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A.T. Ferry du Jour
A feature story on the Appalachian Trail river crossing in Caratunk, Maine
(by Nick Callanan) Georgia to Maine. Or, if you like, Maine to Georgia.
No matter how you hike it, the Appalachian Trail is a damn long walk. Most folks take at least 150 days to scramble over all the
mountains, hollows and rivers between Katahdin and Springer Mountain.
By far, the widest and most perfidious river through-hikers have to cross is the historic Kennebec in Caratunk, Maine.
And they couldn’t do it without the help of Rivers and Trails Northeast, Steve Longley’s company based in The Forks that has been
operating the AT canoe ferry service for the past 16 years.
“Because of Long Falls and Harris dams, there is potential for high water here 24 hours a day. [Back in the 80’s] the U.S. Park
Service realized they had a problem here because their trails were leading people to both sides of this treacherous river,” said Steve.
In 1986, Steve won the bid for the ferry contract (now with the Maine Appalachian Trail Conference) and has been running the
service every day from May to October since 1987.
“That’s 2,480 days I’ve been responsible for this ferry. And 13,400 hikers we’ve taken across without a scratch on my safety record,”
said Steve proudly. He added, “I guess I’ve sorta become a stat geek sitting here all those hours too.”
Now he’ll use that penchant for statistics exclusively to run Longley’s Store on Rt. 201 in The Forks, as Steve has decided to give up
the MATC ferry contract after this season.
“It seems like a glory job, but after the first 30 days, you realize it’s [a total of] 155 days in a row. It’s been a long time,” he said. “I
think my store will take off. I’m going to double the size of it.”
Rivers and Trails will still operate the ferry service for the remainder of the 2002 season, and No Umbrella went down to the AT
crossing recently to get a sense of what goes on there.
When I arrived at the riverbank I saw that Earl Richards, a Rivers and Trails’ ferry operator who is better known around these parts
by his trail name “Muskrat,” was already on the far side the river loading two northbound hikers and their gear into the canoe.
When the canoe ferry arrived at the near bank I got a closer look at the hikers: sporting long, tangly beards, dressed in well-worn
blue jeans, sweat-stained cotton t-shirts and the ferry service’s life jackets, the two men looked as if they had been on the trail for a while.
Before they headed up the trail, I asked the older of the two gentlemen his name and where he was from.
“Million Miler they call me and I’m from Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.” (Funny, he didn’t look like resort Mecca material
now). “Maine?” he continued, “Except for the bugs it’s a paradise.” And then they were on their way, off to hike Pleasant Pond
Mountain.
Two more northbound hikers arrived at the far bank and waved an orange flag that Rivers and Trails leaves there as a signaling
device. Muskrat paddled back across the river to pick them up.
Unlike most thru-hikers who adopt or are given nicknames which they use for the duration of their time on the Trail (i.e. Muskrat
or Million Miler), these folks didn’t have trail names. Just Kate and Ross.
These two, both in their late 20’s, liked the care-free nature of being on the Trail.
Said Ross, “You get to see a bunch of really neat stuff and there’s no pressure at all, except what you put on yourself.”
“Yeah, no expectations and not too many variables,” added Kate.
Don’t speak to soon Kate. As of yet, no one has stepped forward to replace Rivers and Trails as ferry operator for next summer.
Email nick [at] noumbrella [dot] com with your questions, comments and concerns.
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