| Summary | |
| Owner | MITOC Gallery Administrator |
| Creation Date | 2006-08-17 14:15:17 UTC-0400 |
| Description |
Sea Kayak camping: the Deer Island Archipelego with a circumnavigation of Isle au Haut Chris Glazner, Summer Austin August 10-16, 2006 It was once again time for this year's edition of Chris and Summer's summer trip of some kind. I was originally going to go out to the Cascades with the MITOC mountaineering crew, but a bum knee developed on the Katahdin expedition in the spring left me feeling uncertain about such a big climb. So, I opted instead for sea kayaking, my usual non-skiing related passion. Summer and I settled on kayaking the Deer Isle archipelago. I had done a part of if a couple years ago with some other MITOC folks, and had an amazing trip. I wanted to go back, but was nervous because I had read that the place was getting overrun in the summer. We decided to go for it anyway. We headed out there and camped at Old Quarry Campground, a kayak friendly place. We got a very inexpensive campsite right at the water so we could easily launch our kayaks in the morning. One of the goals of this trip was to eat like kings, and we certainly did. Our first dinner was fondue, followed by a wonderful egg and sausage breakfast the next morning. It was gourmet all the way--Summer brought the full spice rack, butter, eggs, milk, you name it. Kayak camping is really the way to go. The bottom of the boat is the cooler, the top heats things up. Perfect. We got an early start, and arrived at Wheat Island in under two hours. We set up camp and were pleasantly surprised to have the place to ourselves (a theme for the trip). We crossed over to Burnt Island, to a part of the island open to MITA members. It was covered in wild raspberries, which were very, very tasty. Summer went crazy collecting them! The next day, there wasn't a cloud in the sky, and the seas were calm. We decided to go for one of my long time goals: a 20 mile circumnavigation of Isle au Haut. We did it from Wheat going in a clockwise direction. We stopped on Doliver, then had lunch on the Eastern Ear. Heading across the exposed southern shore, we had a very close encounter with a HUGE gray seal that weighed around 700 lbs or so. He looked like a horse! I've never seen such a large seal! We then also saw some porpoises. We took a break in Duck Harbor, part of Acadia NP. We got water, had a snack, and hiked up to the top of a local hill for a fine view of the island and the sea. The blueberries didn't do well at all that year, so none of those for us. In the future, Duck Harbor is a great place to camp--we would have needed reservations long in advance, though. They've got cute little lean-to shelters, and it's a pretty place. We then headed across the Seal Trap to the Robison Point Lighthouse, and then into the town of Isle au Haut for water and a bathroom break (the ranger station has both). We then made it back to Wheat around 5 pm, with plenty of time for dinner and to enjoy the sunset. We explored some of the other islands the next day, like Harbor, Steve's, Round, and Wreck. We decided to move camp over to Harbor, which was also empty. (we saw a single small tent on Steve's--no sign of the owner, though). Harbor is a neat island, with a meadow, really neat forests, and amazing campsites all around. We ended up taking a campsite on the northeast side of the island. The meadow on the west side was pretty, but there were a few sailboats anchored there, and I wanted a better view. We then paddled back to Isle au Haut, waived down a lobsterman, and bought a pair of 1.5 lb lobsters. The guy was really nice, and seemed a little surprised to be selling to kayakers. He sold them for the same price he got at the market for shedders: $4.50 a pound. Hard to beat! They were really tasty, although it wasn't easy getting them all into our one larger pot! The next day was socked in for most of the morning, so we lounged around and picked berries. It was nice; no complaints here. We would hear the engines of the lobster boats, and every now and then one would get close enough to the island to make out. Word on the weather radio was that we should be in the middle of small craft advisory, but it was calm where we were. When the fog lifted, we took a paddle out around Merchant Row and Merchant Island, the second largest in the area. As soon as we got south of the island, were were in 4-6 swell, which was a lot of fun to play in! We discovered that the easternmost point on Merchant Island is really, really nice. We liked that spot a lot. We returned to Harbor for yet another tasty dinner, prepared out on the rocks with a nice view of the setting sun. We got an early start and headed back in to Ocean Quarry. By this time, we had everything down in a rhythm, and we were able to quickly break camp and were back in a little over an hour, making good time. We arrived to see a large guided trip heading out, going over all the logistics, and in general taking forever and a day. We both agreed that we're so glad that we run trips the way we do--just a little planning, a map, and a willingness to explore. It sure makes things a lot of fun! This, in my mind, is one of the premier east coast kayaking trips. From what I hear, it's overrun, but I was lucky not to encounter many people on my journey, and instead got the opportunity to spend 4 days of bliss with Summer and the Atlantic Ocean. |