Devil’s Head canoe carry benefits Calais Waterfront Walkway group

CALAIS – Several people suggested that I was “crazy.” Others were a little less kind – they said I was “nuts.”

OK, I may be 62 years old, but that didn’t stop me from competing Sunday in the first ever 1.5-mile climb up Devil’s Head. And we were carrying either a 100-pound, two-person kayak or a 26-pound, 11/2-person canoe. I’ll explain more about that tiny canoe later.

Now I must confess, I didn’t carry the kayak by myself – oh, I could have – but my teammates included: Charlie McAlpin of Calais, Heather Henry and Colin Leeman of Alexander and occasionally Tom McLaughlin of Eastport. We called ourselves the Media Monsters, even though some of the members were honorary media.

And the competition was pretty stiff. There was the Calais City Council, including Alan Dwelley, Joyce Mahar, Marianne Moore and Chris Bernardini.

The other two teams were made up of all those healthy high-energy young people from Calais High School and Washington County Community College.

St. Croix Valley Healthy Communities, which encourages area residents to eat well and live healthy lives, sponsored the event to raise money for the Calais Waterfront Walkway Committee.The event raised $325 dollars.

Located on U.S. Route 1, the 340-foot-high Devil’s Head is the highest headland in the state north of Acadia National Park.

The Passamaquoddy Tribe called Devil’s Head “Kwagustchusk” or the dirt mountain, because of its deeply eroded frontage. Today the 315-acre site is a popular hiking trail.

The idea for the climb started with Calais High School science teacher David Winski. His son attends Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H., and the college’s adventure outing club on occasion will carry a canoe up Mount Washington. He decided that would be a fun thing to do Down East.

Winski enlisted the help of St. Croix Valley Healthy Communities and Washington County Community College’s adventure recreation and tourism program.

After some planning, the day finally arrived. The sun poked through the clouds, and the zero-degree weather that had gripped the area turned into 35-degree temperatures.

Before the race started, participants milled around in the parking lot, sipping coffee and eating doughnuts. The city council team held up a tiny canoe that fit nicely in their hand, which the other teams jokingly rejected. Finally, it was time to line up.

The councilors stood next to a 26-pound baby canoe that was small enough to float in a bathtub. They had borrowed the itty-bitty canoe from Calais City Manager Linda Pagels.

The rest of us picked up our blue-and-red, two-person kayaks.

Then all eyes turned to Lee Sochasky, executive director of the St. Croix International Waterway Commission and one of the developers of the Devil’s Head trail. Dressed in top hat and cummerbund and armed with a bellows-activated foghorn, she gave off the starting signal.

Within seconds, my team was huffing and puffing, and we hadn’t even reached the trail.

Leeman and Henry were our team’s lead beasts of burden as we pushed, pulled and at times carried the kayak up the narrow and winding trail. At one point, we replaced brawn with brain and tied two belts to the front rope. The kayak bumped and bounced the rest of the way up.

While the Media Monsters were sweating and steaming, the high school and community college students were on a dead-heat run to the top.

My team was in third place and about a third of the way from the summit when we heard a beep-beep from behind. Winski, who had served as master of ceremonies, said at the start of the race that if anyone wanted to pass on the trail, the lead team would have to give way.

It was the dreaded city councilors. They laughed and joked as they passed us by.

At 23.05 minutes from the start, the high school kids sprinted across the finish line. The Media Monsters crawled in in last place with 31.58 minutes under our belt.

“Awesome time,” a kindly Winski said during the presentation of the awards.

“And it was the same day,” team member McLaughlin joked.

Afterwards, Sochasky said she was pleased with the turnout. “It’s a wonderful use of Devil’s Head to get people out and enjoy it all times of the year,” she said.

Billie Jo Ham of St. Croix Valley Healthy Communities said she was impressed with how fast the participants made it to the top.

“We are excited,” she said. “We had a lot of people looking on.” She promised that the next climb will be bigger and better.