? The sky cleared and brilliant sunshine was the course 
of the day. Yes, the weather finally turned out to be beautiful. It took me 
a long time to get home that day. I stopped in Castine (always wanted to), 
took a break in Portsmouth, NH and finally made it home.
    In retrospect, the trip "that was not meat to be" turned out pretty 
special. I took many good pictures and I am including the link of some here:
                                                                         http://picasaweb.google.com/mofridlich/Maine2008?authkey=feZxx_stWYw
    I tried to keep them in order so that you can get a virtual tour of my 
experience. I did loose a compact flash card full of them. The card seems to 
be corrupted and all the recovery programs seem unsuccessful. Guess that 
will give me a reason to go back next year and shoot again.