[Journal for Fieldtrip 12C of the QMIII Project, Northern Maine, July 23-27, 2012]. During this fieldtrip, I (Bill Menke) serviced the three seismic stations that we are running in northern Maine.

1:00 PM, July 23, 2012. I left Tappan NY late in the afternoon, having spent the morning in my office at Lamont completing paperwork.

8:15 PM. I spent the night at Seahaven Cottage in Harpswell Maine. I ate a dinner of canned chili and chips.

7:35 AM, July 24, 2012. I left Seahaven and drove up to Brunswick, where I bought gas, a breakfast sandwich and coffee at the Shell station.

2:53 PM, I arrived at Moose Point Camp on the east shore of Fish River Lake, west of Portage, Maine. I chatted with John Martin, the proprietor, and decided to stay the night. He set me up in Cottage 9, a small log cabin that commands a very nice view of the Lake. I was the only guest at the Camp that night, though several relatives of Mr. Martin were visiting. Among these was a six-year old boy, Cadence. He was interested in my photography, so I showed him how to operate my camera (a Cannon Eos 50D). The Camp serves dinner in its lodge. Mr. Martin, Cadence and his father and I had a pleasant conversation over a steak dinner.

After dinner I walked down to the seismometer site, on the access road to the camp. I noticed recent moose footprints in a muddy section of the path by the lake, but did not spot the moose. I inspected the seismometer. It is undisturbed. I shall download the data tomorrow. I then walked down Pit Road and then left onto an unlabeled woods road that I was hoping would take me to the north end of Fish River Lake. It did not, however, instead turning to the east. One high spot commanded a nice view of the hills to the east. I arrived back at the camp a little after sunset. The sky was clear and turning a deep blue. The moon was visible in the western sky. I was tired and turned in early.

8:00 AM, July 25. I ate a breakfast of scrambled eggs and bacon in the lodge. I then spent about two hours servicing the seismometer. Ants had built a large nest inside the enclosure. This caused no problem with the seismometer, but made it difficult to service - I sustained several bites. I powered down the seismometer and downloaded the flash card to my notebook computer, which I set up in the car. I then reactivated the seismometer and performed a stop test. All seemed fine, so I resealed the enclosure.

12:30 PM. I launched my kayak Duck from the camp’s beach, and paddled a loop around Fish River Lake. Duck is a tandem kayak, so I weighed down the front seat with a log. The sky was clear, and a north wind was blowing, causing some chop. I followed the circumference of the lake, which is mostly shingle beach and boulders, heading first to the north. The northern end of the lake is marshy and a stream flows into (or maybe, out of) the lake. I sighted a bald eagle in this area. I then ran with the wind southward, to the other end of the lake, a distance of about three miles. The waves were quite strong, so I pulled into the calmer waters of a stream for a rest. I then continued along the circumference, passing a sand stretch in a cove in the southeast corner of the lake. The paddle back to the camp was against the wind and rather strenuous. The complete loop of about eleven miles took me two and a half hours. I left the camp shortly after reloading Duck. I should have applied sun screen, for I got a bit of a burn from the bright sunlight.

6:15 PM. I arrived at Shin Pond Village in the early evening and reserved campsite T9, the same one that Vadim Levin and I used on fieldtrip QMIII-A. It is on a grassy knoll among apple trees. I set up my tent (a Sierra Design Zolo) and ate a dinner of eggs and bacon and then spent an hour in the lodge, reading my email and chatting with the folks there. I met four retired educators from New Hampshire and discussed with them a Columbia’s approach to a liberal arts education. I then returned to my tent and went to sleep.

7:30 AM, July 26, 2012. I ate a breakfast of a breakfast sandwich made from eggs and bacon. I needed to finish up the food lest it spoil. I then broke camp and checked out.

8:55 AM. I drove to the Hay Lake forest service station and serviced the seismometer there, following the same procedure as I used yesterday. No ants were nesting at this one, though I did see droppings that suggested that a mouse was sitting beneath the plywood cover. The field around the seismometer has nice wildflowers, including large patches of Black Eyed Susan. I walked down to Hay Lake while I was waiting for the computer to boot. Turkey vultures soared overhead.

I then drove south to the last station at Wesley. This is a long drive; unfortunately, I made it longer by making a wrong turn that took me to Houlton, farther north along Route 1 than Topfield, where I had hoped to join it. The scenery was pleasant though, and I stopped several times to view wetlands, rivers, fields and lakes. Grand Lake, a very large lake just north of Danforth, is especially beautiful. The view of it from Route 1 is especially good. I stopped at the Danforth Gulf Station for a snack.

2:12 PM. I arrived at the Wesley Forest Service garage and serviced the seismometer there. I then headed south. The sky clouded over as I drove south, and light rain began to fall.

5:40 PM. I had a meatball hero for dinner at the Amato’s Restaurant in Brunswick. I then drove to Harpswell.

7:10 PM. I had received an email that two of my friends, Paul and Liz Calkins, were in town, so I went over to their cottage on Graveyard Head Road. They invited me to dinner, so I had a second light dinner of a pork chop, broccoli and rice and chatted with them for several hours. I then drove over to Seahaven Cottage and spent the night there. Rain fell throughout the night and into the following morning.

10:00 AM, July 27, 2012. I ate a breakfast of oatmeal at Seahaven Cottage, packed up and headed back to New York. I stopped at the Roy Rogers in Sturbridge for lunch.

5:46 PM. I arrived back in Tappan, New York, after a fairly smooth drive, except for heavy traffic crossing the Tappan Zee Bridge.