Enjoy trips on Maine’s back roads

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Mile after bumpy mile disappeared under the well-worn tires as sometimes bumpy, sometimes dusty, sometimes soggy roads continued to stretch deep into the Maine woods.

Look at a small map of our state and you’ll see none of these roads … just a few of the best ponds … and learn nothing about what it’s like to get out there, put the pavement behind you, and experience a Maine that many simply dismiss as too scary or remote or … (believe it or not) boring.

Up in these woods – north of Millinocket and south of New Brunswick, west of Interstate 95 and east of Quebec – things do move more slowly. Entertainment doesn’t exist in a magic electronic box. It’s not beamed across the airwaves.

Up here, entertainment is up to you. Catch a fish, and it’s entertainment. Lose one, and your buddies will call it the same. Watch the same buddy step off a log and go waist-deep in a stream … well, that’s fodder for campfire “reruns” that will last for years.

But those memories, those experiences, those stories … well, they’re for another day. And before you can get there (wherever your particular wilderness “there” happens to be) it pays to enjoy the journey, first.

If not, the miles seem monotonous. The bumps become aggravating. And that torrential thunderstorm – the one that strikes just after you leave the pavement and relative security of the Golden Road and head north on the unpaved and more remote Telos Road – might seem downright ominous.

But if the journey is just a “drive,” and exists only as a necessary part of getting from where you live to where you love, it won’t be the same. Not even close.

Even those roads have stories, you see. The loggers had them, and the truck drivers sang about them. And sportsmen often learn to love those gravel wilderness superhighways.

Superhighways? Sure. Spend enough time repeatedly lurching down rocky one-tracks, listening for the telltale sound of your muffler being torn from your vehicle’s undercarriage, and these main logging routes seem to qualify.

They get us from here … to there. They get us from what we’ve got to do … to what we want to do.

Up here, the main landmarks are often the mile markers that chart our progress, describe alternate routes, and reassure us that we’re still (more or less) on the beaten path.

Up here, you can see more moose (five, earlier this week) than vehicles (four) over a 40-mile stretch.

And on Monday, as that journey to another special place took me through the Telos gate and into the North Maine Woods, a not-so-unlikely welcoming party waited at the gatehouse.

A young moose stood in the middle of the soggy road, giving ground grudgingly.

Eventually, after the proper paperwork was completed, I drove off. The moose had moved several hundred yards down the road, and was again between me and my destination.

Wilderness awaited, I knew. And as the moose seemed to be telling me, the journey was just beginning … if I was willing to think of the trip as more than a simple necessity.

ThermaCELL update

After spending two days deep in the Maine woods, I returned to find another bushel of e-mails from people with news – or seeking news – on the insect repellent device I told you about in a previous column.

Since most Mainers perk up when you mention any invention that is effective on pesky mosquitoes, black flies and other flying vampires, here’s another update.

The pressing issue, apparently: Where can you find one. If three ThermaCELL references in two weeks seems excessive to you, you either a) haven’t been outdoors lately, or b) have skin that is skeeterproof.

Either way, the bug-bitten masses are asking for help … and I think I’ve stumbled on to a bit more for you.

At first, I told you that you could find ThermaCELL units at L.L. Bean. Then I told you that a reader said she couldn’t order one from the Freeport store.

Mark Robinson, who works for L.L. Bean, e-mailed to say that both of us were right: You can get one at Bean’s Hunting and Fishing Store … but you’ve got to drive to Freeport to do so.

The reason, according to Robinson: It’s classified as a hazardous material because of the butane fuel it burns, and can’t be shipped to customers.

As to other buying options: Reader Wayne Harmon bought one through Kittery Trading Post, but also saw some in the Ellsworth Wal-Mart. And another reader pointed out that the ThermaCELL Web site has a handy “store locator” feature … and the Kmart on Hogan Road in Bangor is listed.

Moose lottery looming

Get your fingers crossed, and dig out your lucky rabbit’s foot! It’s nearly time to find out if this year is finally your lucky year … and if the moose should begin to get nervous.

That’s right: The annual moose-permit lottery will be held June 16 at Mountain Valley High School in Rumford.

The event is always a crowd favorite, and the state Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife would love for you to attend.

If you don’t, that’s fine, too. I’ll be down there and will tell you all about it … and we’ll print the names of the lucky permit-winners next Friday.

John Holyoke can be reached at jholyoke@bangordailynews.net or by calling 990-8214 or 1-800-310-8600.