Back a week or more ago, it was Election Day, I think, the weather was nice enough to take a walk. And then last Saturday the sun shone and the temperature rose into the upper 50s.

That about sums up the good weather we’ve had over the past two weeks, doesn’t it? Seems like we should dust off the plans for the ark and start sending out invites to the animals if we continue to get this soggy weather. It’s rather depressing other than the fact that it could be a lot colder and if so we’d be looking over snow banks. I can wait a bit for that scenic vista.

Election Day for most of us at here 491 Main St. required working a late shift, so I took advantage of a rare (for me) chance to take a short hike during daylight hours on a workday. I figured getting some fresh air and exercise would open my mind up for having to cope with the hubbub of vote-gathering and processing stories for Wednesday’s paper.

The trick was to get in some hiking time, but not too much, lest I nod off during the excitement of election night. You never know when that television camera might pan the newsroom and come to rest on your dozing countenance. It probably wouldn’t go over too well with the man who writes the checks around here, would it?

I decided it had been a long time since I’d last hiked up Chick Hill in Clifton. It’s a little less than 20 miles from Bangor and on a weekday, I reasoned, there wouldn’t be many hunters out. Chick Hill it was.

The outing would be a good opportunity, I reasoned, to try out an Enertia Foods dehydrated meal – Switchback Spaghetti – that I’ve had kicking around for a year or so. I grabbed a water bottle, binoculars, a stove and cook pot, a wind shirt and gloves and a fluorescent orange vest.

The day was hazy, partly cloudy and windy, good for hiking, but not so great for sightseeing I was later to learn. No one had parked in the parking area at the hill’s base – I wasn’t surprised given it was the middle of the day. About halfway up the gravel road that takes you to the summit, I was glad I hadn’t picked a more strenuous hill. I haven’t been hiking that much lately, and it was showing as I huffed and puffed along.

At the top the gusting winds whistled through the guy wires of the tall communications antenna. Grateful to have grabbed the wind shirt and the insulated blaze orange vest, I put both on as I looked for a somewhat sheltered spot to set up my stove and fix lunch. Once I had the two cups of water at a boil I dumped in the spaghetti and stirred the pot. Then I grabbed the sauce packet to get ready to add it to the noodles – it was about as hard as a rock! I could have bounced it around the ledge atop the hill and not have done the red lump any damage!

It was going to take a while longer to fix the meal, I reasoned, than the relatively short time printed on the meal preparation instructions. And, yes, it did! I was relieved to have brought along the MSR Dragonfly stove. The wind had no effect on it as it simmered away for close to half an hour. It took that long to soften up the sauce lump.

The meal turned out OK (a bit too much liquid). My only regret was not bringing the hard roll that was on the counter at home.

UM-bound

Last Saturday there was a special delivery of some more good weather and both my wife and I had some time off together. We had time, after doing the chores, to get in a few hours of exploring. We settled on the University of Maine’s Demeritt Forest that is north of Stillwater Avenue and east of the Stillwater River. (Turn north off Stillwater at McDonald’s and drive a mile north. The road widens at this point and there is ample parking opposite Sewall Road, one of several woods roads in the forest.)

I went online and learned from the university’s Web site that the Demeritt forests include “more than 2,000 acres in Old Town and Orono … This is the oldest portion of University Forest lands. The primary objectives of this forest are education, research, demonstration and recreation. The forest is extensively used by faculty for teaching, and to a lesser degree for research. Public recreational use of this forest is very heavy, with an extensive system of walking, biking and ski trails. Demonstrations on various aspects of forestry occur throughout the year. Among the recurring demonstrations in the forest are a maple sugaring operation and a forestry Best Management Practices demonstration area.”

Maps of the university trails are available at Maine Bound or online (at the university site in the general directory go to Maine Bound, then click on the trail icon on the upper right of the bar, then on the map pull-down. The general trail map will be the one you want.) It would be smart to have the map in hand before venturing out and exploring. Most of the trail intersections were marked with benches (yes, the sit-down type), and the main roads have a sign on them, but we couldn’t find markings for the black trails. That’s where having a map in hand helps. And a compass is handy as well if you get turned around easily.

In the black trail area there is an ongoing study on the land-use and harvesting effects on amphibians. According to the university’s Web site, “These research areas were laid out and harvested by University Forests Office personnel for the Wildlife Ecology Department, which is now doing the tough part of collecting specimens and information from each site. For more information about this project contact the University Forests Office.”

This office manages forestlands and coordinates research on land owned by the university. The university’s Web site points out there are three major parts under this jurisdiction.

The University Forests Office of the University of Maine is responsible for managing the forestlands owned by the University of Maine and the University of Maine Foundation. The office also coordinates research activities on the land. The forestland under management is composed of three distinct parts.

. The Dwight B. Demeritt Forest

. The Penobscot Experimental Forest in Bradley and Eddington.

. The Green Endowment Forestlands are lands donated to the university foundation for the benefit of the University of Maine to be managed to provide revenues to the Green Endowment Fund of the College of Natural Sciences, Forestry and Agriculture. These properties are normally family owned woodlots with a long history of management. The owners wish to ensure the continued management of these lands that benefit the students within the college financially. They are managed by the University Forests Office, with revenues supporting management costs and student initiated projects.

On our walk we toured the Sewall Road, turned north on the red trail, hit the blue trail and then things got wet. We made our way back to the Sewall Road and eastward to the black trails. They, too, were wet on the northern end, but we were able to skip across rocks and high spots and keep our feet mostly dry.

The walk in the woods was pleasant. We crossed paths with about a dozen other folks out for fresh air. Several of them had dogs, so our wildlife sightings were limited to red squirrels. If you’re interested in forestry, you’ll be rewarded with views of various plots with different ages of growth and species in the forest that has been managed since 1939.

The university’s forest office policy is to encourage nonmotorized recreational use of its lands. The Demeritt Forest gets some 35,000-plus visits annually from walkers, joggers, bicyclists and skiers.

Jeff Strout’s column on outdoor recreation is published each Saturday. He can be reached at 990-8202 or by e-mail at jstrout@bangordailynews.net.