Trek celebrates Maine woods Willimantic couple snowshoeing from Greenville to the Allagash

GREENVILLE – Tendrils of smoke curled Saturday from the stovepipes of white canvas tents erected off Pritham Avenue in this tourist community.

Heat from the small, wood-burning trail stoves inside and tarps that insulated the floor made the interior of the tents extremely warm despite the zero-degree weather outside. Bentwood snowshoes were planted upright in the snow and canvas bags labeled with their contents lay scattered about the frozen ground.

Dozens of people dressed for the cold mingled outside the tents creating a surreal scene that one might imagine was from an earlier century.

It was, however, an indication of the lifestyle of a Willimantic couple who have made the wilderness and the traditional means of travel the focus of their lives – one that Alexandra and Garrett Conover, owners of North Woods Way, a wilderness guiding service, want to share.

The tent village on display Friday night and Saturday morning and visits made earlier by the Conovers to classrooms in Fort Kent, Dover-Foxcroft and Greenville were part of their preparation for Winterwalk for the Wilds 2005, a wilderness trip that will take them 200 miles from Greenville to the Allagash in about a month.

“We want to excite people with this trip and get them interested in their surroundings,” Alexandra Conover, 51, said early Saturday.

More than 50 people, including family members, friends and children, gathered Saturday to give a hearty sendoff to the couple, who plan to retrace the frozen water route they took 25 years ago on their honeymoon.

This time around, Conover and her husband, Garrett, 49, plan to share the beauty of the wilderness and their daily experiences by satellite telephone which will beam their calls to a land line for telephone access. Information such as weather conditions and highlights of each day will be provided to Patrick Myers of Sebec, who will record the information on the Web at winterwalk2005.org.

In addition to their daily reports, friends who accompany the Conovers on certain legs of the trip will carry back digital camera images for display on the Web.

“I want children to see with their own eyes, even if it’s virtual, what is in their own back yard,” Alexandra Conover said as she zipped up a canvas bag full of nuts, candy and dried fruits. The children will learn that they can enjoy the outdoors using their own body without motorized vehicles, she explained.

The Conovers also will serve as ambassadors of good will, carrying with them letters composed by Greenville fourth-grade pupils to pupils in the Fort Kent region. The couple hope the letters will produce a lasting friendship, one that pulls together children from both ends of the North Maine Woods.

Greenville Town Manager John Simko, who on Saturday wished the Conovers well on their trip, said they have done an “outstanding job” reaching out to the children in the schools and in the community.

“We’re hopeful we can get more activities like this in the Moosehead Lake region,” he said, especially ones that focus on the natural beauty of the region.

The Conovers plan to average seven miles a day pulling slender toboggans laden with provisions and gear over territories where few humans have ventured and over parts of the frozen Kennebec, Penobscot and St. John rivers.

“The ice will benefit us because we won’t know the toboggans are heavy,” Garrett Conover said while brewing a pot of tea to carry in a thermos for the trip.

His toboggan weighs about 160 pounds, and his wife’s weighs about 140 pounds, he said. In addition to a shovel, an ice chisel, a tent, first aid kit, clothing and a trail stove, the toboggans carry about 150 pounds of food, enough to provide each of them with 5,000 calories a day. Included in the provisions are dried vegetables, frozen venison steaks and burgers, chicken, sausage, bacon and ingredients to make pan bread.

Drinking and cooking water will be obtained by chiseling through ice-covered bodies of water. Aside from the water from the St. John, no boiling will be needed, Garrett Conover said.

Woolen clothing, long johns, hide mukluks insulated with felt boot liners, and windbreakers made of Egyptian cotton cinched around their waists by a colorful cloth belt will help keep the couple warm during the trip.

At night when they are snuggled inside their tent warmed to a comfortable 80 degrees Fahrenheit, the pair will make journal entries that will be used for a slide show when they complete the trip.

“We couldn’t have pulled this off without the phenomenal herd of volunteers and friends,” Garrett Conover shouted to the gathered crowd. He said the couple were extremely grateful for the help and support provided them by their friends.