INTERNATIONAL APPALACHIAN TRAIL

THOREAU’S CHECKERBERRY- TEA CAMPSITE & STAIR FALLS

by Earl Raymond, Maine Chapter IAT/SIA

The East Branch of Maine’s Penobscot River is famous for canoeing and fishing. Many hundreds of tourists and fishermen have made the trip from Matagamon Dam down to the Penobscot’s West Branch in East Millinocket. The river is little changed since Thoreau made his journey, especially from Grand Lake to Whetstone Bridge.

Two, routed, informational signs, both in T5-R8 WELS were installed on June 4, 2011, along the IAT. The Thoreau sign at the top of a steep bank on the East Branch of the Penobscot and the Stair Falls sign about one mile north of Haskell Rock along the trail.

Thoreau’s 1857 trip is well known and much has been written about it and his Indian guide, Polis.

The location of any of Thoreau’s campsites is of interest to many people. In this case, Thoreau describes a location that can only occur for a very short distance along the East Branch. In 2005 I decided to see if it was possible to locate this campsite by putting in at Matagamon Bridge and kayaking down the river the “some 5 miles“described by Thoreau. As it turned out, it is closer to three miles to the campsite’s location.

Thoreau wrote three pages about his stop here including Polis having found ”steel traps under a log, thirty or forty “, and lots of notes on flora.

Thoreau campsite 30 July 1857: Allegash & East Branch, chapter 8, pages 29-31

The description by Thoreau of his East Branch campsite on 30 July 1857, 154 years ago, is very detailed. “Having carried over the dam….. and glided down the stream in smooth but swift water for several miles…. we stopped at the first favorable shore, where there was a narrow gravelly beach on the western side, some five miles below the outlet of the lake. It was an interesting spot, where the river began to make a great bend to the east, and the last of the peculiar moose-faced Nerlumskeechticook mountains not far southwest of Grand Lake rose dark in the northwest a short distance behind …. but we could not see this without coming out upon the shore. “

There is only one short area on the East Branch where this condition exists; it is at the beginning of what is now shown on maps as the “Oxbow”. The mountains can easily be seen from the river south of this area, although going downstream it requires turning around and facing up the river to confirm this.

These mountains are Billfish and Horse. Billfish is closer and very prominent; Horse is lower but shows a steeper face from both the land and the river. Billfish can be seen for a long way when coming up the river, around the bend of the Oxbow, because the view is looking up the channel in a northwesterly direction. Horse appears lower and to the east because it is farther away.

There is a stream coming in from the west, just up the river, that limits the area of the campsite because of the “bank four or five feet high”.

The woods (interminable forest) that Thoreau mentions are not here now. There was a camp in the vicinity that has been removed, and there is a” bank four or five feet high.” There is also a gravel road along the river at this point. Billfish can be seen from the location of the sign.

Thoreau called this Checkerberry-tea Camp because the Indian, Polis, made some pretty good tea from the Checkerberry (Gaultheria procumbens) by dropping a little bunch of it tied up with cedar bark into the kettle.

The next day Thoreau continued down the river and writes of smooth but swift water, which it is in the Oxbow, but never mentions Stair Falls that are less than a mile downstream and very prominent. The falls would not have required a portage in midsummer. After Stair Falls are: Haskell Rock Pitch, Pond Pitch, Grand Pitch, Hulling Machine Falls, and Bowlin Falls, before Thoreau’s next campsite. “We had heard of a Grand Fall on this stream, and thought that each fall we came to must be it, but after christening several in succession we gave up the search. There were more Grand or Petty Falls than I can remember.”

Thoreau’s next campsite (July 31.) was below the mouth of Wassataquoik Stream. “We had passed the Wassataquoik without perceiving it.”—–“camped about a mile above Hunt’s, which is on the east bank—“

STAIR FALLS

The Stair Falls sign is located on the IAT about one mile north of Haskell Rock. There is a good road/path from the sign leading one mile to the falls.

The first written record that we have of the falls is in the 1793 survey Field Book of Jonathan Maynard. Maynard was engaged by Massachusetts (Land Committee) along with Park Holland to survey the Penobscot River and lay out a line 6 miles east and parallel to the river. This six mile strip was to be reserved for the Indians.

JULY 30, 1793

“Left home and go to Boston, on my way to the Eastward on a Survey with Capt Park Holland where we receive our instructions from the Land Committee and Provisions for the Voyage and continue in town until the 4th of August “

Maynard and Holland sailed for the Penobscot River, proceeded up the river in a small schooner, and on the 8th day of August arrived at a place called Canduskeeg or Bangor. At the head of tide they made Quarters with Col J. Eddy, engaged our men for the survey, and were sworn by Justice Eddy. On the 13th they stopped at Indian Island in Old Town but found no Indians there.

It takes Maynard & Holland until the 16th of August to start the survey near Old Lemmon Stream, just north of Old Town.

On the 30th of August, Maynard came to the “Great Crotch of ye river” and proceeded up the East Branch.

Sept 01, 1793 “At 11 o’clock Capt Holland came up with his party, and we find that this way will not do. (They had been leap frogging). They decided: “Capt Holland to run the line over to Quoddy and then as far north as he can and for me (Maynard) continue up river with what provisions we have.”

Maynard continued up river with his survey crew and on Wednesday 11th Sept 1793 made the following entry which would be difficult to say better.

“we mark a large pine 48 mile at ye foot of ye handsomest falls I ever saw – they resemble mill dams and run as straight across the river as a line can be drawn & are 8 or 10 in Number as regular as a stair case”

Maynard continues on “and come to the great Lake or Pond being 53 miles and 178 rods from Mattawaumkeeg ….and see an Otter on our arrival at the Lake and call it Otter Lake.”

There was no dam at this time; there were three or four small ponds. Later, when the dam was built, there was and remains today only one lake, Grand Lake Matagamon.

On his return to Massachusetts, Manard compiled a very professional, large-scale map that can be found in the Massachusetts Archives in Boston.

On May 12 – 14, the Maine Chapter IAT held their annual meeting at Shin Pond Campground in beautiful Mt Chase, Maine . Program Manager, Walter Anderson, put together another really great meeting, and we thank him.

On the opening day, Steve Pinkham gave a talk on “Tales from the Maine Woods” held at the Lumberman’s Museum. Later that evening, Will Richard gave a presentation on IAT Greenland and the Faroes.

Friday was a full day which included the morning presentation of Don Hudson and Bob Marvinney’s trip to Spain, Portugal and Morocco. The trip went very well and Spain is expected to be joining the IAT in 2011.

Following this presentation, Douglas Rankin and Tom Weddle presented the “Geology of Baxter State Park Bulletin”.

After a short break, Bart DeWolf spoke on the IAT Slieve League Trail and Joe Kelley on the IAT Shetlands. Joe will be traveling to the Shetlands and will meet with representatives about the possibility of them joining the IAT as well.

Eno Bonebakker presented the Appalachian Anti-Atlas Mts in Morocco followed by Bill Duffy’s presentation of the new IAT Maps that he developed. The IAT is very appreciative of all the work that Bill Duffy has done in supporting the IAT with his wonderful maps which you can find on our web sites.

After lunch, Jensen Bissell, Director of Baxter State Park, gave a report updating us on the latest happenings at Baxter State Park. This was followed by an informative presentation by Ted Koffman, Executive Director of the Maine Audubon Society, talked about the programs and educational opportunities at Maine Audubon. Don Hudson and Bart DeWolf then gave a lovely presentation of the Birds of the Maine IAT. Mark Leathers from the Sewall Company, gave an update on EPI/East Branch Status.

After the break Dick Anderson talked about the upcoming 10th Anniversary of the Quebec Chapter which is going to be a extraordinary weekend with numerous exciting events planned in October.

The was followed by Steve Norton’s “Evolution of Maine’s Aquatic Resources and then Herb Hartman and Seth Levy presented the IAT Quebec Field Guide and talked about IAT’s presence on Facebook.

Then down to business for the IAT Maine Chapter IAT Business meeting followed by Attitude Adjustment, Dinner and key note speaker George Jacobsen on “The Influence of Climate Variability on Acadian Landscapes”.

The weekend concluded with a tour, hike and history of Bowlin Camps with a superb luncheon provided by Bowlin.

Everyone is already looking forward to next year’s meeting scheduled for May, 10,11 and 12.

Left to Right, Front Row: Leo Gill, Dick Anderson, Will Richard. Back Row: Don Hudson,

Paul Wylezol, Bob Melville, Poul Jorgensen

Representatives from the International Appalachian Trail Chapters in Maine, United States and Nova Scotia, Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland/Labrador, Canada met in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada on April 30, 2011.The agenda for the meeting included a review of planned Chapter activities for 2011 and a review of recent, exciting developments in Europe.

The major focus of the meeting was the development of a draft of IAT chapter responsibilities. After lengthy and thoughtful discussion a draft was agreed upon. That draft will be circulated to all Chapters for their review and comment and submitted ,for approval, to all Council delegates at the 2011 Annual General Meeting(AGM) to be held in Quebec, Canada in September. Quebec IAT Chapter Coordinator, Eric Chouinard reviewed plans for the 2011 AGM, which will include the 10th Anniversary of the dedication of the IAT in Quebec.

Clockwise: Dick Anderson, Leo Gill, Don Hudson, Paul Wylezol, Will Richard, Ellen Wilcox,

Paul Jorgensen. Not Pictured, Skyped In Eric Choinard & Denis Dunne.

The time and location of the 2012 AGM was also discussed. In the coming weeks all IAT Chapters will be electronically poled for their input on this important issue.

After completing the agenda Council members adjourned to a local Irish Pub for some cold beers, some fine food and some great socializing.

Pictures supplied by Will Richard and Paul Wylezol

Another long-distance hiker heads for Newfoundland and Labrador

Christopher Wetzel and his wife have begun their long-distance

hike—Harper’s Ferry to Crow Head—

See the picture and follow their progress at

> Http://www.postholer.com/ontrail

Dick Anderson at IAT booth

All IAT Chapters were represented at the Maine Travel & Adventure Expo in Bangor , Maine on the weekend of April 1,2 and 3. The information table(see picture) was continually staffed by your team of Poul Jorgenson, Walter Anderson, Carl Lavigne and Dick Anderson. Traffic on Friday was reduced by a significant, late-season, snowstorm, but traffic was high on both Saturday and Sunday, making for a very busy weekend. It was impossible to count, but we estimated that 300-400 people visited our booth and most of them left with some of our printed materials.

We had many chances to explain the principles of our trail and the geographic distribution of the trail around the northern Atlantic Ocean. I think we interested a lot of outdoor people in the project and I feel sure that some of them will organize hiking vacations in areas through which the trail passes. The cost( about 700 USD) was shared by: New Brunswick, Maine, Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador IAT Chapters.

Poul Jorgenson, Dick Anderson and Carl Lavigne

Paul Bunyan Statue

The International Applalachian Trail extends the original AT past Maine’s Mount Katahdin north through 1,830 miles of regged eastern Canadian wilderness, including Newfoundland’s Gros Morne National Park, which is rife with freshwater fjords. And that’s just the start. International agreements are in the works to expand the trail hundreds of miles through Greenland, Scotland, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, and Morocco.

Simon Winchester certainly knows how to make the most of uncomfortable predicaments. Whether it is a dicey week on Greenland’s icy mountains as a geology student at Oxford University, or a spell in an Argentine jail on espionage charges during the Falklands War, he turns the experience into a great account. That account is realized to its fullest in his new book, "Atlantic." One suspects it is the book that the writer of such best-sellers as "Krakatoa" and "The Professor and the Madman" has wanted to write all his life — or at least since he first crossed the eponymous stretch of water aboard an ocean liner when he was 18.

REVIEW

"ATLANTIC: GREAT SEA BATTLES, HEROIC DISCOVERIES, TITANIC STORMS, AND A VAST OCEAN OF A MILLION STORIES." By Simon Winchester. Harper. 495 pages. $27.99

That voyage is one of the personal experiences that bracket this marvelous exploration of an ocean in all its qualities. The other is a more recent pilgrimage to a seaman’s grave on the Skeleton Coast of Africa, a voyage he conceived of in Patagonia, on the other side of the South Atlantic. For Winchester, like his compatriot Patrick Leigh Fermor with whom he shares an erudite enjoyment of adventure, such incidents are the starting point for ruminations that travel quite literally all over the map.

Open "Atlantic" at random and a classic turn-of-phrase jumps off the page. He uses a wry understatement, often associated with the British. Viking expansion, he observes, for some time made the Atlantic "a zone of unpredictable and ceaseless unpleasantness." He also has an eye for the detail that brings a story to life: In the Greenland emergency, his minimal remaining supplies included "bizarrely, a single carton of bay leaves." Then there is his curiosity about everything. Even the book’s typeface gets a little story. It all goes to make the hefty tome a joy to read.

Tackling the biography of the Atlantic — the original title, "Atlantic: The Biography of an Ocean," was vetoed by Barnes & Noble as too boring — is a formidable undertaking. There are two parts to the tale, and they are inherently incongruous. The human story perches roughly in the middle of the geological one, a mere 200,000 years (to be generous) in what will end up just shy of a 400-million-year saga. Actually, serious human interaction with the Atlantic is a matter of only a couple of millennia, during which time it has changed — in our understanding — from an outer limit into a vast mysterious entity, and then into a bridge toward new opportunities.

To frame our short but frenetic relationship with the sea, Winchester uses the "Seven Ages of Man," the famous speech from "As You Like It." Like toddlers, we first stuck our toe in the Atlantic’s water, then successively learned to explore it, to love it and to fight over it. The last three ages are more general: our growing oceanic dependence required laws and organization. And inevitably, with human order established, we started to take the ocean for granted, then became content to let it decline from our carelessness. But ours is a short perspective. The eternal ocean merely readjusts itself, whether to our liking or not.

Actually, it isn’t eternal at all, thanks to the power of plate tectonics. Winchester uses the ocean’s geological back story to set the stage for the creation of the Atlantic and to describe its probable death. His description of the former has the verve of a "You Are There" broadcast: "A gigantic series of explosions started to cannonade around … Unbearably huge earthquakes began to shake and shatter the planet … The immense universal continent of Pangaia … started to weaken and groan with the weight and weariness of its long existence."

The end of the Atlantic will be less dramatic, though it’s certainly not going out with a whimper. The author employs a lovely conceit: the bumping together — "with the slowest and gentlest of collisions" 170 million years from now — of two lighthouses that are now 10,000 miles apart.

"Atlantic" is a font of information, from fascinating facts (never use the honorific "mon" when addressing a French naval captain by his rank. Napoleon took it away in disgust after his navy lost the battle of Trafalgar; it is plain "capitaine" to this day), to important developments (the Dutch city of Rotterdam’s innovative response to sea-level rise), to sweeping historical conclusions (pirates and slavers were the "inadvertent godfathers" of naval warfare and its strategy).

Winchester addresses all things Atlantic, including the many ways we are polluting it, about which he writes passionately.

And yet he is surprisingly circumspect — unduly so, in my opinion — on the subject of the human contribution to global climate change. But perhaps other readers will appreciate such restraint.

Simon Winchester’s life and interests have taken him all around and back and forth and back again across the Atlantic. He has also amassed more than a few years’ worth of formidable research about it.

Top all that off with his gifts as a raconteur, and you have a book that will please and fascinate anyone who has ever seen a ship or a wave.

The report below was written by Seth Levy. His friend the legendary long distance hiker, Ed Talone has begun his hike of the Eastern Continental Trail(ECT) . It will be great fun for all of us to follow his progress northward on this 5500-6000 mile hike.

Seth will provide us with regular updates.

For those of you that have driven the 7 Mile Bridge, you know that there is no sidewalk and the road is very narrow, so it is a real challenge.

You can find a rough map of the ECT at www.nimblewillnomad.com

"This Sunday, Ed Talone, former Trails Information Specialist at American Hiking Society, arrived on the mainland at Key West, FL, and began a 6,000+ mile trek north. The day before, Talone took a 68 mile boat ride to Dry Tortugas National Park, walked the length of the Park, spending the night, and took a 68 mile boat ride back to begin a multi-year trek of the ECT – the Eastern Continental Trail. By beginning further south than anyone before, Talone is adding a unique twist to a daring adventure. First hiked by John Brinda in 1997, the Eastern Continental Trail links the Florida National Scenic Trail, the Pinhoti Trail, and the Benton MacKaye Trail, the Appalachian Trail, and the International Appalachian Trail together into a massive network traversing the length of the East Coast. With thru-hikes of the Appalachian, Continental Divide, and Pacific Crest National Scenic Trails behind him – Ed must have felt compelled to begin the ECT in style.

As of 2 PM eastern 3/1/11, he is just past the 7 Mile Bridge, and stopped for a break in Marathon, FL. He’s at mile 49, feeling strong, and looking forward to hitting northern Maine by late fall 2011. True to the style he began in, Ed is planning a few variations on the “standard” ECT thru-hike, if such a thing exists. He is planning to explore rail-trail networks in northern Maine, and Prince Edward Island."

______________________

Update – 2/17/11, I spoke to Ed Talone, who is 30 miles north of Lake Okeechobee, and some 375 miles into this Eastern Continental Trail thru-hike. He’s been hiking along reclaimed lands bordering the Kissimee River, averaging some 20 miles per day, and feeling strong and healthy. It’s hot in Florida, and Ed is reluctant to drink even purified water out of the muddy Kissimee, so he’s carrying more than a gallon of water. Campsites have been fine, except for the occasional encounter with cattle! There are a huge volume of cows in the area. Since the beginning of his journey, Ed has crossed 151 bridges and 8 cattle styles."

More than 60 people took a virtual hike along the International Appalachian Trail on Sunday, Feb. 13, 2011 at the St. Lawrence Arts Center.

“The International Appalachian Trail: Maine to Morocco,” sponsored by Friends of the Eastern Promenade (www.friendsofeasternpromenade.org) and Portland Trails (www.trails.org), explored the geology, geography, history and breathtaking scenery along the trail. Richard Anderson and Don Hudson, two of the people behind the International Appalachian Trail, along with Walter Anderson, Chief Geologist of the IAT Council, led the program.

The history and development of the trail was detailed in stunning pictures of the mountainous landscape between Maine and Morocco. The presentation explained how plate tectonics affected the breakup of the original mountains.

The International Appalachian Trail was proposed on Earth Day 1994 by Gov. Joe Brennan, Dick Anderson and Don Hudson. The three envisioned a hiking trail extending northward from Mount Katahdin – the northern end of the famous Appalachian Trail – along the Appalachian Mountains through Maine and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec. The idea received strong support in Maine and Canada, and after numerous meetings between citizens along the proposed route, a trail was developed from Mount Katahdin to Mont Carleton in New Brunswick and ending at the summit of Mont Jacques Cartier in Quebec.

Buoyed by worldwide publicity, supporters hope to extend the trail throughout the original Appalachian Mountains that existed 300 million years ago during the age of the super-continent Pangaea. Plans are under way to continue the trail southward to France, Spain and Portugal and ultimately to the geological end of the original Appalachians in the AntiAtlas Mountains in Morocco. Beyond the United States and Canada, IAT chapters now exist in Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, Ireland, Wales, Scotland, and England.

REVIEW

"A GUIDE TO THE GEOLOGY OF BAXTER STATE PARK AND KATAHDIN." Douglas W. Rankin and Dabney W. Caldwell. Maine Geological Survey, Department of Conservation. $10.

The department evidently takes seriously the proverb that we can only conserve what we love, and we can only love what we understand. Not long ago, I reviewed Gawler and Cutko’s bountiful "Natural Landscapes of Maine" in these pages.

Now comes "A Guide to the Geology of Baxter State Park and Katahdin," a pragmatic book that will appeal to the casual as well as the expert rock hound.

In the case of Baxter Park, of course, love and conservation are already there, but understanding will surely deepen the awe we already feel by merely watching Katahdin in the distance.

The book is a serious revision of D.W. "Dee" Caldwell’s earlier work that reflects advances in our understanding of the origins of the Appalachians over the 40-odd years since it was last published. Caldwell, well known to amateur geologists for his "Roadside Geology of Maine," died in 2006, and the task, including writing a new section on bedrock geology, was taken up by Douglas Rankin, scientist emeritus at the U.S. Geological Survey.

The result masquerades as a modest pamphlet such as one might purchase at any visitor center of a natural wonder. Don’t be fooled. It is a tough slog, and that’s without climbing Percival Baxter’s mountain.

But let me be clear: The writers have done everything they can to smooth the way and help the reader through what amounts to an advance course in geology.

If understanding is the key to conservation, the key to understanding is good clean presentation, both graphic and literary. Written with clarity, which is unusual for a fairly technical work, "A Guide" should thoroughly reward anyone with an interest in our planet’s ancient history.

Starting from the definition of the meanest terms of art ("A rock is a naturally formed solid, consisting of an aggregate of minerals and (or) naturally occurring glass"), we are taken on a journey through the mind-bending complexities of vast forces tangling with each over unimaginable time spans.

The bulk of the text is devoted to the two major events that gave us Baxter Park’s iconic landscape: its emergence out of the earth’s bowels 400 million years ago, give or take; and then, fast-forwarding to a mere 2½ million years before our own times, the scouring of the glacial period.

The first produced the raw model, the second gave it the final polish. A 1:100,000 geological map accompanies each section, which is a significant (and beautiful) aid to following it all.

It must be admitted that to savor some topics requires a higher degree of specialization than an amateur reader is likely to possess. I am not sure how many people can get excited over the biggest controversy in the book, "whether mountain glaciers persisted in the cirque valleys of Katahdin after the continental ice sheet had retreated to the north." However, for those who can, the case for each point of view is lucidly made.

On the other hand, the casual reader can expect to come across delightful little flourishes, such as: "Baxter Park must have been an exciting place for a time in the Early Devonian — although one would not want to have been anywhere close to it."

The writers calculate that volcanic explosions produced 80 cubic miles of ash flow; by way of comparison, "the devastating 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens was less than one tenth of a cubic mile." Pointing up the fact that sea level has risen in the last 25,000 years, mammoth teeth have been found "far enough from shore that we may conclude that these elephants, notoriously poor long-distance swimmers, were able to walk there."

A final section, "Exploring Park Geology," takes the science and chronology and packs them into five suggested hikes around the park, organized to expound either glacial or bedrock formations.

Caldwell believed in "observation and instruction in the field" above all, and the authors do not neglect its practical aspects. If you are lost in the park, "knowing that hills and outcrops are usually steeper on the southeastern side than on the northwest can be a more reliable guide than looking for moss on the north side of trees." And of one of the trails they suggest, "ascent should not be attempted in bad weather if for no other reason than that part of the story is in middle distance views."

Again and again, Caldwell and Rankin make the twin points that geology is a lively science, and that we have an extraordinary geological feature in our own backyard. They have written an essential tool to help us explore it.

And locked in them thar hills are plenty of answers to life’s persistent questions awaiting discovery.