"The Solon Trip"

For my first two years in Maine, all I knew of the mighty Kennebec was what I saw in Augusta, Hallowell, and Waterville--a nice river running, but nothing I would call pristine. Over the past couple of years, we have both gotten to know the "other" Kennebec--the one running out of Moosehead Lake, down through "the Forks" and Moxie region, and then through Solon, Anson, and Madison. The river itself is fascinating for its diverse "biomes," if you will, from catching a prize Brook Trout up north, to watching Sturgeon, Striped Bass, and Alewifes tooling around the central Maine region, to enjoying Harbor Seals popping up their cute little heads around the Popham beach section.

This morning Amanda and I made our way to Norridgewock to meet the LaChapelles and head up along the Kennebec, through Madison and Anson. We dropped off one vehicle, and then made our way up to Solon with the other. We put in right under the "Embden" bridge off 201A . The bridge, consequently, is right along the Evergreen Campground--my first "Raider Society" weekend. That very campground is where yours truly was named Czar after only my rookie year at WHS. But anyway.

The trip--about 7 or 8 miles--went down river through some pretty strong current and rather fun "rips." A lack of rain has rendered the river extremely shallow, which added to our treat for the way we could gauge our speed by watching thousands of small, polished stones that made up the clear river bed pass by our canoe--we could literally see down the bottom the whole trip.

What was even more exciting were the number of paddlers and anglers on the section of the Kennebec today--"Trout Unlimited," a sort of fly fishing club, was having a weekend outing, and we even got to see our good old friend Lieutenant Dan Camann casting his fly rod off the river bank about half way down. What a nice suprise. Jen remarked how wonderful it was to see so many people on the water on such a beautiful day. I agree. It is great to see folks off their couches, out of the malls, and off their cell phones enjoying the beautiful resources Maine has to offer. The more trips we take, the more I realize just what a tremendous investment our Old Town Camper was.

From a "Maine history" standpoint, Dave, the man who has taught me more about the Maine outdoors than anyone, showed us the Ancient Indian Petroglyphs inscribed on some of the ledge along the river. Petroglyphs are akin to cave drawings; they are etchings carved into the stone. There were "pictures" of Indians hunting deer, canoeing, and using spears. What is more interesting is how all these Indians must have been on Enzyte; they all made themselves . . .um . . pretty well endowed in their artistic renderings. They must be Indians from the Pontocekki tribe, even. All in all a fantastic day on the water.

We closed the day with a great dinner at Ken's Restaurant in Skowhegan, where I got fried Oysters and Sally got her little midget shrimp. Then, the LaChapelles showed us their favorite ice cream hole. All to be ended by a nice little campfire in our backyard. A great summer day . . .