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August, 2007
Paddling the Maine Island Trail
By Karyn Roy
The coast of Maine is known for its rocky coastline, hundreds of islands and abundant wildlife, as well as bustling harbors of working fisherman. It has not disappointed. Starting out in Kennebunkport, I have been following the Maine Island Trail as it heads East towards the border, and seen a lot of this firsthand from a 17' foot sea kayak. It has been a wonderful experience as I've seen much of the coastline, dodged large vessels and come quite close to numerous sea birds and animals.
I am writing this update during a stopover from Stonington before starting on the last leg to Machias. With only a handful of paddling days remaining on the trip, I have enjoyed looking back through the pictures and thinking about each place I've visited or passed by. I have read that the coast of Maine is actually longer than that of California, and it's amazing how many places you really can go. There are so many little coves, rivers, estuaries and such that I would probably still be in the Casco Bay area if I tried to paddle them all.
Cape Porpoise is located just north of Kennebunkport and offers a great number of islands to visit through the Maine Island Trail and Kennebunkport Conservation Trust. After paddling around Walker Point—dodging the Secret Service and the former Presidents' speed boat—there are sixteen islands to explore in this area. I saw a handful of other kayakers paddling around, but I pretty much had the islands to myself.
From Cape Porpoise it's a long haul to reach Portland and the next MITA island, so I asked for, and received, permission to stay on Richmond Island; I even spent a day surfing at Higgins Beach before heading north. I always love paddling around Portland Head Light because it's such a statuesque landmark. After paddling through Portland Harbor, I met some fellow L.L. Bean guides, Maine Handicapped Skiing staff and Channel 6 to do a piece for the 207 television program. That was quite an experience and the TV exposure will hopefully help raise awareness for adaptive paddling and Maine Handicapped Skiing's summer programs!
I've spent the last five summers guiding sea kayak trips throughout Casco Bay so I know the area pretty well. Luckily I had a few friends who wanted to come out and experience it as well, so we spent a couple days paddling around the islands and catching any surf we could. It's always a blast taking whitewater paddlers out on the ocean for the first time because it is so different from a river and can be quite humbling. On the river there are less variables, so once you learn to read water and how to roll, you have a good understanding of what you're up against and can make a clear choice of whether to paddle it or to walk it. On the ocean, you have to deal with weather, tides, winds, storms, navigation, fog, other vessels….and so on. Also, the whole body of water moves up and down and can be quite unpredictable. Yet, my whitewater friends are boaters I can trust to take into places I really want to go because they have great paddling skills and I don't have to worry about them not rolling up.
I pretty much pushed on solo after Harpswell, paddled around Cape Small in good weather and up the Kennebec River to Bath. It's about 35 miles upriver to Bath, but it was a different type of scenery. The jagged coast gave way to more of a salt marsh and lots of birds as I paddled up the Back River to avoid the busy lower Kennebec. I paddled right through Upper Hells Gate with the tide and was in awe of the strength of the current there. It can reach up to 6+ knots and on return, I had to ferry against it and walk around (again putting those 11 years of river skills to good use!).
After Bath I took a more inland route to reach Boothbay Harbor and I really enjoyed this area because there are so many little passages that allow you to avoid paddling around an exposed point and adding a couple hours to your crossing. At one point I was in this really narrow channel following behind two large sailboats and we came to a bridge, no more than 8 ft. off the water. I was thinking that these boats were stuck and would have to turn around when all of a sudden the bridge swiveled sideways to allow the boats to sail through and then pivoted back 180 degrees to create a road again. It just shows how much your charts are invaluable and a little local knowledge doesn't hurt either.
Once in Muscongus Bay, I joined Alvah Maloney and Maine Kayak in New Harbor as they hosted and sponsored the first ever Maine Handicapped Skiing Intro to Ocean Kayaking day. We had about 25 people show up from all over New England, including participants from Connecticut and volunteers from Breton Woods Adaptive. We had a very foggy experience, which was perfect, because it's a lot different from a pond! Everyone had a super time and the fog lifted just in time for lunch so we could actually see where we had paddled. It was great to have so many people show up and get on the water together!
Paddling around Port Clyde and up the Muscle Ridge Channel is absolutely beautiful, and you can start to see some of the tall ships sailing in and out of Rockland Harbor. Jay met me at Owl's Head and we crossed Penobscot Bay. We couldn't have lucked out more with weather because the paddle out to Vinalhaven is about 5 miles and about 1.5 hours straight paddling in open ocean. It's a bit overwhelming when you're halfway into it: looking back at hazy land and that's what's in view ahead too. We both enjoyed paddling between North Haven and Vinalhaven, admiring the many homes and boats moored out there. Upon finishing another 4 mile open ocean crossing, we reached Stonington and the scenery changed immediately. The islands there rose up from large granite slabs and there was just a different feel about the area.
I've always thought it funny to talk to people who have spent time paddling in the different bays, because they always say they notice something different in each one. Here are my observations in a nutshell: Casco Bay has beautiful exposed islands, lots of seals and eider, with the large human population of southern Maine; Cape Porpoise has the feel of the Casco Bay islands, but is situated in between many miles of beaches and rows of large ocean home; Muscongus Bay has the highest amount of lobster buoys in the world (I've heard and I believe it), there are so many islands out there it makes such great paddling and there are really quaint working harbors; I grew up spending a lot of time in Penobscot Bay and it has the more open-ocean feel with larger sailboats and ships entering its many large harbors; Stonington is where I felt a big change, and I can't wait to finish these thoughts in the next week or so as I make my way to Machias.
The more time I spend on the Island Trail, the more I see how important it is to help protect what we have. With much of the coastline already claimed by the monster homes of people who visit once a year, there will continue to be less and less for us Mainers to use. Already finding public launches can be difficult and I just started to notice more and more "no kayak launching" signs, which I found disturbing. I will say though, I have tried to stop at many islands along the way for just a quick peek, and from what I have noticed, islands that are on the Maine Island Trail and used by it's members, are a lot cleaner than the non-MITA islands. I know there are lots of volunteers who regularly visit these islands to help monitor and clean them. I am glad to be a member and I love the way people respect the land and help preserve it.
Anyway, back to gearing up for the last stretch to Machias, see you on the water soon!
Karyn
www.projectpaddleme.com - click blog for daily updates with pictures and video!
www.skimhs.org - more information about Maine Handicapped Skiing and their programs
www.mita.org - Maine Island Trail Association
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