July 17, Thursday – Up and Down

I needed some exercise and fresh air in my lungs so I set out early from my camp to hike up 1,300 feet to the top of Mount Megunticook. The tail climbs in the woods then plateaus on a bench then up the forested ridge to the summit ridge. When I reached the bench I heard a noise, a large noise, in the woods in front of me and saw a large furry animal step out onto the path. I stopped and held my breath. “What the hell was a moose doing at this elevation?” She looked back at me and then did a double take. I wasn’t watching her as much as I was watching the woods behind her for cows are a lot nastier when it comes to their calves. No calf. And off she loped up the path with a backward glance to check on me.
At the summit I ran into a couple from Campton, New Hampshire and after a few lines of conversation knew they were of kindred spirit. They had been to Nova Scotia and again local knowledge was cultivated. Good information from good people. After soaking up the spans of Penobscott Bay with all of her islands, I headed back down to camp.
After lunch I went down to the waterfront to hang out. The three schooners, Mary Day, Angelique, Lewis R. French were gone but a young lad was coming up the ramp and we talked. The big schooners go out on four to six day cruises but across the harbor was another fleet of schooners that do day sails. He said that eight schooners call Camden “Home Port” and that each town in Mid-Coast Maine has its own set of schooners. WOW.
I love taking things slowly. So I walked around the tiny harbor I past the waterfall from the old mill pond to the public dock and checked out the tables with umbrellas that made up the "offices" of the four different day cruising schooners. I looked at who was representing each schooner and I naturally drifted to an easy going woman, who was knitting and started talking to her about the schooner she was selling tickets for. I liked her. The Olad was built as a gaff rigged in 1927 and was 58 feet LOA. Walter Cronkite owned her for five years; the captain now owns her. She sounded like the specs and history of our schooner Rejoice back in La Conner. So I signed up for the 5 o'clock sail with 18 other folks. The Olad was well kept up but had been pretty much gutted down below in prep for some new workings. The 1st mate was a woman who moved slowly but with determination. When she asked for a volunteer to hoist the throat halyard, I was there. After the main was up, I coiled and hung the throat and peak halyards on the mast. I spent most of the two hours chatting with Sophia. She had been a boat person for a long time spending three seasons on the Pride of Baltimore on both sides of the ocean. The wind conditions were ideal out on the bay and the movement of the boat put me over the top remembering my water years. Sweet memories along with a sweet boat.