After travelling every weekend last summer for research (A.K.A. hiking and camping!) for my 10 Days in the North Woods hiking guide, I wanted to stick around and enjoy home more this summer. Add on some health issues I’ve faced of late, and come September I realized I hadn’t camped out at all since June!
I was getting the itch. I have enjoyed my time at home and getting out into Acadia National Park in my backyard, but as glorious as Acadia is it’s nice to explore new trails. And, yes I have a backpacking trip to Baxter State Park in just two weeks, but two weeks was feeling like WAY too long to wait.
So on a recent afternoon, with some splendid cool, dry weather due the next day, I spontaneously decided to check out some trails and a camping spot I had had my eye on. Acadia National Park, Baxter State Park, and many of the well-known trails in Maine like Tumbledown, Bigelow, and Gulf Hagas are certainly nice and quite dramatic; but I was on a quest to explore some of the many, many lessor-known preserves and trails that pepper the State of Maine.
The Amherst Community Forest was the perfect location for a quick get-away, when I felt the need for a night under the moon and stars. Just an hour drive to the north, and only a half mile from the trailhead to the primitive campsite on the shore of Ducktail Pond.
Finding a dog-sitter only a couple hours before departing was unlikely, so my energetic pup Tess was along for the trip. She hikes with me regularly, and has car-camped and done a canoe trip with me in the past. It had been a while – I didn’t think through WHY it had been a while – but I was only heading out for one night so no big deal, it would be fun to have her along.
I finished up work for the day a bit early, managed to get food prepared and gear packed in just over an hour, and hit the road. I found the trailhead without too much trouble, donned my pack, and got Tess set up with her very own pack. She carried her own food in, as well as a bottle of beer for me – good dog!
With only a half mile to hike in to the campsite, it was a little bizarre heading out and then reaching my destination in just ten minutes. We were just getting going! But it was just as well; in these days of waning sunlight, we reached Ducktail Pond as the sun was setting. There was just enough light left for me to set up the tent, toss a line in a tree limb for my food bag (got the line over on the first try, go me!), and gather and saw wood before it was totally dark.
As I a got the fire going – it took a while, recent rains meant damp wood that did NOT want to burn, but I prevailed! – I could see the moon rising through the trees. Coincidentally it was a full moon that night, and it was beautiful.
I enjoyed my dinner and the stout Tess had hauled in for me in front of the – hard won -fire, under the light of the full moon. However, it was difficult to relax entirely, as Tess was wondering when we were going to keep going on our hike and return home. The initial whining and crying whenever I moved away from her by this point had faded into sitting and staring at me, “It’s time to go mom, c’mon!” Despite the destruction caused – she has no sense of “Leave No Trace” apparently – it was nice break when she would occupy herself by digging at tree roots. But mostly she was whining or sitting and staring at me, she was not having fun. Not once all evening did she lie down and settle in. Ugh.
I should have foreseen this based on past experiences, but I guess I had willfully blocked it out. What I HAD foreseen was the camping equivalent of her insisting on sleeping under the covers in my bed. Sure enough, as soon as we got in the tent, she was quite forceful about getting in the sleeping bag with me, and there she remained through the night.
Lucky for me, she was not squirming, and only rearranged her position a couple times during the course of the night. And, she kept me nice and warm, even if it was a bit crowded! With the tent’s fly left off knowing it would be a dry night, there was only a screen above me, and I headed off to sleep under the light of the full moon, now risen fully above the trees, and with a gentle breezes blowing through the trees and caressing my face. It was perfectly lovely, my heart was content.
Next morning, after some strong coffee, we took the trail over to Partridge Pond for some exploring before packing back out.
With only a couple of miles of trails in this area and a perfectly beautiful day still before us, we stopped to explore another lesser-know set of trails on the way home. Long Ledges and Baker Hill, owned and managed by the Frenchman Bay Conservancy. While these may not have been the mountain peaks of Acadia, the trails were well-maintained and well marked, and more to the point were exceedingly pleasant passing through spruce forests, and along granite ridges covered with lichen interspersed with red pine.
I should note – that while the hoards were making their way parade-like along the trails in Acadia, I never saw another soul at either the Amherst Community Forest or at Long Ledges and Baker Hill!
On the way home, a stop at the Blueberry Hill Dairy Bar was called for, to get Tess a Doggie Bowl (vanilla soft serve sprinkled with dog biscuits) to make up for her trials over the past 24 hours. We were back home in time for me to get in an afternoon of work and finish some things that needed finishing before the weekend.
I was glad I had motivated at the end of the previous day when it would have been so easy to just stay home. I had a mini-adventure, a beautiful night camping out under the full moon, and got to explore some lesser-known and less-populated trails that were just delightful. It has inspired me to explore some of the other “hidden” campsites and sometimes obscure, but almost always wonderful, small trails that are just waiting for my discovery in the forests all around me. Next time however, as much as I love her, I think I leave the dog behind!
If you would like to discover some of the less-famous trails and preserves in your neck of the woods, your best bet is to contact your local or regional land trust. If you don’t know who that is, you can find a listing of land trusts in Maine here. Or, check out Maine Trail Finder for maps and trail descriptions of almost 1,000 trails across the State of Maine.
Outdoor Explorations ~ Acadia & Beyond 