[Bill Menke’s Journal for Fieldtrip 13G of the QMIII Project, North Maine Woods, September 11-16, 2013] During this trip, I (Bill Menke) searched for seismometer sites in the North Maine Woods north of the town of Allagash in Aroostook County, Maine.

September 11, 2013. The weather report for tomorrow is awful, with heavy rain predicted in Maine. I decide to drive up a day early and wait out the worst at Seahaven Cottage in Harpswell Maine. In contrast to the bad weather predicted for tomorrow, today’s weather is perfect, the sky wonderfully clear.

I have often passed a sign along I495 for Walden Pond, the site of the cabin where Henry David Thoreau lived in 1845 and which inspired his famous book Walden, or, Life in the Woods. Today, with time to spare and in the early afternoon, I take the exit and follow Route 2 to the town of Concord Massachusetts; the detour taking about fifteen minutes. Walden Pond State Reservation is rather crowded today, which surprises me as it is both a Wednesday and well after Labor Day, the nominal end of summer. I barely get a parking spot; indeed the park closes to new arrivals shortly after I arrive. I walk first to the swim beach, at the eastern end of the pond, and then take a hiking trail around the circumference. The shores of the lake are wooded, mainly with conifers, but with some deciduous species, too. Most trees are still in summer greens, but a few maples are beginning to turn bright red and many of the bushes along the lake shore have changed to red, too, though a duller shade. The lake shore has more relief than I imagined it would, making the bank rather steep in most places. Occasion stone staircases have been built to facilitate access. Many people are swimming, not only at the beach but elsewhere along the lake shore, and a few people are about in kayaks and canoes. I cross a small causeway between the lake proper and a smaller marshy area. In a while I come to a stand of large of conifer trees in which stands a cairn and a small rectangular plot of land, surrounded by a fence with stone posts. A sign informs me that this is the site of Thoreau’s cabin. I pause for a moment, reading a paragraph from Walden emblazed on a sign, and then continue my walk. It takes me about forty minutes to complete the circuit.

In the late afternoon, I take a break from driving and stop in the town of York, on the coast of southern Maine. I stop first at a tidal river along Route 1, and admire the view of the marsh grasses and the goldenrod, now blooming bright yellow. I then drive to the coast and to Hartley Mason Reservation, a park on the sea cliff just north of York Harbor. I walk through the park and then along a little beach adjacent to it. Many people are sunbathing but only a very few are swimming. I suppose the water to be rather chilly. I walk out onto the rocks for a while and head back to the car. I make one final stop, at Soheir Park, at the end of Cape Neddick, a peninsula just north of the large and very commercial York Beach. The park provides a splendid view of Nubbles Light, located on a rocky island just offshore, composed mainly of a hornblende gabbro. The lighthouse and associated outbuildings are dramatically lit up by the setting sun and are very picturesque, indeed! I continue my drive to Harpswell after a few minutes of poking about on the rocks, arriving at about 7PM.

September 12, 2013. The weather in Harpswell is awful today, with heavy rain and strong and frequent bolts of lightning. The thunder makes Seahaven cottage shake! Reports for elsewhere in Maine are just a bad. I decide to stay in the cottage until the morrow.

September 13, 2013. The weather is still wet, though less stormy than yesterday, and is predicted to improve during the course of the day. I drive up north, stopping briefly at Kelly Storage in Orono Maine to pick up supplies that I have left there on the previous trip. I stop at Joe’s Country Store in the town of St. Francis Maine for a snack, and then purchase a North Maine Woods pass at the Little Black Checkpoint in Allagash Maine. I enter the north woods though the automated Dickey Checkpoint, a few miles further down the road. I then take the unpaved Camp 106 Road northward to its terminous and Estcourt Road a few miles east to Deadeye Bridge Campsite #2, on the Little Black River. I arrive at 6PM, the drive up from Harpswell having taken about nine hours. Fall has arrived here: most of the maples are red and many of the beeches are starting to turn yellow.

The evening is overcast but the light rain that fell through most of the day has ended. I set up camp and cook a dinner of pork ribs and couscous on the Coleman stove. I tour the immediate vicinity campsite, walking over to the bridge so that I can view the Little Black River. But the light is fading and I retire to my tent soon thereafter.

September 14, 2013. The weather took a turn for the worst during the night; intermittent moderate to heavy rain in now falling. I cook an egg sandwich during a lull, and then spend the day driving a 10 mile stretch of Estcourt road and many intersecting side roads, looking for prospective seismometer sites. I visit old gravel quarries, clear-cuts and a work camp with a green garage. I find several excellent prospective sites. I have lunch at Little Black River Campsite #1. Its picnic table is below a little wooden pavilion. I eat my lunch in relative dryness even though rain continues to fall. The rain ends at about 3PM, and I take a walk around the three campsites in the area. Two have views of the river that I’m sure would be beautiful on a brighter day. The view from the bridge is especially interesting; a long arcuate beaver dam spans the river there. I spend some time examining the many different kinds of mosses and lichens that cover the ground.

I returned to my campsite and ate another dinner of pork ribs and couscous.

September 15, 2013. The morning is spectacularly clear. I arise at 7AM, have a hurried breakfast of an egg sandwich and coffee, pack up my tent, and spend a couple of hours revisiting all of yesterday’s locations, so that I can photograph them in better light. The river is indeed spectacularly beautiful in the morning sun, especially since some clouds of mist still linger on its surface.

I drive Camp 106 Road back to the town of Allagash, stopping at a clear-cut at about the half way point to view Rocky Mountain, a small but prominent hill east of the road. I also stop at a wetland to admire the maple trees along its borders, now fall red.

I stop several times during by drive back to Harpswell. I view the Allagash River near the Route 161 bridge, whose bank is full of bright yellow flowers – Black Eyes Susans, I think; the St Johns River from a rest area near the town of St Francis; Eagle Lake from a park off of Old Maine St, near the Old Mill Marina in town of Eagle Lake; the north end of Portage Lake and the red vegetation long its shore, from a high point on Route 11; several wetlands along Route 11 south of Ashland, and Mt Chase, from Shin Pond Village.

I stopped at the store at Shin Pond Village to buy a few supplies, and exchanged greeting with Terry Hill, its proprietor. I then drove Grand Lake Road out to the Forest Service Station – one of the QMII seismometer sites. The exterior of the station was in good condition, but as we are scheduled to service it fully next month, I did not attempt to communicate with it. I also had a pleasant conversation with the ranger, Owen, and his colleague Joanne. They gave me some advice on how to access Sugarloaf Mountain, a nearby peak that they said offered an excellent view of the area. I plan to visit it on my next trip.

I decided to try to drive through Baxter State Park, and so continued along Grand Lake Road, past Grand Lake Matagamon, to the North Entrance. Unfortunately, the ranger there told me that the road had washed out during the rain and was under repair; a transit of the park was not possible. So I turned around and drove Route 11 straight back south, except for a few brief stops for gas and dinner. I arrived at Seahaven Cottage in the town of Harpswell at about 8PM.

September 15, 2013. I arose early and drove straight back to New York, arriving in Tappan NY in the mid-afternoon.