T-2016-9-6
Start:
Brighton State Park, Island Pond, VT
End:
Brighton State Park, VT
On the
Way:
Island Pond Village
Miles: 0!
Map: 6
Weather:
Clear with one sun-shower. Rain
overnight would be lovely!
 |
| The Island Pond NFCT kiosk. |
My Zero Day here in Island Pond was wonderfully productive,
or at least it felt that way:
+ I got up at a luxurious 0930 in my hammock (strung up
next to Spectacle Pond, night and taut, the way I like it),
+ did a gear shakeout,
+ walked into town along the railroad tracks singing my
favorite Hadestown tunes and had lots
of blackberries along the way, [Hadestown is a gem of a musical, recently restaged in New York, and full of earworm
numbers…]
+ retrieved my box from the convenience store and some
lunch (too late for a greasy-spoon breakfast although I was sporting a mighty
craving for eggs),
+ repacked my box and sent it off along with some cards to
various folks back home,
+ and even had time to whip up some Warrior Bunnies sketches and send them to the WB
crew.
 |
| Some on-the-fly costume sketches, done on scrap paper in the comfort of the Island Pond library. |
Hopefully the designs go over well: I’d really hate having
to make and/or find full fur suits for all ten bunnies in that show. [In the original Warrior Bunnies installment, there was only one bunny, and he was
in a hilarious yet very hot-looking white fur onesie.] I apparently now have an assistant who can do
small tasks before I get home. Good to
know…
Also just did something pretty neat: I paddled an entire river, the Clyde, upstream from its mouth at Newport to its source at Island Pond. It was down to a little trickle at the end, to where it was a little four-foot track through the cattails barely wide enough for my paddle and clogged by lots of beaver dams. It was novel to pull the boat overtop them at the start, but it got really annoying really fast. I have a feeling that hopping in and out is less of a nuisance when one's paddling a canoe. Bailing out the Guinness-dark river water from the boat has got to be easier at least... This town used to be the halfway point on the Grand Trunk Railroad of Maine between Portland and Montreal. Portland's harbor doesn't freeze in the winter like Montreal's does, so it used to be quite a lifeline. Between the lumberjacks and the railroad men, this town used to be quite the raucous stopover. The old hotel from the time is still here: you come into the town by paddling under it. They say some rooms still have the original wooden floors that are pock-marked from the climbing spikes that the lumberjacks couldn't be bothered to take off indoors. Yet to see any of that hopping nightlife: I'm in my hammock with my paperback by the time the sun sets...
Also just did something pretty neat: I paddled an entire river, the Clyde, upstream from its mouth at Newport to its source at Island Pond. It was down to a little trickle at the end, to where it was a little four-foot track through the cattails barely wide enough for my paddle and clogged by lots of beaver dams. It was novel to pull the boat overtop them at the start, but it got really annoying really fast. I have a feeling that hopping in and out is less of a nuisance when one's paddling a canoe. Bailing out the Guinness-dark river water from the boat has got to be easier at least... This town used to be the halfway point on the Grand Trunk Railroad of Maine between Portland and Montreal. Portland's harbor doesn't freeze in the winter like Montreal's does, so it used to be quite a lifeline. Between the lumberjacks and the railroad men, this town used to be quite the raucous stopover. The old hotel from the time is still here: you come into the town by paddling under it. They say some rooms still have the original wooden floors that are pock-marked from the climbing spikes that the lumberjacks couldn't be bothered to take off indoors. Yet to see any of that hopping nightlife: I'm in my hammock with my paperback by the time the sun sets...
I was already travelling pretty heavy once I’d retrieved my
restocked food and 5mm neoprene socks (water’s gonna be the first thing to get
cold, I reasoned), but the library had a free book cart sitting by the
entryway, and I couldn’t resist picking up a Garrison Keilor paperback, Wobegone Boy. I’m a sucker for Garrison’s writing, I must
say, so while I’ll be sad to finish American
Gods and say goodbye to Neil, I’ll be glad to have the next one right on
hand to jump into. I have some Vonnegut
waiting in my box—Breakfast of Champions,
which is one of his barely-a-narrative titles—but I crave something that’s not
quite so…cerebrally quirky and challenging when I’m reading before bed on this
trip. Garrison is the dry old officer at
the back of the vanguard, wanting to see us all home after the battle. Kurt is the wild-eyed berserker at the front
of the charge, gore dripping from his sharp-edged satire. In other words, he’s thrilling, but not what
I need on this campaign.
 |
| Brighton State Park is pretty swanky, complete with a Nature Center, horseshoe pit, playground, and--only in Vermont--Zen garden. |
 |
| Cool idea: lending library with games and books and sports equipment! |
A day of beaver dams and rapid that would, under normal
water levels, probably be a blast and a half awaits tomorrow. But with current water levels, it will
probably be agonizingly scratchy. I’ll
get up early, eat my oats, pack up camp, give my shoulder a quick rinse in the
50-cent shower from heaven, and get back on the water. Maine awaits.
Things
Learned:
+ You don’t have to be the quiet type to be a librarian. My goodness, the stamina these two Island
Pond characters had to keep up their whirlwind chat was amazing.
+ I’m not doing so hot, cash-wise. Time to buy less, cook more. I have about $65 cash in hand, and ATMs from
here on in are going to be scarce…
Trail
Magic:
+ Cheap energy bars on clearance at the gas station! And home-made postcards at the local
outfitters! I found a good one to send
to Brambleberry: a really bad but very earnest attempt at an oil painting of a
moose. His expression can only be
described as “embarrassed.”
 |
| Captured After the Return Home |
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