By Amy Hoffman
Eastmanites on Lake Umbagog / Anne Langsdorf
Eastman Community Association’s Recreation Department plans an annual backcountry camping trip for the summer. Groups have visited Lobster Lake and Rangeley Lake in Maine, Umbagog Lake in New Hampshire, and Adirondack lakes in New York state. We have traveled down rivers—once with a guide who provided Twinkies for dessert. Not one of our favorites.
There are two things that make me a “repeat camper”: the peace found in the wild and the camaraderie with fellow campers. It’s a little like Outward Bound for older folks. As Louise Dickenson Rich wrote in her book, We Took to the Woods,
There is not much tranquility left in this world today. It may be that striving to preserve a little of it…we are making the best contribution within our powers.
The 2017 trip at the northern tip of Lake Umbagog included a visit to the original homestead that belonged to Rich. There is a hiking path leading up the Rapid River to the unusual fishing camp where she wrote about her experience raising a family in this remote setting. The camp is for sale and hopefully slated to be a Maine historical site. A guide gave us a tour of the camp; there was an old Life magazine from the 1940s on a table. The camp is a museum of backwoods living totally off-the-grid during the 1930s and 1940s.
Several years ago on the Adirondack trip, we had the experience of traveling from lake to lake through a lock. While we were in the lock, we watched the water slowly rise before we were released to the next lake. It was a new experience for most of us.
The group size is usually limited to a dozen participants, mainly because of the size of camping sites. Twelve folks in a van pulling 12 boats loaded with gear. Just so you understand, all personal gear must fit in your boat and still have room for community gear and food. It is not easy to carry a tent, sleeping bag, and all the other stuff you think you need in a small kayak.
Menus are planned in advance, and we always include calzones, which are made from scratch, but breakfasts are the best. You have no idea how wonderful oatmeal with all the “fixins’” and a hot cup of coffee tastes on a cold morning. Lunch is all sorts of finger-food. You do not go hungry on these trips.
Clothing needed ranges from bathing suits to fleece, and don’t forget the gloves! There are times when you wear fleece to bed in August. We have experienced amazing thunderstorms and even a hailstorm that looked like snow. That one kept us off the water for a while.
The best part of our backcountry camping trips is we always have fun despite the challenges of camping in remote areas. Once it took two hours on a bumpy, potholed, logging road to get to where we started our adventure. Lloyd, our driver on that trip, shared his favorite recipe with us:
LLOYD’S PARTRIDGE AND BEANS
Partridge
B&M Baked Beans
Jack Daniel’s BBQ Sauce
Hot dogs with natural casings
Mix all together, cook on open fire, and enjoy.
Amy Hoffman is a long-time Eastman resident and outdoors enthusiast who contributes regularly to Eastman Living.
2019 WILDERNESS EXPERIENCE
This year’s summer wilderness trip will be to the Penobscot River in Maine, Aug. 12-16.
According to Wikipedia, the Penobscot River is 109 miles long, but if you include the river’s West Branch and South Branch, the length increases to 264 miles, making it the second-longest river system in Maine and the longest entirely in the state.
For more information about this trip, contact Leslie Moses at leslie@eastmannh.org.