Day 3 - Tuesday 11 July 2000 We had a visitor to our campsite just before we got up. A raccoon came through checking for food. I heard him sniffing around my tent and rattling the one plastic bag we had left out, a trash bag left hanging from the table. Not finding anything of interest at our site he moved on and thoroughly trashed a site nearby. By the sounds of it he not only raided their food, he also played drums with their cookware. Kathie, Ruth, and I got up at 3:30 AM to drive to the peak of Cadillac Mountain to watch the sun rise. Although windy and bitingly cold, the trip was well worth it. Watching the sun first paint the clouds that hugged the horizon, then paint the upper edge of the clouds was an inspiring sight. It looked like a fire that started at one point on a ridge line then spread in both directions until thirty degrees of the horizon looked like it was on fire. Then the sun made an appearance in a grand spectacle of red. When it finally arrived the sun popped above the horizon rather quickly. Being with special friends and knowing that we were the first people in the U.S. to see the sun rise that day made the event even more rewarding. After watching the sunrise the three of us went back to the Park Loop Road to see the things that we had skipped in our haste to see me off to get my kayak on Monday. I wanted to find Anemone cave, which I had seen referenced on one map that I have, but nowhere else. But I missed the turnoff yet again. Driving the Park Loop Road at five thirty in the morning is much better than later in the day. There is a feeling of solitude that you rarely get on the loop road. Almost no one else is out; you have every view and every cove to yourself. Even the traffic noise is gone, allowing you to pretend that you and the dear friends with you have the island to yourselves. In a park that can get so crowded in the afternoon the early morning is serenely beautiful. Kathie fell asleep in the car on the way back to camp. This was to become a recurring theme as she slowly unwound from the stress of work. I was glad that she was able to relax and catch up on much needed sleep, and thankful that I had a vehicle that was smooth and comfortable enough that she could sleep in it. We joked that Kathie was trying to beat my daughter Shaina's record for time between the car going into gear and the lights going out. In the end Kathie beat Shaina's record by almost a quarter of a mile, falling asleep in the first three hundred yards of a trip. Windbound. Kathie and I had planned to paddle out to Bear and Sutton islands, but the wind was too high. We discussed the situation for about two hours, then decided to go check the situation out in person. If the conditions didn't look good we would head elsewhere and find a sheltered area. Before we even got to Seal Harbor Kathie was commenting on the sea conditions she was seeing. I was driving, so I relied on her to watch the water while I watched the road. Kathie mentioned that the sea had that dark, ominous look to it that it gets when conditions are rough. Arriving at Seal Harbor and looking across to Sutton Island we decided that the approximately twenty knot winds were more than we would find enjoyable. A road trip in search of a better, less windy place was in order. We headed to the west side of Mount Desert Island. Crossing over the top of Somes Sound to the west side of Mount Desert Island is like crossing the border to another country. Where the east side of the island is almost entirely commercial and tourist oriented, the west side is predominantly fishing and agriculturally based. Kathie and I had a wonderful time looking at all of the houses, farms, and bays. Many homes were set so far back that they could not be seen, with just a two track driveway and a mailbox to mark that someone lived there. Another difference was sand. There is actually sand on the side of the roads on the west side of the island. The shoulders on the east side are mostly rock. Arriving at Pretty Marsh Harbor, we found that the wind was just as bad as at Seal Harbor. We had hoped that Bartlett Island would shield us from the wind, but that was not the case. We were amazed to see a kayak tour company taking people out in that wind. Many of the people in the group were so novice as to be getting instruction on how to don a PFD and the basic forward stroke! Although a bit uncoordinated, they seemed to be doing OK in their wide doubles. Personally I would not have wanted to be one of the guides on that trip, there was too much chance of someone ending up in the water. Returning from Pretty Marsh Harbor, past the miniature horse farm, we stopped at the north end of Long Pond to paddle. The wind there was in the ten to fifteen knot range, so we felt comfortable paddling there. We paddled south around Northern Neck, then northward again around an unnamed point just north of Rum Island. With the winds from the northeast we were paddling almost directly into the wind once we rounded Northern Neck. We took a short break, discussing boat trim and its effect on weathercocking, something for which my Caribou is notorious. The discussion then drifted to boat stability and how much the paddler affected it. Kathie showed me that she can lay back completely on the rear deck of her Squall with her paddle over her head on the deck. My back will not let me do this in my Caribou and I was quite impressed, so pictures were in order. About this time our stomachs took over and directed us back to Rum Island for lunch. Before we got there we were side tracked by a mother loon and two chicks. Mom seemed quite unconcerned by our kayaks, hardly bothering to look at me as I glided by taking pictures about twenty feet away. Kathie was able to get even closer, and spent almost five minutes within about ten feet of the loons without them trying to leave. While we were eating lunch a young man in an aluminum fishing boat came into the area the loon was in. We don't know if he was intentionally harassing the loon, or just trying to get a closer look, but she became quite upset. She reached the point of doing a flapping, splashing run across the water to try to lure him away from the chicks. By this time there were four of us standing in plain sight on shore watching what he was doing. He looked like he was going to try to get close to the loon again. Either because he realized that he was being watched, or because it finally dawned on him that he was bothering the loon, the young man left back the way he had come. I have never been able to understand how some people can have such a callous attitude towards nature and the creatures around them. The paddle back from Rum Island to the point of Northern Neck was a downwind coast. Good time was made, and we had fun "surfing" the six-inch waves that the wind had generated. By this time the wind had died down a bit, being more like five knots with fifteen knot gusts. At times our paddling speed matched the wind speed and we would roast in the dead calm air around us. Rounding Northern Neck, we once again faced into the wind. Although slightly harder work, going into the wind was actually more pleasant than running with the wind. Going into the wind you have the wind to cool you off. We made good time on the way back to the beach, with several canoeists providing a humorous side show. These people had obviously just rented a canoe that day and did not have a clue about how to move in a straight line. One couple was wonderfully synchronized, both paddling the same cadence and switching sides at the same time. But they were both paddling on the same side! It would seem that some people thought that Kathie and I made an attractive couple, as we paddled by one canoe the couple in the canoe stopped paddling and pulled out a camera to take pictures of us! It must have been Kathie who caught their attention, she is the beautiful one of the pair. Others were watching from shore as well. When we paddled up to the beach I let Kathie try out my Caribou. While Kathie was out in my Caribou a woman came over to me and started talking about kayaks and how much she loved them. She was aware that my boat was a Caribou, and that the designer lived nearby. Barry Buchanan lives in Southeast Harbor. Kathie came in after a couple minutes and joined in the conversation. When Kathie mentioned having trouble finding a boat that fit her the woman suggested trying a Surge, and offered to let Kathie try out her daughters kayak! While Kathie and I were out paddling on Long Pond, Ruth, Jeff, Kris, and the boys went to Eagle Lake. I was told that everyone had a most excellent time and that Ruth was impressed by the speed of Jeff's canoe. Jeff is a fairly experienced paddler, and quite powerful because of his height. Those long arms give a lot of leverage. He would make a fast sea kayaker if he ever got it into his mind to buy one. With the seven of us back together again we decided that it was time to head into town for dinner. We went to the Blackboards restaurant, home of the world's best (in my opinion) haddock. We discovered to our delight tat Tuesday is children's day at the Blackboards, children eat free. They had a live musician roaming the place, and he fascinated Jason. Jason would sit and stare at him with his eyes huge. This normally active boy, always into something, was quiet for almost ten minutes. In an interesting revelation we discovered that Kathie didn't know the song "The Farmer in the Dell!" Obviously Ruth was remiss in Kathie's upbringing. Then Kathie admitted to not knowing that there was vinegar in vinaigrette, and humor flowed free. We were a group of friends sharing good times together. It was on the way home from the Blackboards that Kathie set the new worlds record for nodding off. She told me the next day that she didn't remember going to bed, she just woke up there the next morning. Mike -- Paddling along through fog so thick that only one's thoughts are visible, your reverie is abruptly shattered by the ancient cry of a great blue heron as she lifts uncertainly from the brilliant blue of a mussel-shell beach witnessed only by the brooding, wet spruce....your passage home seems as much back through time as it does through space. Mark H Hunt *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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