[Journal for Fieldtrip 12B of the QMIII Project, Down East Maine, June 4-10, 2012] During this trip, I (Bill Menke) installed a seismometer in Wesley, Maine and scouted out sites for future installations.

June 4, 2012. I got off to a late start, owing to having to pack up the car and so some last minute shopping, and did not leave New York until after lunch. The weather was overcast with occasional light rain. I stayed the night at the Abbott Cottage in Harpswell, Maine.

June 5, 2012. I continued my drive up to north coastal Maine – the region called Down East - stopping at the Home Depot in Bangor to buy a battery for the seismometer installation. I then continued north to the general vicinity of the town of Machias. I explored the public lands to the northeast of Machias, looking both for a campsite for the night and for potential seismometer sites. I stopped at Mud Landing, a campsite and boat launch in the Public Reserved Land at Rocky Lake. The campsite is up on a small hill above the lake. It looked like a fine place to stay the night. I launched my kayak, Hraun, and spent about two hours kayaking around the eastern side of this large lake. The launch is on a tributary stream though a wetland. I spotted two bald eagles, an iconic back-and-white adult and a mottled brown juvenile. I also passed a beaver lodge. The shores of the lake have lots of large boulders, but I was unable to find anything that looked like rock ledge. I did pass a camp on an island (or maybe a peninsula) north of the launch that might be suitable for a seismometer installation. No other boats were visible on the lake, which was perhaps unsurprising, for the day was cold (55 F) and with occasional light rain. However, I did encounter an angler who was just launching his motor boat as I returned to the launch. After packing up my gear, I did some shopping at the Hannaford supermarket in Machias. I returned to Mud Landing, set up my tent at the campsite, and cooked kielbasa for dinner. Two boats returned to the launch while I was eating, including the angler who I had met earlier. I chatted with them a bit. They had cut their fishing short because of the chill of the evening. The campsite had rather too many mosquitoes but, fortunately, no black flies. Indeed, I encountered too many of the former and none of the latter during the rest of the trip.

June 6, 2012. The morning was peaceful and dry at Mud Landing, though like yesterday the day was overcast. I had a breakfast of pancakes. I then headed north to the town of Grand Lake Stream, which is slated to get a Transportable Array (TA) station next year. The Norumbega fault system passes close to this town. I arrived at the town via Grand Lake Stream Road (also called Milford Road), the only paved access. It comes in from the east, so I had to drive over to Route 1 in Princeton, near the Canadian border, to connect with it. The town consists of mostly vacation homes in a village center near a dam on Grand Lake Stream, the exit stream of the lake, and along the lakeshore itself. The Pine Tree Store and the Grand Lake Stream Historic Museum are in the town. I launched Hraun from the public launch near the dam and spent about two hours kayaking around the eastern end of the lake, going as far as Munson Island. The shores of the lake are almost all solid bedrock, with some low solid rock cliffs along the eastern shore. The TA should have no problem finding a suitable seismometer site here. I then drove the unpaved Amazon Road north to where it intersects Route 6, about twenty miles as the crow flies, though more like thirty-five for me. The road is in excellent condition, and I had no problem driving it, though I kept my speed below 20 mph. The day was brightening a bit, with occasional flashes of sun. I stopped at several wetlands and lakes long the way, including Pug Lake. I passed only one habitation, a camp on Lower Oxbrook Lake, but it was deserted. I saw two moose, a cow and a largish calf, on the road near the Pleasant Lake Road intersection. I then took paved roads back to Grand Lake Stream so that I could drive the unpaved Machias River Road south. This allowed me to see all of the land in a forty mile strip north of Wesley, along which we anticipate placing a dense array next year. I spotted another moose as I drove this road, a male with a partially grown velvety rack. I also spotted a beaver swimming in a stream. I stopped at several lakes, including South Machias Lake at the South End campsite. I passed several camps, including a largish facility at the intersection with Stud Mill Road, the main (but unpaved) east-west road in this region. After stopping at the Machias Hannaford supermarket, I returned to Mud Landing for the night. I spotted a porcupine by the side of the road as I drove back. I ate a dinner of grilled turkey and potato salad I sat by the boat launch, watching the sunset. A beaver swam by, making a vee-shaped wake on the otherwise still water of the steam.

June 7, 2012. I arose early at Mud Landing, at 6AM, packed up my gear, and headed over to the Jonesboro Maine Forest Service District Office. I met with Sgt. Hammond the official in charge of the area. He gave me permission to install a seismic station in the Wesley garage and also made many helpful suggestions about where we might be able to site future instruments. I then drove up to Wesley and spent several hours installing the instrument. I used several two-by-fours that were laying around the garage, in order to make a frame for the boxes, and afterward drove to a lumberyard in Machias to buy replacements. After dropping them off, I drove up Machias River Road, looking for a campsite for the night. I found one, called Log Landing, a couple of miles north of Route 9. It has several picnic tables and tent sites and overlooks the Machias River. I set up there and cooked a dinner of eggs and grits. Though low in the sky, the sun shone for several hours. I relaxed as the shadows of evening lengthened, reading a book and watching rabbits frolic in the field. I guess they were Eastern Cottontails, although they seemed bigger than the ones I commonly observe by my house in New York. The night was clear and rather cold for June, in the high forties Fahrenheit.

June 8, 2012. The morning at Log Landing was absolutely clear. I ate an egg sandwich for breakfast. I dried off my tent in the sun and walked along the bank of the Mathias River, which was covered by a thin layer of mist but was brightly lit by the sun. After packing up, I drove Route 9 back towards Bangor, stopping occasionally to admire rivers, wetlands and lakes along the road side. One particularly noteworthy view was of Pleasant River Lake, from a high spot along the highway just east of the town of Beddington Maine. I decided to take a break from driving, and deployed Hraun on Beddington Lake, from a launch at the south end of the lake at the end of Dam Road. I paddled counterclockwise around the entire lake, following the shoreline. I startled a deer, which was grazing along the shore, and it jumped into the lake in front of me and swam over the other shore (although dashing into the woods would have more sense). The outlet stream is at the north end of the lake. I paddled up it a bit, and then made a wide circle through a wetland dotted with three tall beaver lodges. I then headed back, continuing along the shoreline. Many cottages line the lake shore, but I passed only one with signs of habitation. Several men dressed in waders were setting up for a day of fishing by one. After returning to the launch, I packed up and headed back south. The day became progressively cloudier and light rain began to fall when I was in the vicinity of Augusta. I stopped for the night at the Abbott Cottage in Harpswell Maine. I cleaned up and ate a dinner of steak and noodles. I went to bed early but was awakened by thunder and lightning from a storm.

June 9, 2012. The morning was crystal clear. I was woken by the light very early, at 5:30 AM. I packed up, had a quick breakfast, and then spent a few hours seeing the sights along Route 24, which connects Grand, Orrs and Bailey Islands. Casco Bay and its many islands, coves and salt marshes are very beautiful, especially in the morning light. I made two longish stops. The first was at Lands End, on Bailey Island at the very end of the highway. From this vantage, I could see Halfway Light, a lighthouse at the entrance to the bay, and Little Mark, an island with a prominent stone tower. The second was the Long Reach Nature Preserve on Grand Island. I spent an hour walking the Bog and Loop trails (blazed in yellow). The trail wanders through low woods and bogs, reaching finally an overlook above Long Reach, a narrow arm of the sea. Both eastern and western shores of the Reach are rather steep, but the western shore more so, with high cliffs in several places. I spotted a Lady Slipper, a plant vaguely reminiscent of a tulip, in bloom along the trail as I returned. I then continued back to New York. My path took me within a few miles of Newport, Rhode Island, so I stopped to visit my sister, Lisa and her husband, Todd, who have a cottage there. They were racing their sailboat, the White Rhino, when I arrived. I spent the afternoon relaxing on their porch, reading a book and sipping iced tea, for I was very tired. After they returned, they invited me to dinner at the New York Yacht Club, which was having a post-sailing race reception. The reception was on a tent on the lawn, with a great view of Newport harbor, with all its sailboats and the Claiborne Pell Bridge in the distance. The festivities lasted until 10PM, so I decided to stay at their cottage overnight.

June 10, 2012. I arose at 6AM and drove straight back to New York. Interstate 95 in Connecticut, which can have awful traffic during peak hours, was empty and the drive was trouble free.