Sears Island’s 5-mile shore gives myriad of scenery, geology

Perhaps a week ago Friday you read Tom Groening’s article in this newspaper on Department of Conservation Commissioner Pat McGowan’s latest thoughts on developing Sears Island as a recreation and Indian cultural education center.

McGowan and David Soucy, director of the state’s Bureau of Parks and Lands, spoke to a Searsport committee looking into uses for the 941-acre, state-owned island. They urged the group to develop a vision for the island, to “stop looking over your shoulder at the state.” Up to now, many have feared the state, principally the Department of Transportation which administers the island, would develop it as an industrial complex – a cargo port and an LNG port being the most touted concepts. The DOT still has reserved 280 acres on the northwest quadrant for possible future transportation uses.

McGowan said his department was interested in owning some or all of the island. “I think it has some great opportunities for recreational uses,” McGowan told the group.

At last week’s meeting, the NEWS story reported, both McGowan and Soucy suggested the DOT might even back away from its claim to the northwest quadrant of the island if the right plan were proposed.

Now there’s an incentive to develop a cultural/recreational plan if I ever heard one!

Soucy suggested the island could support a trail network, part of it handicapped accessible, offering great views. Or, he said, it could be added to the Maine Island Trail network, or be a nature preserve, a conference and wildlife center, or it could be used in collaboration with the Penobscot Nation and other Maine Indian tribes.

Whatever the use, other than industrial, it could serve to attract visitors, particularly if it were marketed in conjunction with Searsport’s Moose Point State Park, Stockton Springs’ Fort Point State Park and the planned observatory in the new Waldo-Hancock Bridge. Soucy told the group, “You become a destination instead of a stop on the way to Acadia National Park.”

Last Saturday Sears Island became my destination, quite by chance.

Paddling friends Karen Francoeur of Orono and Dave Morrill of Orrington and I were casting about for an outing and Morrill suggested we hike the shore of Sears Island. It’s not a long way from his home and a frequent stop for him and his wife to watch shorebirds and ducks.

Maybe it was Groening’s story in the morning paper that was clicking in my brain, but I jumped at the idea of the hike around the island. Believe it or not, I’d never been on the island beyond the causeway. So this was a great opportunity to be next to the ocean and take in the sights and sounds associated with it, and to explore someplace I’d never seen before.

Turns out the five-mile-plus shore provides myriad of scenery and geology, most of which is Greek to me. But there are some fascinating, layered, sedimentary rock formations that show upheaval and folding. There are multiple thin, crumbly layers of different colors showing sediment deposited over ions past in another climate.

We started at the causeway around low tide and walked clockwise around the island stopping here and there to checkout the scenery. (There are a lot of places you won’t be able to stay on the shore if you attempt this hike at high tide.) The view across Penobscot Bay eastward is toward Castine, and southerly to the northern tip of Islesboro’s Turtle Head, a little more than two miles away.

About a third of the way around we stopped for a snack at the beach looking back at Squaw Point on Cape Jellison. While the blustery winds may have diminished the bird sightings, we managed to spot some long-tails, mergansers, a loon or two, and some surf scoters.

At the southern, windward end of the island, we scanned the horizon with binoculars and spotted an incoming cargo ship. Periodically as we made our way around to the western side we’d stop to check on its progress. Before we reached the western side two tugboats had departed to meet the ship. A setting sun lit the clouds to blazing shades of pink and orange over the working harbor.

By the time we made it back to the causeway it was getting dark and the tugs had just about finished turning and pushing the ship to the dock at Mack Point.

It turned out to be a great walk, and even though there were several other vehicles parked on the causeway, we saw only a couple of other people during our walk. I plan to go back and explore the interior of the island sometime soon. I can’t believe I haven’t done it prior to this.

The state’s interest in Sears Island dates back to the mid- to late 1970s. In 1980 the Department of Transportation had a feasibility study done by Booz-Allen Engineers of Baltimore, Md., which ultimately recommended a cargo port be developed there. The island was owned by Bangor Investment Corp., which in turn was owned by Amoskeag Co. of Massachusetts that owned Bangor and Aroostook Railroad. The Booz-Allen study also recommended another development, such as a Central Maine Power generation plant, be considered.

Subsequently, in 1983 and 1984 voters approved bond issues totaling $14 million to help develop the island. Construction began in 1985 and a causeway was built to the island. But the Sierra Club stepped in saying environmental studies were incomplete. The courts brought work on the island to a halt in 1989 after the causeway, roadwork and some dredging had taken place.

In 1994, the state took an option to buy the island from Bangor Investment Corp for $4.5 million and completed the deal in 1997. The town was approached to come up with a management plan, but the town balked at the expense, so the state erected barbed wire and barricades to keep people away. There was such opposition that the barricade was modified to allow pedestrian and bicycle traffic.

Today you can drive out on the causeway and park near the island. From there you can launch a kayak, hike the shore or bike the roads and trails on the island.

Now that the warm weather has gone south, it’s time to think about keeping our extremities warm in the ever-cooling temperatures – take Wednesday for example when the thermometer at my house registered in the teens.

Just in time for the approaching big chill, a pair of Earbags landed on my desk the other day. Earbags are bandless ear warmers, sort of an updated version of earmuffs. They simply snap on over each ear and stay put. No metal band to go over or behind your head, no wrestling with a coiled spring, just pop one over each year and you’re good to go! They come in their own little draw-string ditty bag and they’re practically weightless.

Best of all you don’t have to give up wearing your new Red Sox World Series champion baseball cap. If you’re a bit vain and don’t wear a hat because it messes up your do, yet you don’t like the thought of frozen, black skin on your ears, here’s a great solution. These Swedish-designed fleece rigs come in small, medium and large sizes and come with instructions even I could understand:

“Flex open Earbag, creating a pocket. Slide bigger side of pocket over the back of ear, until entire ear is covered. Press top and bottom of Earbag toward the head until Earbag gently snaps into place. The Earbag should fit snugly but comfortably. If they feel less than perfect, try it again. Once you get it on the first time, it’s easy. It’s like riding a bike! And, check the sizing guide to be sure you’ve chosen the proper size.”

Sounds good, but do they work? I snapped on a pair the other morning, grabbed my favorite cap and winter jacket and took the dog for her morning walk. I wasn’t out all day, but for the time I was out my ears were comfortably warm. And best of all you forget these things are there!

Check out their Web site http://www.earbagsus.com/ for more information and the variety of prints and colors you can purchase for $12.95 to $16.95. The Web site says Earbags are available at the following stores in Maine: Cadillac Mountain Sports, 26 Cottage St., Bar Harbor; EMS, Marketplace at Augusta, 2 Stephen King Drive Suite 3, Augusta; EMS, Maine Mall, 231 Maine Mall Road, South Portland; Kittery Trading Post, 301 U.S. Route One, Kittery; Maine Sport Outfitters, Route 1, Rockport; Totes Factory Store, Kittery Outlet Center, 340 U.S. Route 1 Suite 2, Kittery; and True North, 162 Main St., Bethel.

Jeff Strout can be reached at 990-8202 or by e-mail at jstrout@bangordailynews.net