When Steve Longley commutes to work, it’s a short ride in his pickup. The ride is less than a mile from his house in The Forks to the bank of the Kennebec River in Caratunk.

Once there, he unlocks one of his Old Town canoes, drags it a few feet down the steep, gravel incline to the water’s edge and begins his work day. Within minutes a northbound Appalachian Trail hiker is waving a red signal flag on the opposite shore much like someone hailing a cab. That’s Longley’s cue.

He grabs his life jacket and a spare for the hiker to wear, hops into his canoe and paddles to the other side. After signing a release form, the hiker loads his pack into the canoe, climbs in and the two paddle their way across the river to the north shore.

When they are safely across, the hiker steps from the canoe, shoulders his pack and continues trekking up the trail.

Ferrying hikers is an act that Longley has repeated during his working day for the past 17 years. By the end of the season in October he’ll have carried more than 15,000 hikers in those 17 years. He’s “The Ferryman” for the Maine Appalachian Trail Club. It’s his job to get hikers safely across the Kennebec River.

It’s a dangerous river. Part of the danger lies in the fact that it looks fordable upstream, near the ferry crossing. The problem is that water levels rise unpredictably. Eighteen miles upriver is Harris Station dam which releases water to power turbines that generate electricity. Another dam, 16 miles up the Dead River also releases water into the Kennebec. It’s too far for an alarm system to alert anyone down river to the pending increase in water level. If a hiker were fording the river when the waters rose, the result could be disastrous. That’s what happened to Alice Ferrence in 1985, who drowned while attempting to cross. In 1987, the Appalachian Trail Conference in Harper’s Ferry, W.Va., established the ferry service, with Longley as the operator.

He’s paid by a contract with the Conference to be there seven days a week 9 to 11 a.m. from May until mid-July. For the hikers the service is free. From July until Sept. 30, he adds an afternoon shift from 2 to 4 p.m. Finally, after the busy season, Oct. 1-11, he operates from 10 to noon. The hours are posted in lean-tos from Katahdin to the New Hampshire border so all the hikers, north or southbound, know when to arrive in time to catch the ferry.

Longley’s main tools are the canoe, personal flotation device, paddle and his arms with which he powers the boat. His job requires that he be aware of everything that’s happening on the river and the trail. He said in a recent interview, “You can’t control the outdoors, that’s why there’s that lure to the outdoors. You are there to respect nature and to abide by nature’s rules.”

That means he’s there in pouring rain, black flies, blazing heat and fall’s crisp temperatures. In effect, everything hikers endure, he experiences as well.

To the hikers along the trail, Longley also is real human contact. It’s his experience that they rely on to get them across. But, sometimes they need directions to the post office in town. Some need a place to stay or groceries which he provides from his base camp at the Trail Post Store in The Forks, near his home. Others need real emergency help. They may be injured and need evacuation to a hospital.

He has seen just about everything on the river. Through it all it’s his reliability that means the most to hikers. As Longley puts it, “I’m a friendly face in a remote area of Maine, who provides a ferry service by human powered means, like that in hiking the trail. I’m a ferryman who brings people into his home, gives them information about the area, or a ride to the hospital. I also tell them about other places in the area where they can get their needs attended to.”

Longley also has hiked parts of the trail, so he knows the importance of meeting another person out there who genuinely cares about your comfort. Before he started operating the ferry service he owned one of the first rafting companies on the Kennebec, Rolling Thunder. He’s used to making people feel safe with his skills. “You have to make people comfortable,” he said, and not only that “you can actually show them how to have a good time. It takes a good guide to show people how to laugh in the rain.”

Probably the most important tools he has are in his head. His knowledge of the river, his certifications as a Registered Maine Guide, Wilderness First Responder in First Aid and CPR are things hikers never see. As he paddles his way across the dark, swirling waters of the river, they see only a guy who greets them with a smile. He’s someone whose sole purpose is to get them on their way, safely across the one obstacle that stands between them and the rest of their journey. He makes sure their feet stay dry, at least for this part of the trip, and that they can continue. For the brief time he sees them, he’s the one person they rely on being there for them.

If anyone thinks that it’s just a glamour job, surrounded by beautiful scenery where every day is perfect, they just don’t understand the nature of wild places or the demands of caring for human lives. Some people have never set foot in a canoe, let alone paddle one across current, which in May can run more than 10,000 cubic feet per second. One missed stroke or off-balanced passenger can send both occupants into the water with potentially deadly results. During the busy hiking season he often makes more than 50 river crossings.

For those who know him, Longley is the perfect person for the job. He takes every challenge of his work seriously and, through it all, greets everyone with a smile, gets them to the other side, then sends them on their way with a handshake and a wave.

Brad Viles is an avid hiker who has logged some 8,000 lifetime miles, including the Appalachian Trail. A trail maintainer for the Maine Appalachian Trail Club he has climbed Mount Katahdin more than 75 times. He can be reached at sball1@ prexar. com