“I thought I was going to learn how to cast with a fly rod,” Gina, the stranger with whom I was sharing a room in a delightful guest house on Rangeley Lake, confided. “I had no idea what this was all about. Like Gina, most of… Read More
Linda and I love Bard owls, so of course I loved Mary Atkinson’s book, Owl Girl, published by Maine Authors Publishing. On the title page, in addition to her autograph, Mary wrote, “Listen for your owl!” And we do. When a group of Bard owls gets… Read More
A lot fewer people are visiting and enjoying the lands in the North Maine Woods. That confirms my research when sporting camp owners told me their greatest challenge is the loss of hunters and anglers. In the last eleven years, visitor days fishing in North Maine… Read More
If you are looking for something to race, few vehicles are less suited to the task than lobster boats. Read More
Paintings of Portland by Carl and David Little changed my perspective of Maine’s largest city. A few years ago, I spoke to the Portland Rotary and the first thing I said was, “Have any of you ever been to Maine?” There was a lot of hooting… Read More
For me, someone who just started mountain biking last fall, the intermediate single-track trails in the system were pretty rough. They tested my patience, but they also helped me develop some skills -- and appreciate smoother trails. Read More
First of all, I’d like to share that the book launch event for my recently-published guidebook “Maine Hikes Off the Beaten Path” last week went wonderfully. Yet again, people blew me away with their support and enthusiasm for Maine hikes. For… Read More
Long before I first took the mailboat to Isle au Haut, I imagined the island to be a mysterious birding paradise of mossy forests and rocky shores. I’d seen pictures of the island, and I’d read stories its charming village with a one-room schoolhouse and tiny post office. Read More
Come mid June, Maine anglers have a lot of options. On some rivers and streams, the caddis flies are hatching like crazy, and fly fishers try to take advantage of this annual event. Read More
Nothing screws up a potential moose-hunting trip like a buddy or three who somehow forgot to enter the state-run permit lottery before the deadline passed. Read More
Getting sick of the cold weather? Looking forward to putting your boat in the water and trolling your favorite lake in search of landlocked salmon or lake trout? The ice recedes at Green Lake in Dedham. John Holyoke Me, too. Luckily,… Read More
Outdoors Blogs
The photos of seals in Silly Seals are awesome, and the captions by author Karen Morgan will make you laugh – a lot. Published by Down East Books, Silly Seals features photos by On The Mark Wildlife Photography and Steve De Neef Photography. All I can… Read More
The Belfast and Moosehead Lake Railroad by Joey Kelley, and published by North Country Press, is a very interesting history of Waldo County’s railroad. And before you criticize me for thinking Moosehead Lake is in Waldo County, let me inform you that this railroad never… Read More
SKOWHEGAN — A winged ally of Maine farmers is the focus of a new partnership between the Somerset County Soil & Water Conservation District and the Damariscotta River Association. A $5,000 grant from the 2018 Cornell Land Trust Small Grants Program will support the Ag Allies… Read More
BANGOR — Representatives of the Penobscot Bay Sail & Power Squadron visited Port Harbor Marine’s impressive new showroom and boat maintenance facility in Holden to thank General Manager Steve York for his firm’s commitment to safe recreational boating and boating education. Port Harbor Marine provides the… Read More
Racers and Visitors Invited to Enjoy Entertainment at the Recreational Pier WISCASSET – To get a push from the outgoing tide, the Sheepscot River Race on Saturday, June 30, will start at 3 p.m. at the Sherman Lake Rest Area on Rte. 1 in… Read More
BANGOR — A breakfast will be held 7:30-8:30 a.m. Thursday, June 21, at The Hilton Garden Inn, 24 Haskell Road, to benefit the Salvation Army campership program. The Salvation Army provides more than 75 camperships to help local children attend Camp Sebago in Standish. The Salvation Army also… Read More
Imagine it: Everybody in attendance at a Maine public hearing was in total agreement. Read More
Eben Sypitkowski succeeds Jensen Bissell as the park's director, the Baxter State Park Authority announced Thursday. Read More
There are only two types of birds in the world — the ones you see and the ones you just missed. Read More
Officials who oversee development in the state’s Unorganized Territory were urged Wednesday to not make rule changes that critics say could create sprawl in the Maine woods and undermine development in northern municipalities. Read More
Less than an hour into his fly fishing career, McCarthy made those lessons pay off, as he hooked a fish. Read More
“It offers the best possible assessment of these waterway resources, and an abundance of interpretive projects to deepen the understanding of the waterway’s enduring importance.” Read More
Maine deer hunters killed 27,233 last year, the highest number in the last ten years. Here’s some interesting information from Mark Latti’s press release. AUGUSTA, Maine – Deer hunters in Maine harvested 27,233 deer in 2017, the highest total in the last ten years and… Read More
Hunters harvested 27,233 deer in Maine last year, a 15 percent increase over 2016 and the highest total in 10 years. Read More
Einstein. Pretty smart guy, right? In Maine, were he alive today, he’d qualify as wicked smart. I mean, he came up with that amazing formula that explains just about everything: e=mc². I think the e stands for everything. Everything equals mass times speed. Squared. Brilliant. So… Read More
Do you think Maine should do something to save our moose from winter ticks? Read More
“The Phantom” — that anonymous fly tier I told you about in last week’s column — has thankfully returned. Read More
You learn a lot while attending a birding festival. This year, I learned that bird poop matters, and that most people don't know how to use their binoculars. Read More
I’ll guarantee one thing about Charlene D’Avanzo’s new novel, Secrets Haunt the Lobster Sea, designed and produced by Maine Authors Publishing: you will not figure out the murderer until Charlene discloses it. You might think you know, but you won’t. I enjoy lots of things about… Read More
It seems everyone who lived in northern Maine in the late 1970s to early 1980s — the time frame of the last major tent caterpillar infestation — has their own creepy-crawly story of caterpillar encounters. Read More
“One of the girls had the idea to help the turtles, because they see turtles get squished [by cars] every year, and think it’s extremely sad." Read More
Jen Hazard has given us a great list of Maine family get-aways and adventures in her book The Maine Playbook, published by Islandport Press. If anyone knows the best places for family get-a-ways and adventures, it’s Jennifer Hazard. Jen, her husband, and their two kids have… Read More
For many, summer camp in Maine brings to mind outdoor adventure in the state’s natural beauty. But for two decades, youngsters have had an entirely different camp opportunity, one that opens the vast world of aviation careers. Maine ACE (Aviation Career Education) Camps offer its participants an inside… Read More
On Monhegan recently, Linda and I saw a mallard family that included seven very cute ducklings. They were about four feet in front of us in a bog. And we saw lots of mallards on the island that week, as we do at home in our nearby stream… Read More
The secretion is on a small list of FDA ingredients called "generally recognized as safe." Read More
Long before I first took the mailboat to Isle au Haut, I imagined the island to be a mysterious birding paradise of mossy forests and rocky shores. I’d seen pictures of the island, and I’d read stories about its charming village with a one-room schoolhouse and tiny post… Read More
