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A
Week Under the Stars - Paddling/Camping the Islands of
Maine
A
Collaborative Report
*
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE
THURSDAY
 As
we were sitting around on the rocks, enjoying our hot morning drinks
of choice and watching Doug prepare Breakfast Burritos, a mink slinked
down to the waterline and slipped in for his meal.
Another addition to most of our “first sightings” lists.
The plan for the
day was to paddle along the West side of
Isle au Haut
and hike up Duck Harbor Mt.
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ROUTE INFO - 12.93 miles |
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| - Start at Wheat Island
- Round east side of Burnt Island
- Follow Burnt Thorofare
- Follow Island au Haut Thorofare (land at village)
- Round Robinson Pt
- Round Trial Pt
- Cross Moores Harbor
- Enter and land at Duck Harbor (lunch and hike)
- Reverse Route
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 About half-way
through the Isle au Haut Thoroughfare (splits the island and Kimball
Island), we landed in the village harbor for more supplies.
One would probably not be completely remise in thinking that
this adventure was dictated greatly by our continual need to restock
our beer supply. However,
while true to some degree, the fact is that we were able to take
advantage of opportune situations where and when it was available...
it was never the deciding factor in our planning.
[Nelson]
“I was looking forward
to stopping at the
Isle Au Haut
General Store and not just
because they had beer (seriously). Like I said before it's always fun
to visit the small island communities and this time I actually got to
visit (well
sort of). We arrived at
10:30AM
to find out the store wouldn't
open until
11:00 AM
. Doug suggested we paddle
further down to the public landing where we could use the facilities
at the Ranger station if we needed to before heading back to the beer
store... I mean general store. On our short walk from the landing spot
to the store we passed by a house with two dark colored deer in the
yard that dashed away as soon as they saw us. I don't think I've ever
seen a deer with a coat that dark before.
 The general store was better than I expected with a great variety of
beer. Unfortunately all of the "good" beer was in bottles
which don't pack in or out very well on wilderness camping trips. So
we settled for the Budweiser which actually tasted pretty good under
the stars and before a blazing lantern.
I picked up an
Isle Au Haut
hat as a souvenir before
heading on our way to
Duck
Harbor
.
 [Chip]
“The village on
Isle au Haut
was quite interesting. Most of
the vehicles were not registered and were badly in need of tune ups.
The Post Office was basically a shed. The store is open for 2 hours a
day. Good selection of beer for a small store. The Sunbeam, which is a
traveling missionary ship, was on hand for church services at
4pm
. It really was a unique place.
A walk back in time.”
[Steven]
“What
thrilled me most about our visit to the village was the free loaf of
“hearty” bread I was able to pick up from the general store.
Apparently it was past its expiration date...
good eaten by my low standards.”
 At
the southern-most end of the
Isle au Haut
Thoroughfare is the
Isle au Haut
Lighthouse. Naturally, we
had to stop for photos of this Maine Icon.
A bit further beyond, we negotiated through the rock garden of
Trial Point, choosing our moments when a swell provided an opportune
time to pass over and between boulders.
After
being buzzed twice by a Coast Guard Helicopter on the
Moores
Harbor
crossing, we finally landed on the protected shore of
Duck
Harbor
. Provided on this small
section of the Acadia National Park, at the foot of Duck Harbor Mt.
are a few lean-to’s. These
are inconspicuously situated so as to be private from each other and
blending in nicely with their natural surroundings (as best as a
man-made structure can). Also
nice is that one needs to hike or paddle in to these shelters… no
vehicles allowed. We chose
the picnic table of one for our lunch and feasted on just about
everything remaining in our snack bag.
John had even brought the remaining empanada mix from the
previous evening and, to most of our dismay, included that with his
meal.
[John]
“I felt it was my obligation to eat any of the leftovers, otherwise they
would just get thrown out.
And it’s not my fault beers get cracked open when dropped (by
Nelson) on the rocks and I didn't want those to go to waste either.
And then that bottle that came out every time we got to an island, or
returned to an island, or were thinking about going to an island. I'm
honestly just a victim of circumstances, and just now learning that
time is relative, and someplace, someone is cracking open a beer, and
eating, so why not me??”
[Nelson]
“Having
that Coast Guard helicopter pass over us so closely was a rush.
We all wondered where it was going.
I was hoping it would come back before we were out of range and
luckily it did. It looked
as though it made a deliberate turn in our direction and stayed low
again while it passes over us. I
was able to snap a picture of it and Steve a short video but neither
does the experience justice.”
 After
lunch, we switched to hiking shoes and climbed the short but steep
single-track up the side of the mountain.
The panoramic view from the summit was spectacular… nothing
but green trees, blue water and sky, white clouds, and grey granite.
[Chip]
“The climb to the top
of
Duck
Harbor
Mt was awesome and well worth
the effort to get there. The views were spectacular. The lean-to
camping at the base looks great as well. Nice place to come back
to.”
[Steven]
“It
was nice to get some use out of my legs… I’m not accustomed to
going 6 days without some sort of lower-body exercise and I was
starting to get antsy. Doug
and I sprinted both the ascent and descent.
I kept thinking, “This is really going to suck if one of us
breaks an ankle. But, it
was a nice change of pace.”
 The return trip to
camp was a very relaxed paddle. The
weather was nice and the wind was at our back.
We had been virtually “claiming” houses as our own
throughout the week, and finally settled on the log cabin we found
nestled on the shore of Burnt Island in a little protected cove facing
Mouse Island… very rustic, quaint, and peaceful.
 Once close to
camp, we practiced our towing skills.
Doug was kind enough to give some great pointers.
However, it wasn’t long before whoever was towing would turn
to find that they were actually towing 3 manned boats, as opposed to
the one they supposed.
Dinner of Pizza (a
Doug specialty) was followed by another evening of star-gazing and
camaraderie. As had become
the norm… the jokes were flying.
FRIDAY
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