Going to sleep early means waking up early, and we stirred just after the sun had begun its ascent. A layer of frost had developed on the outside of our sleeping bags and tent, but I was actually quite warm in my long underwear pants, jeans, fleece button-down, fleece vest, jacket, winter jacket, knitted hat, Read More
Penobscot River
Fall: East Branch of the Penobscot River, Day 2, Part 2, Third Lake
Third Lake was breathtakingly beautiful. We pushed off into the inlet, and after only a minute or two of paddling turned the corner to see the lake view unfold in front of us. Unlike Fourth Lake, I couldn’t see the bottom of Third Lake. Much of its banks were rocky, or rose as huge boulders. Read More
Fall: East Branch of the Penobscot River, Day 2, Part 1
The second day of the four-day excursion dawned bright, if a little cloudy. Still, the forecast didn’t call for any rain, and the temperature remained in the sixties and seventies all day. Perfect. Morning gave Brian and me a few hours to explore the East Branch of the Penobscot at the Matagamon Wilderness Campground, situated Read More
Fall: East Branch of the Penobscot River, Day 1, Part 1
Day 1 – Part 1 After a late night flight in to Portland and a five-hour drive, I was finally in the Maine woods. Less than 24 hours earlier I had been on the west coast of Florida, and the contrast between the white sand beaches and the dark, pine-covered mountains was stark, but beautiful. Read More
An Introduction
I grew up in Maine, near Portland and the gorgeous coast bordering the Atlantic Ocean. My mother is a forest ecologist and my father an angling author and Maine fly-fishing guide, so it comes as no surprise that I am passionate about Maine’s environment. In fact, my very first summer internship was with the Natural Read More
Canoeing the East Branch of the Penobscot River: September 13-18, 2015
by Bruce & Hartley Spencer We were introduced to this wild part of Maine when our parents took us to Baxter State Park in 1955. This visit and subsequent visits impressed upon Hartley and me what a magnificent gift Percival Baxter gave to the people of Maine. Our first canoe was named Wassataquoik for this Read More
Exploring Katahdin Woods and Waters
In February I spent five days with students from Chewonki’s Maine Coast Semester exploring Katahdin Woods and Waters, the area east of Baxter State Park proposed for inclusion in the National Park system. The Maine Coast Semester is a four-month-long program for high school juniors. In the fall and again in the winter/spring, 42 participants Read More
An Endangered Species of Sturgeon May Be Making a Comeback
By Patrick Whittle, The Associated Press Washington Post news story An endangered species of sturgeon has rediscovered habitat that could be a key to improving the fish’s reproduction, University of Maine scientists say. The shortnose sturgeon, listed as endangered for nearly 50 years, has returned to the portion of the Penobscot River that is beyond Read More
Newly Accessible Habitat Attracts Endangered Species of Sturgeon
UMaine scientists hope the fish will spawn next spring now that a dam is gone from the Penobscot River. by Patrick Whittle, The Associated Press An endangered species of sturgeon has rediscovered long-inaccessible habitat that could be a key to improving the fish’s reproduction, University of Maine scientists said. The shortnose sturgeon, listed endangered for Read More
