Nahmakanta Lake Wilderness and Appalachian Trail in Northern Maine

Another year of pandemic restrictions, we decided to return to Nahmakanta Wilderness Area for a stay in a private cabin at the Nhmaknta Lake Wilderness Camp, about 25 miles down the private Jo Mary Logging Road In 2020, we found this place to be a safe place to visit for a respite from being stuck at home after so many months. Click here to see our report from 2020 .

This year we treated our adult daughters to a stay here with us as their Christmas gift. While we hoped for them to see some moose from a canoe during an early morning moose watching excursion their stay, we only heard and saw signs of them on the trails where we hiked over the days we visited. And despite some rainy weather we were treated to a beautiful double rainbow arcing across the lake!

A bull moose from our 2020 trip; despite only hearing moose this year, our family had amazing nature experiences at NLWC.

Despite “missing” the moose sightings, our family had an amazing visit to this vast wilderness, and saw many other animals and plants as well as hiked some storied trails along the northern most Appalachian Trail.

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As soon as we arrived, we noticed this bald eagle perched in a tree along the shore.

The "New Cabin" at NLWC

Shores of Nahmakanta, Nesuntabunt

Adirondack chairs on the shore

Campfire on the lakeshore

Dining room at NLWC

Our cabin was comfortable for four of us, with a small bedroom with 2 bunks and 3 bunks in the main living area. Each cabin has private bath facilities, and a screen porch equipped with rockers. We enjoyed the communal dinners, served in the dining room, for vaccinated guests only, distanced and with windows open, but other guests chose to have meals delivered to their cabins or make their own meals in the well equipped propane powered kitchen.

But for us, the trip was about wildlife, hiking and paddling outdoors and family bonding time.

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Although many come to hunt or fish, our family loves to seek out wildlife large and small, like dew bedazzled the work of this spider.

The lake itself was the star attraction, whether whipped by winds or shrouded in mists, every day it offered something different to see. Occasionally, we’d see a heron fly out of the grass, or hear loons calling out to eachother.

Nesuntabunt at dawn

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Our daughter added this entry to the cabin journal, complete with illustrations after noting how many young children stay in this large cabin with their families.

Really Bad Hikers on the Appalachian Trail

I found out recently that I’m a really bad hiker. I always thought I was pretty good at hiking. I’m in decent shape. I have those special hiking poles and I wear my little pack with the hydration bladder and I carry matches, iodine tablets, a flashlight, bug dope, sunscreen and whistle, as well as a nifty yellow rain poncho in case of emergencies. And I always have trail mix, although I eat all the chocolate chips first, and Im sure really good hikers would never do that!

Even with my fancy poles, I just don’t measure up!

But over the last couple of “pandemic” years my husband and I had the chance to hike on the Appalachian Trail in Northern Maine.

Hiking with the family on the AT in 2021, with our daughter (left) who is a “good hiker”, having tackled Vermonts 4K footers and Katahdin in Maine this summer.

We met many people “through hiking”. Have you heard of this? People with an abundance of time and very little sense actually hike the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine in one go.

We saw several of them on the trail. They are very good hikers, crazy people but good hikers. Very good hikers, through hiking the Appalachian Trail, unlike me, who is just bumbling along for 2 or 4 or even 6 miles! Judging by the giddiness they expressed when we greeted them on the trail in late September, it was clear they were very close to finishing their months long journey north.

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I couldn’t help but compare myself to them and find myself lacking as a hiker.

First, they’ve spent months on the trail with a back pack smaller than the cosmetic bag I would need just to transport my 200 dollar anti aging creams.

Second, they seemed to know precisely where to go. This shouldn’t be too difficult because there are white blazes on every tree. But the really good hikers are good at spotting the white blaze marked on a birch tree. I’m not so good at that. I had trouble paying attention, and several times my more attentive husband or daughter would point out the trail had just turned and I had missed it!

 On a recent day hike, my daughter (who is the good hiker in the family!) planned a hike that incorporated 3 ponds, for potential moose spotting, on 3 different trails, and a bush whack off trail to join the Appalachian Trail at Rainbow Stream. My husband had wanted to see the Rainbow Stream Lean To on a prior hike, but because I was leading, we got off trail several times and ran out of daylight before we had to turn back Our daughter, the good hiker, was able to get us on all the right trails, and sure enough we made it to the lean to.

Another couple, through hiking, arrived shortly after we did planning to camp overnight and when they found the 4 of us there, they looked horrified. luckily, we weren’t staying the night so they seemed much happier as we were leaving. Of course, we were useless to them, not only bad hikers, but also we didn’t have a recent weather report to share with them. Apparently being off the grid for months at a time is not so bad, except for finding out about weather!

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Our really good hiker led us on an off the map crossing of Rainbow Stream!

Lastly, all of the through hikers carry a small folder up mat attached to their pack. Apparently, they can sleep on that mat at night and actually be able to walk at dawn. They find a little lean to in the middle of the woods, with a log floor, and this mat somehow “protects” them from the logs. or maybe they are just so darn happy to get off their feet after a day of hiking that they just don’t notice. I’d like to say they are young, but I saw several older than I am!

I was quite proud that despite being a bad hiker, I did make to the summit of Nesuntabunt, which is also the only place we could find cell service!

Many through hikers have a sponsor or two, and I was thinking I could get Temperpedic, the makers of those form fitting pillows and mattresses, to sponsor my hike. Instead of carrying the mat, I could just strap Temperpedic pillows around my neck, back and between my knees and hike with them on my body. I’d look like less like a hiker and more like a pricey Swiss watch nestled in foam inside one of those velvety boxes. When I got to the lean too, I could just fall on the floor and sleep. Which is pretty much what would happen if I hiked all day for months anyway.

Of course, I would need someone to prop me back up again the next morning, to start another day as a bad hiker.

Pivot, In Abundance of Caution During These Difficult Times

Are you as sick of that title as I am?

It’s been a year, hasn’t it?

PIVOT

We’d just begun to build a travel brand and we semi-retired to travel more and then a global pandemic happens. For others, it was going to college on their computer, or losing a service job, or spending every waking hour working to heal sick people, and many have lost their lives or their loved ones. It’s clear that pivot is what we’ve all had to do. And we are grateful because other than a literal broken heart requiring surgery, we’ve been healthy. But while we’ve kept busy, with projects, and new side hustles, keeping loved ones safe and staying close to home, we sure miss traveling!

A safari to Rwanda and Tanzania in Africa will have to wait!

A trip to Norway in May 2020 (didn’t happen) was rescheduled for New Zealand in November 2021 (won’t be happening) was turned into a trip we booked to Gorilla Trek in Rwanda in February 2022 with an abundance of hope after we received our vaccines and assumed “covid was over” for good. But with Delta variant and the slow pace of vaccines in the developing world, it became clear, that trip would have to be canceled too. After learning gorillas are testing positive for covid 19 after encounters with infected zoo keepers, we did not want to be the people who wipe out an endangered species or sicken people in countries who have little access to vaccines.

So we pivoted on our travel and travel work. In our travel, we’ve primarily stayed close to home, and outside in the last 12 month. The next pivot is all the booked trips we had ready to go in 2019 have had to be re thought, and “moved”. Traditional mass market, large cruises have been canceled, and we’ve pivoted from gorillas in Rwanda to wolves in Yellowstone. Mainly, we are prioritizing long postponed visits to vaccinated friends and family.

In our travel work, we’ve been presenting virtual safaris on Zoom, rather than in person presentations . They proved popular enough to be picked up by more than one of our local community continuing education programs. People are anxious to travel again and hear about travel. We haven’t had much “content” to share or report, so presenting information about past travels has had to suffice.

If you’d like to attend one of our Virtual Safaris please use one of the following links to register

All of the DRAMA! None of the danger...Kathy and Jeff GoSeeItTravel present Virtual Safaris for several local community education programs! Join us for multi media, photo, video and all the dramatic wildlife stories! WEDS Sept 29 (Costa Rica), Oct 6, (Galapagos) Oct 13 (Southern Africa) on ZOOM.

Link to register : fall 2021 LSRHS

https://lsrhs.ce.eleyo.com/course/78/fall-2021-winter-2022/virtual-safari

Link to register : fall 2021 Lexington

https://lexingtoncommunityed.org/class/virtual-safaris-costa-rica-galapagos-islands-and-southern-africa-fall/

Link to register: fall 2021 Arlington

 https://arlington.ce.eleyo.com/course/1196/fall-2021/virtual-safaris

In An Abundance of Caution

Travel industry people I’ve spoken to are traveling again and they say there’s a balance between traveling to support cultures and businesses that rely on our travel for their economies and traveling safely to protect vulnerable populations. They are encouraged, as am I, that more and more travel providers are requiring vaccines and testing to make travel safer for everyone. For us, with one rebuilt heart and fully vaccinated, we are ready to find that balance, while exercising the titular “abundance off caution”. What do we have planned?

Isolated off the grid, with private cabins, bath houses, and lots of wilderness to explore, Nahmakanta Lake Wilderness Camps in Maine was a perfect place for a family getaway!

A Family Trip to an Off the Grid Lake Cabin

A reunion with our adult children, in a quiet traditional hunting camp, where had our own cabin tucked in hundreds of acres of wilderness was a safe bet. The time together, hiking, paddling and enjoying campfires after so many months of forced separation was perfect! Click here to see our trip report from our Moose Safari in 2020

Despite the possible Covid dangers of traveling domestically in states where cases are high, it will be necessary to see family after more than 2 years apart! This harmless snake from Six Mile Cypress Slough in SE Florida is the least of our worries!

Road Trips to See Vaccinated Relatives and Friends

After many months of not seeing my parents and other relatives in Florida, we will need to make a trip there despite being displeased with the way the state is handling the virus. We also have a family wedding and friends in the Midwest were we hope to add 5 new states with a road trip through the Midwest. Planning this trip we discovered a new “trueism” of domestic travel- the flight to your destination will usually cost far less than the car rental!

Our last wolf sighting in the wild was in Denali Naional Park, next spring, we plan to go on a special photographic wolf safari in Yellowstone to learn more about these fascinating canids!

Wolf Photo Safari

In March we plan to take a trip with Natural Habitat Adventures to Yellowstone, where we will track wolves in remote parts of the National Park. We’ve traveled with this trusted group in the past and know they will enforce their vaccination and testing policies within our small group photographic departure.

Our first international trip? Possibly?

In May we have a trip to Machu Picchu and a cruise down the Amazon River on a very small expedition ship through National Geographic Expeditions. Peru is still a vulnerable place and people along the Amazon are especially vulnerable, so this trip is one to watch to see whether its safe to visit. On the other hand, Peru is open with restrictions and heavily traveled tourist places like Machu Picchu are at less than half capacity making for a safer and more pleasant trip.

A river cruise to from Prague to Budapest was pushed off from December 2020 to December 2022, will it be time to go, 2 full years after the original plan? Only time will tell!

Our first post covid trip to Europe? Possibly?

In December, we have a postponed river cruise to explore Christmas Markets along the Danube with AMA waterways. We are prepared to pivot again, if needed. Will Christmas markets be open? Will river cruise ships be safe? Will European countries be open to visitors, and if they are, how difficult will it be to move between them on a river ship? These are all open questions, and one of the best skills to have as a traveler is the ability, to go with the flow, changing plans and being open to adventure! You know…having to PIVOT!