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Derek Davis/Staff Photographer
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Derek Davis/Staff Photographer
HOW WE PREPARED THIS SERIES, AND WHY STAFF WRITER Tux Turkel and Staff Photographer Derek Davis spent four days exploring an area of the Maine woods that is undergoing important changes. THE APPALACHIAN MOUNTAIN CLUB is working to create a national destination for adventure tourism and recreation on 67,000 acres east of Greenville. The plan is in its infancy and will evolve over the course of the 21st century. THE TWO traveled by canoe across remote ponds and along a shallow river, pedaled a new 17-mile mountain bike trail, and followed the route of a proposed hiking path that would connect with the Appalachian Trail. They also slept at or visited four sporting camps along the route and met people working and staying at them. THE GOAL is to give readers a taste of the adventures they can find today in this changing region, and what the potential might be in the years ahead.
ABOUT OUR REPORTER AND PHOTOGRAPHER TUX TURKEL is a staff writer who covers business issues, including tourism, energy and real estate. A graduate of Emerson College in Boston, he has won several state and regional awards for reporting and has worked at the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram for 27 years. In 1997, he and three other journalists reported the Forgotten Water series for the Maine Sunday Telegram, tracing the 130-mile Eastern Maine Canoe Trail from the New Brunswick border to the Penobscot River. DEREK DAVIS has worked in photojournalism for 10 years, the past three at the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram. Previously he worked as a staff photographer for the Journal News in Westchester County, N.Y. He is a graduate of the University of New England in Biddeford.
Oh, and we were a little lost.
Soon the logging road we were following crossed a fast-flowing stream. Staff photographer Derek Davis climbed down with his water bottle and digital audio recorder. I did what I should have done an hour earlier -- took out a compass, put it on our route map and got oriented.
I didn't like what I saw. The trail we were supposed to be following heads south. Any stream crossing that trail should flow from right to left, into the west branch of the Pleasant River. This stream was moving left to right. That told me we were definitely moving in the wrong direction.
We had no choice but to retrace our route and find where we went off course.
In hindsight, it's no surprise we got a bit "turned around," the accepted backwoods euphemism for not knowing where you are.
The Pleasant River Valley Bike Trail is brand new, meant to connect the AMC's Medawisla Wilderness Camps with Little Lyford Pond Camps. Until we made the ride two weeks ago, no one had followed it without a guide from the AMC. There weren't even signs to mark turns in the tangle of logging roads that cross this region.
But the AMC has big hopes to lure mountain bikers here. It's part of the club's grand vision for outdoor adventure tourism and recreation in the region.
We wanted to see the potential and ride the trail in its earliest stage. We discovered a route filled with scenic mountain views and a challenging off-road experience that includes the novelty of carrying bikes across a beaver dam.
Our ride started with little drama. A storm that lingered overnight was clearing, leaving behind white bands of clouds across the mountaintops. We were in the saddle by 8 a.m., pedaling out of Medawisla and enjoying the sunshine.
In my pack bag was a map that showed key turns and mileage along the trail. Shannon LeRoy, AMC's program manager, and Rob Burbank, the AMC's public affairs director, had cycled the route and helped sign the turns. The trip should take less than four hours, they estimated.
The early miles were a piece of cake. The logging road is in decent shape, the turns well-marked. Warblers and sparrows sang in the woods beyond a grassy shoulder flecked with daisy, buttercup and Indian paintbrush. In the distance, the broad summit of 3,230-foot Big Spencer Mountain and its companion, Little Spencer Mountain, stood above First Roach Pond. A streak of white cloud clung to Big Spencer. Very pretty.
From time to time we passed piles of decomposing slash that mark old wood yards. It was a reminder that we were in a working forest, and to keep an eye out for logging trucks -- though we never saw one.
The trip was going well, as we sped down a steep hill and banked into a right curve. We'd covered roughly 12 miles, I guessed. We'd be at Little Lyford Pond Camps for lunch, at this rate.
At the bottom of the hill, we stopped to appreciate a large bog created by beavers. Then the road began heading up.
The temperature had reached 80 degrees by mid-morning, and I was starting to tire.
We rented our bikes from Northwoods Outfitters in Greenville, and an AMC staffer had picked them up for us. We never had a chance to sit on them before the ride, and they were too small. So we rode scrunched over, unable to pedal with full power.
I only mention this to justify what happened next: Davis got off his bike and started walking it up the hill. He told me he had nothing to prove.
It's about time, I thought. He's younger and stronger than me. I had been waiting for him to stop pedaling. Moments later, I joined him on foot.
It was clear by now that something was wrong. I just couldn't...
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