... last week i drove support for roger's "four-corners of maine walk" ... he began his journey last year in grafton notch, and, cross fingers the creeks don't rise, he should complete circumnavigating maine sometime this fall ... here he begins the final day of this leg of the walk ... over thirty miles up and down hills the previous two days, i'm thinking his eyes're were closed so he could get a tiny bit more sleep before heading north to calais ...
... while things'll be different in the deep dark dennisville (pop. 342) woods, for this section of his adventure i only needed check in with him every couple of hours, so i took the time to wander around in a part of the state through which i've many times traveled but never explored ...
... after negotiating several dead end roads on isolated rock peninsulas trying to find the famous "pembroke reversing falls," i finally gave in and stopped at an irving station on route 1 to ask directions ... "oh, we put signs up but some of the local residents take 'em down" ... go figure ...
... the combination of erosion resistant granite sills and ledges and twenty-five foot tides along this coast produce a rather unique phenomena ... the "fine print," of course, is that you never get to see the falls actually reverse ... when the tide comes in, as it was doing so when this picture was taken, a series of very turbulent white-water cascades is created ... later in the day the high tide will be up to the markings on the rocks and this inlet will appear quite calm ... then, per a billion year-old twelve-hour cycle, when the tide goes out a similar event will take place on the other side of the estuary ... thus, it's two visits or a half-day wait to see the "reversing" ...
... there are warnings about the eddies and rip currents and whirlpools that form during the tide change ... as innocuous as this may seem, i'm an experienced aquanaut and it frightens me ... while it most likely wouldn't suck a swimmer beneath the surface, the strong swirling currents and cold water are a deadly combination ...
... other spots along the coast are lined with seaside cottages and lifestyles-of-the-right-and-famous summer homes, but here is only a pleasant seaside forest ...
... caring not what i might say about these waters, double-brested cormorants ("sea ravens") find the reversing falls a perfect place to fish ...
... another of my little excursions was to stop and visit the st. croix island national monument, the international park common to both the united states, the riverbank in the foreground, and canada on the opposite side of the st. croix river ...
... detailed history can be found at the above link, but in a nutshell, while the french landed on this island properly prepared and equipped to set up a colony sixteen years before the arrival of the mayflower, the deaths resulting from scurvy of almost half the settlers brought a decision to move to port royal, nova scotia ...
... while the french were far from perfect, they did seem to do a good job of developing positive relationships with the first people ...
... how interesting, that had these french settlers known before the onset of that terrible winter what the first people already knew, that a mug of hot white pine needle tea each morning prevented the debilitation and death inflicted by scurvy ... a tiny little village perched very edge of both a continent and time, but for daily hot tea how the history of north america might have been so very, very different ...
... from the side of route 1 just south of calais i viewed this little light house ... i think it is the whitlock's mill light, but if you know i'm mistaken i'll welcome the correction ...
... a couple of weeks ago i walked across the street to enjoy the final offering of waterville's summer concert series ...
... the music was wonderful, and since i cannot here replay it for you to enjoy it'll have to suffice that my pictures somehow convey a sense of the skills and talents of these musicians ...
... more than my photographs, perhaps it's best the evening be properly summarized with a snapshot of abigail, the "dancing lady," who spent the entire evening twirlin' and spinning a worn spot into the grass in front of the bandstand ...
