THE STREETS OF Dover-Foxcroft, that of Piscataquis County and that itself of Maine, are packed with people. A colorful human theatre fills East Main Street here, an undulating mass moving and swaying in response to some tidal-like force. Somewhere, a band launches into song—all swirling synths, buzzing guitars, and…
A look at the forgotten logging camps of Maine's deep woods. First published in History Magazine, Dec. 2019.…
THE ROAD TWISTS and winds through the north Maine woods in something akin to white-knuckle chaos. It started snowing hard back in Patten. The roads are maintained here, but increasingly less so the deeper I get into "The County." They’re slick and rough, rutted, covered in mealy brown slush.…
Somewhere around mile eight, an angel appeared. She was manning a water station and appeared to be holding a sign. As my tired legs brought me closer, I saw she was also handing out candy bars. The sign came into full focus: “WORST PARADE EVER,” it read. I downed the…
Thousands of people hike Mount Katahdin in Maine each year, so much so that Baxter State Park—of which Katahdin is included—throttles admission to it in an attempt to keep it pristine. If you’re from Maine, Katahdin represents a nadir, a rite of passage, a reason to stretch…
Mike Blanchard started hiking in junior high school. Guidance counselors there had started an outing club, and one of the excursions was a hike up Mount Katahdin, Maine’s highest peak at 5,267 feet. The trips became a regular thing, and he liked it. After junior high Blanchard kept…
I followed the moose in my truck for about ten minutes. I had seen a doe about five miles back, and she had ducked into the woods pretty quickly when my truck came around the corner. Not so with the moose—it stood there staring at me for a good…
With my wife in China and my oldest daughter staying at a friend’s camp at Duck Pond, I found myself with a (mostly) empty house. I took it as an opportunity to bring my youngest daughter camping. The forecast wasn’t great. It looked to be overcast and drizzly…
I could just as easily call this trek “Five Peak Summits to Bag Three.” My wife called it the “Crocker Three-Way,” which is probably a more enticing and salacious title if you’re into that sort of thing. I’ve been picking off the list of Maine’s 4,000…
Rebecca Krupke talks to me in the kitchen of her parents’ home, for which she provided directions via Facebook Messenger thus: It’s a big white farmhouse. With an apple tree and NO porch. The one beside us is identical with a porch. 1905 the guy built the first house…