...out came the sun and dried up all the rain...

The month of August turned out to be PERFECT for vacationing in northern Maine! We FINALLY got to enjoy sunny days and warm temps. The Johnston family - Steve, Diane, Hope, Noah, and Ivan - from Maryland joined us for a "Family Summer Camp Experience". The entire famlily enjoyed participating in paddling instruction, map & compass exercises, plant and tree identification, animal tracking, an "expedition" looking for fossils (with success - I think Steve carried home about 50 lbs. of fossils!), a campfire and family dinner. In the evening they went "moose hunting" and saw several cows with their calves. The week culminated with a scavenger hunt utilizing all the skills Hope, Noah, and Ivan had developed during their stay. Hope definitely received an A+ for her efforts and drew a beautiful admiral butterfly! We enjoyed watching the Johnston family work as a team while paddling as they discovered their individual strengths and developed new skills. They left Maine with increased confidence to go out and explore nature on their own! Larry Converse, his wife, and grand daughter Casey came for a brief visit too. They paddled and fished, and after breakfast on the 8th I took Casey out for a paddling lesson on Fish River. She is a confident paddler and developed new techniques while we were out, especially as the wind kicked up on the way back to the lodge! Larry's goal is to take Casey on an Allagash River canoe trip in the near future. I think she'll soon be ready!

Edgar Satterfield and his fishing buddy Mike spent their "first trip" away from home when they came up in early August. We assured Edgar's mom we would keep a watchful eye on them - although they were gentlemen and did just fine on their own! While the fishing was slow, they enjoyed some excellent adventures, especially one evening when they missed the road home from 1st Lake Wallagrass and towed their boat and trailer back to Eagle Lake via the ATV trail!

The Dubreil (CT) family returned to Fish River Lodge with their young grandsons - we certainly enjoy watching as another greneration becomes acquainted with the St. John Valley. Gloria Lebrecque's (CT) and her parents Lou and Germaine Levesque's (CT) extended stay came to a quiet close on the 15th. Gloria always looks forward to her time at Fish River Lodge to reguvinate her spirit and spend quality time with her mom and dad.

As our vacationers vacationed, Wayne and I combined our duties at the lodge and jobs with establishing this season's bear bait sites. Trail cameras sent by "Santa Bill" Beecher (TX) last Christmas made the baiting job all the more enjoyable as we got some amazing pictures of numerous bears at our sites. We'll enjoyed comparing photos (hundreds of photos!) from 2009 with photos we'll have from at the sites in years to come.

Mom and Dad Skolfield and dear freinds Ron and Mim Webber spent the week of the 10th with us. They enjoyed day excursions on their own then shared the evenings with us. It was a treat having someone cook for us for a change - many evenings we enjoyed dinner at their camps. Then one night we had a "pot luck" at the lodge to use up leftovers - Mim's "moose balls" were excellent in sub rolls topped with cheese! The weather held and we enjoyed many sunny days well in to the month. We hosted Mike and Lolita Collin's for their 49th anniversary dinner with friends who were celebrating their 43rd anniversary. All enjoyed a very relaxing evening with lively conversation.

On the 14th Norman Roy (aka Norman King) of Dunedie, FL stopped by to meet us. He is the son of Joseph King who guided here back in the 1920s. We have several photos of Joe King hanging in the lodge! Joe also helped Charlie Wiles build the lodge and log camps. Back then the property was known as Charlie Wiles Lake View Camps.

Jerry and Sandy Whitcomb moved their "ice palace" up to Eagle Lake in anticipation of ice fishing season. They parked it next to Ol' Number 9 camp. Until it goes on the ice they will use it as a camp and base of operations while transporting bear bait this fall and running their trap lines.

Throughout the last weeks of August Wayne and I continued preparing our bait sites - adding bait regularly, brushing out walking paths and shootling lanes, changing stand set-ups. We enjoy the hard work, preferring it over our "real jobs", but are equally appreciative that we have jobs during these slow times. I got stuck at the bottom of a muddy hill to one of our bait sites on the morning of the 23rd. The truck wouldn't go in to 4-wheel drive (CV joint broke) so I had to walk out, 8 miles, to Sly Brook Road to call for help from Lakeside Grocery. Wayne was downstate so I called Steve Daigle and his old Ford pulled my old Chevy up the hill which was slippery as snot! We finished the bait run, and headed home - my legs were tired!

On the 26th Steve took Lilly Tuell and I out to dinner at Swamp Buck. It was Lilly's last day of work at the print shop before she starts college at USM. The Ross family (MA) stayed the night with us on the 28th. They're up to drop their son off at UMFK.

It rained all day on the 29th but that didn't dampen our spirits - the ATV club hosted a big steak feed at the public beach pavillion. An excellent turn out assured that it was a successful fund raiser for the club. After cleaning up a few of us hearty souls stuck around for the bon fire, under drizzly skies, then retreated to the lodge for a "night cap".

August 30th, marks the official end of summer for us - vacation season is over as our bear hunters begin arriving!