A string of fine drying days and the second cutting is in the barn. It is very nice stuff and the bovines will devour it like candy I’m sure. Gerry and Sue seem to be having a family reunion this week, so we had a
large crew of volunteers tossing bales and made short work of it. Many thanks to them!
We read Michael Pollan’s book, In Defense of Food, outloud to each other in the course of our trip. He advocates for a return to a basic whole food diet, where we worry less about how healthy any particular food or ingredient is, and enjoy more the taste and social aspects of eating. Eating whole/real foods takes care of the health concerns. Processed foods are not real food, and regardless of their health claims, its better to just not eat them. This while, at least for part of the trip, we are eating dehydrated ‘teriyaki rice’ or some such thing. Couldn’t help but agree that it didn’t measure up to real food.
We were driving home and stopped at this Wildlife Refuge in NE Vermont. Its one of several along the Connecticut River protecting a variety of habitats. We got a map and decided to drive across the basin and rejoin the highway at the other side…. how long could it take? 1/2 hr or so? Two and half hours later we re-acquire Rt 105…. the place is
huge. Not to mention the dirt roads limit your speed to about 20mph at best…. another place with middle of the road rock outcrops that could destroy your car if you don’t pay attention. It is obviously a wildlife haven though. We might have to plan a trip back sometime to investigate more thoroughly.
OK, we’re strange, but we get fascinated with lichens too. This one
with the pink fruiting bodies was new to us… Around the lake were many boom logs left from the days of river logging that ended here in the 1970’s. As we paddled in for a closer look, we noticed that they were covered with a lichen forest.
With the constant wet 
weather, mushrooms were popping
everywhere. They are a special interest to Jody and Brian, so I took lots of pictures.
Mid August is not the best time to look for birds. They’re not defending territory or looking for mates, so they are generally quieter, which makes them harder to find. But we got a look at some nice species… Northern Parula, Palm Warbler, Grey Jays, …. but the topper was a pair of Black Backed Woodpeckers that I heard well before I got a 2 second glimpse of them. Linda heard them, but we are both looking forward to a better view sometime. Birding is a great way to get out and turn on your observation skills, but we are interested in anything new and different from the homestead… plants, mushrooms, bats skimming over the water at dusk…. and wouldn’t we like to see a moose again… its been awhile. So the local advice is to go down to the end of the ‘VIP Rd’ around dusk. This is a dirt road that has rocks and potholes to take out the oil pan of a full size truck, and a few streams running over the road,
but we figure we can compensate in our Matrix using superb driving skills. Never saw a moose, probably because we couldn’t take our eyes off the road, but there was plenty of adrenaline all the same. Only bottomed out once, and didn’t get stuck. Pictured is one of the nicer sections of road…..
We traveled a few hours east into Maine to Indian Pond, which is a reservoir above a
dam on the Kennebec River. Its at the end of a long dirt road with campsites nicely set in the woods. 
We came here because I wanted to try the whitewater run below the dam. A
Class III-IV run that is apparently a rafting mecca….. 65 rafts ran the first day I was there. It is big class III, but for me, it was a bit underwhelming with limited waves to play. The stairs down into the Gorge and especially back out again were fairly challenging however.
We were exploring the McGalloway River that comes into the lake. Loons were fairly common, but we didn’t see any evidence of successful breeding here… ie no chicks. It sprinkled on us on and off, but we like that kind of weather. With our spray skirts on, wide brim hats and raincoats we stay snug an dry, and invariably have the place to ourselves and the wildlife.
Venturing back into the lake, we wandered through a delta-like area and continued our exploration down the Androscoggin River that leaves the lake near to where the McGalloway comes in. About a mile down the sky opened up and dumped buckets of rain, accompanied with some fairly disturbing lightning strikes. We moved to the edge of the river, trying not to be the obvious and highest target on the water. We just put our backs into it and headed back to our island camp. The rain was so intense that it soaked through the zippers (and any other possible opening) of our raingear and pushed the limits of the spray skirt water resistance…. we ended up totally soaked by the time we got back. A memorable adventure! Just a note, it rained at least once everyday except one during the week.
One of our campsites was on an island in the lake. Off the point of our temporary home was a Bald Eagle nest with a juvenile setting on a limb of that or a neighboring tree. He called and called…. “I’m waiting here for a little food!” The parents came by
occasionally and called back…. they seemed to be encouraging it to take those first steps to get its own food. The teenage period is tough.
We like isolated wilderness for our ‘extreme’ camping. So it was a little disconcerting when we arrived at the check in point for Lake Umbagog in northern New Hampshire, and it was a bit crowded with motorboats and ‘party barges’, and a number of vacation cottages dotting the shore. Not what we pictured when we started out. All in all the motorboats were minimal on the lake, and generally respectful of other boaters. Only one jetski buzzing around like a mosquito, skipping across its own wake for fun. With our campsite a seven mile paddle down the lake, we left most of the fumes behind, but it still lacked the sense of quiet and isolation that a lake restricted to paddle craft affords. Even a small motor boat sends its whine far across the lake…. a hundred canoes or kayaks would seem less crowded. Just a pet peeve of mine…….
How much they miss because they can’t hear over the noise, or whatever wildlife was there left before they got close enough to see it. We drifted along and saw a Red Shouldered Hawk (a bit rare) bathing along the shore, and our kayak drifts so silently that
we didn’t seriously spook a parent Goldeneye and were within a few feet of its sleeping Goldeneye Chick.