Pond Life

A few weeks ago, AGP and I were lucky enough to spend an entire week up at his family's pondside cabin just outside of Bangor, Maine. Okay, okay, I know everyone thinks their rustic, cabin-y vacations are special, right? Well, mine was pretty fucking special.

 

The reason this cabin kicks so much ass is because it is completely off-the-grid. As in, we can't even see the grid from where we were. There isn't even a road to this cabin. So, how do we get there? Well, by boat of course! And yea, there is, of course, no electricity, plumbing, cable, internet, and not even any phone service. Très rustique!

What you do get from all of this, aside from the utter zen of being one with a completely untouched tract of nature, is a smattering of propane lights, a totally boss outhouse (built by my very own AGP), and a delightfully vintage wood stove for cooking. Oh, and the lake, being part of the local watershed and mostly free of motorized traffic, is completely safe to drink from - that is, if you don't feel like drinking from one of the many nearby freshwater springs, pumping that famous Maine earth nectar.

Indeed, pond life probably isn't for everybody (I can imagine a few city slickers reading this and being off-put simply by the suggestion of an outhouse, let alone being told they have to drink the lake). But thankfully it is for me and AGP - well, especially AGP since he has a particularly strong bond with his lake, living and working summers there since he was a kid. He not only built the outhouse, but also the smaller guesthouse, originally erected by his grandfather of the same name.

So, what is there to do out there in the wilds of central Maine with no phones, internet, or roads to town? Well: swim, hike, cook, stoke the fire, read, nap, chop firewood, play cornhole, sunbathe, forage, drink gin and tonics, and then when the new day crests the hilltops: repeat!

The forest that surround the lake (the entire shoreline and adjacent acreage is protected land with no developments) offer many exciting hiking opportunities and passive water sports are always an option. What should we do today? Hike to the moss forest? Kayak to Blueberry Island? Hunt for chanterelles?

Oh yea, and the forest is littered with the delicious floor candy us foragers call CHANTERELLES. When we were there in early August, it was a literal fungal bonanza, of both the edible and inedible varieties.

Cabin family time is always a sincere adventure that we are very excited to take part in and sad to leave. Luckily, AGP and I head back there in less than a week, so I will be sure to capture some more of Maine's rustic spirit!

And if you are interested, you can see the whole album at my Flickr.