School’s Out, Families Are in the Woods
Last week was the first week of summer vacation for most schools in the area, and families with kids are beginning to show up everywhere. Almost all of the summer camps and sporting camps are back to an almost normal schedule. It is good to see our friends from away returning. These camps are not only very important to the local economy but often bring visitors from all over the country who learn the joys of living near a lake in Maine.
Many later come back to settle here in their retirement. There are many Camp Kennebec alumni around Salmon Lake, Pine Island and Runoia alumni around Great Pound, Manitou and Matoaka alumna around East Pond, and Snow Pond Center for the Arts alumni everywhere. This is also true of former visitors to Bear Springs, Alden Camps. Whisperwood, Castle Island, Wheeler’s Camps, and other family camps in the watershed. Residents of Taconnet have been playing tennis with the same “kids” for decades. A recent UMO study estimates youth summer camps alone generate about $323M in direct and indirect economic benefits in Maine annually.
I recently went to Mount Phillip and discovered five families from the Norridgewock Seventh-Day Adventist Church getting ready to start a group hike. The families were from Rome, Farmington, and Norridgewock. It’s great to see so many families. “taking it outside.” On one of the really hot days last week, I got out early on the 7 Lakes Mountain Trail and met Graham Love hiking with his young kids, Emma, Sam, and Molly. The Loves have a family camp on Mountain Drive and have been hiking that trail for years.
The recent wet warm weather is turning everything in the woods green, and I have been enjoying harvesting a lot of spring greens and the first flushes of yellow chanterelle mushrooms. While out gathering mushrooms one day last week, I encountered many non-human families out in the woods. In the span of an hour, I encountered a doe and her fawn, a ruffed grouse that pretended she was wounded to draw me away from her chicks, a pair of wild turkey hens leading about a dozen poults, and a pair of Canadian geese with eight goslings that were trying to stare me down, and threaten me with bodily harm if I took a few more steps their way.
The trout fishing has been good for the past month but is beginning to slow down as the water warms. Once the surface water temperature gets above 70°, the trout will tend to stay below the surface mixed layer in the cooler water below the thermocline (currently about 20 feet down). I have still been catching some nice rainbows trolling streamer flies or small spoons just off the bottom in areas 20 to 25 feet deep. The sunfish are still spawning in the shallows and provide a lot of action for youngsters just learning to fish! Check out the Hasenfus Family visiting their parents and grandparents on Tracy Cove. Spending some time fishing off the docks. They caught a lot of sunfish and a couple of bass.
This area offers some great outdoor recreation, whether you like to hike, bike, birdwatch, fish, sail, or paddle a canoe or kayak. Pick up the latest map of the local trails at Day’s Store or the 7LA building. Upcoming programs including family hikes and Tuesday afternoon nature presentations from Chewonki, are described on the 7LA Facebook page and website. Also, keep an eye on the sign in front of the building as events are being added all the time. Get on their email notification list for updates.
Do as they used to in the “good old days” and take a kid fishing, or on a hike, or paddling in a canoe. It’s how memories are made. Or take a parent, so he or she can become a kid again.
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