Last month we had an invite to a camp in central Maine; that is, the real central Maine: take I-95 north, past Bangor; turn right Howland and go east until the power lines and telephone poles stop; go another mile or so and turn left at the dirt road with the sawhorse on the side (but before you reach Canada).

Our friend’s camp lies along the Madagascal stream in a town-that-is-only-a-name: Grand Falls. It is a long, north-south oriented waterway, running from the Madagascal Pond, east of Lincoln, to the north, and to the town of Grand Falls, to the south. The stream is perhaps 10-15 miles long and several hundred feet wide in spots.

The highlight of the weekend was a canoe trip up the river for several miles and return. Here is one of the landmark trees I spotted on the journey (top image). The most common site on the stream are the numerous beaver dens and wood piles. We turned around at a stream-width dam which looked formidable even with the center-stream portion breached.