Fish River Lodge Journal

Journal entries from Fish River Lodge, Eagle Lake, Maine. Adventures in hunting, fishing, trapping and running a sporting camp in northern Maine.

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

In and Out Like a Lion



March arrived like a lion… It was cold with temperatures well below zero – since our kitchen water was froze in the morning, I figure it was at least -20 even though I didn’t record an “official” temperature in my journal that day.

Every year I write about the much anticipated CanAm sled dog races and encourage folks from downstate to come up and experience our “mini Iditarod”, complete with a Main Street start. This year, Gloria Barnes and her partner Carroll made the trek. Gloria is Acadia’s “other grammy” and agreed to shuttle Acadia up for the weekend. Jaye Foucher, my friend, web site designer, and musher stayed with us for the race. Normally Jaye runs the 250 but this year, with her young team, she ran the 60 – which gave us extra time to visit before and after the race. Acadia was thrilled when she learned we’d have Jaye and her huskies staying with us! We drew pictures of huskies for Jaye, played in the snow, and made burritos for dinner while we waited for Jaye to get back after her driver’s meeting. After our evening visit, Acadia bundled up to help Jaye take care of the dogs before bedtime. Acadia has all the makings of a young musher!

Race day on the 3rd greeted us with heavy snow. We met Jaye at the Key Bank dog lot in town before the start and she offered to let Acadia ride the runners of her sled to the starting line – Acadia was thrilled! I had tears in my eyes watching my grand daughter get a taste of sled dog racing – it had been a huge part of my life before she was born. It must be in her blood because when she and Jaye were being handled to the start, the dog handlers lost control of Jaye’s team, the sled flipped, and both Jaye and Acadia were dragged a distance before they got the team stopped and sled righted. Acadia never let go of the sled (which is rule #1 of running sled dogs)! At the starting line we watched and cheered as Jaye left on the 60 mile run through northern Maine's woodlands. Once all the teams left Main Street Wayne drove Jaye’s truck and I helped John Pelletier empty the lot by driving another musher’s truck up to the finish at Lonesome Pine Trails. We enjoyed watching Rita & Bill Wehsler’s team run down Main Street, as well as the teams of so many other mushing friends. Times like these I really miss running dogs! The snow continued and it really was beautiful watching the teams in such a perfect winter wonderland.

We didn’t stay to wait for all the 60 mile race teams to finish but were proud to learn Jaye’s team finished 10th among a field of very competitive teams! Acadia helped Jaye feed and clean up after the dogs Saturday night and Sunday morning before all headed south. We’d enjoyed an exciting weekend of sled dog racing and visiting with friends old and new.

On the 6th Wayne and I celebrated our anniversary and opened an anniversary gift from Ed and Julie Dallas – beautiful, laminated and hand-carved wooden dippers and spatulas. They are truly works of art but Ed has encouraged us to use the oiled set to dip pancake batter and the spatula to turn the cakes. I don’t know – they are just too pretty to use, for now!

On the 8th temps climbed to an amazing high of 60 degrees! Snowmelt was running like rivers everywhere!

Back in to the deep freeze days later, then on the 11th, Quigley’s Outdoors sponsored a youth ice fishing derby at Fish River Lodge. The kids fished, went sliding, took snowmobile rides, played horse shoes, Frisbee and tug-of-war on the ice, and ate hot dogs. In all they caught three “keeper” salmon 12 inches long or more. Although it was a cloudy day, the lack of wind and mild temps made it perfect for playing outdoors all day!

Wayne celebrated his 50th birthday on the 12th – his birthday celebration began with a “wake up” call from Ed and Julie – Ed playing nose flute, and Julie singing “happy birthday”! Later we celebrated with pizza and birthday cake, then Wayne went on-line and ordered a digital video camera he’s wanted for a very long time.

Another MPGA meeting in Bangor on the 18th (which meant leaving on the 17th to visit with Magnum!) I found the “snow line” at Millinocket. North of that there was enough snow for riding snowmobiles. South of Millinocket, no snow except for a few snow banks. I arrived in Bowdoinham and was greeted by sun and very warm weather. Mom and dad took me to dinner at Fat Boys, a famous drive-in eatery located in Brunswick and open only during the “summer”. Off to Bangor Sunday morning which was another gorgeous day. We were meeting indoors much of the day but when the meeting ended at 2:30 we all spilled in to the parking lot and soaked up some of the heat and sun before scattering in all directions for home. I drove all of the interstate with the windows down! Back in Millinocket much of the snow had melted over the weekend! The snow line had retreated as far north as Patten!

Snow on the lake was melting and many ice shacks had been hauled off the ice over the weekend. Wayne and Randy Bossie pulled ours back to shore on the 19th.

On the 20th Wayne and I took a ride to Allagash to look at the river and hopefully see some deer. We found the St. John with stretches of open water and starting to jam in a few places and we also saw lots of deer! The temperature hit a record-breaking 70 degrees – the earliest 70 degree day in history! Wallagrass Stream jammed on the 21st but didn’t flood as we enjoyed another 70 degree day, 72 to be exact! And the 22nd made three days in a row of 70 degrees or better! Ice went out of the Allagash and jammed at Fort Kent, but no flooding but there was record flooding further down river in New Brunswick. It was also the first day all winter that I could back up the driveway without 4-wheel-drive, we’d melted down to dirt! We also had visitors on snowmobiles – I later learned it was Eddie Caron from Topsham. I’m certain they were some of the last to ride Eagle and Square Lakes this season!

March 24th was a very sad day for The Valley. Fort Kent burned! A terrible fire burned an entire block, leaving 10 people homeless, leveling buildings that housed Nadeau Furniture, Acadia Home Health Services, and an empty store front. Firefighters from Canada and neighboring towns saved China Garden restaurant and Radio Shack, Sears, and Roger’s Sport Center across the street. We all agreed we were blessed that night – the wind didn’t blow (as it had been and did for days after) or much of Fort Kent might have burned down. As only The Valley can, communities and businesses rallied – nearly $50,000 was raised in just two weeks to assist those who'd lost everything in the fire.

March, I guess you could say, left like a lion too. It was very windy with gusts to 35 miles per hour the last few days of the month. The lake was very loud this year. It grumbled and groaned for weeks until the pressure lessened with wide stretches of open water.

On the 30th I saw a turkey here at Fish River Lodge! It is still unusual to see turkeys this far north, although we do have some small flocks around.

On the 31st we enjoyed a fantastic visit from Patty Moores-Labbe Cormier, Mark Cormier, and Peter and Judy Labbe. They are friends from downstate and it was so great to see them – I hope we see them up here again this summer!

And then it was April…

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