Back out on Pond after my solo trip for the Solstice. This trip is going to be more like the ones I described in the Solstice post, lot of family and friends, campfires, booze and tunes. I left early on the 3rd to get the campsite. There had been a local camping group out there for the prior two nights, and it looked like a raucous party. We were happy to see they had left, and wanted to be sure to get the campsite for the 4th, and decided to go out early on the third and spend the night since we are allowed to be there two nights, and that would guarantee we had it for the holiday.
I took the whaler packed to the gills, what I call the Sherpa boat. In addition to all of my camping gear, I had my new kayak, the kids kayaks, two coolers, and as much of my brother and his family’s gear as I could take. He wouldn’t be getting out of work early, so wouldn’t arrive until sunset.
On my way out of the harbor, I passed the American Eagle, and stopped to say hello to Captain Foss as I always do. We had a nice exchange, and I was happy to hear he might be looking for crew in the coming weeks.
I took my time getting out to Pond, went inside of Pumpkin Island, one of my favorite postcard views in the area. I noticed it was a particularly low tide, and decided to go find Merriman’s ledge, which comes out of the water at the lowest low drain tides. It wasn’t quite out but it was only a foot or so of water. Dangerous spot for boaters!
Got out to Pond and was disappointed to see the mess that had been left behind by the previous group. You could tell they had tried to clean up, but ‘tried’ is the operative word. There were lobster shells everywhere, fireworks remnants, half melted beer cans and other trash in the firepit. I had to spend the first hour on the island picking up. We later realized that there had been different spots in the campsite used as bathrooms, and there wasn’t much care in how to handle the solid waste. Pretty disgusting. It makes you appreciate what MITA and Maine Coast Heritage Trust have been doing with the islands, and how the local usage patterns will not be sustainable as the traffic and usage grows.
Once we had cleaned up a bit, set up the rents and grabbed some firewood, we were able to have some fun. It was great to be out there with my sister in law and the kids. We are normally out there with big groups, and it made me appreciate the fact that we had the time to ourselves. I also loved that we had put everything together so my brother wouldn’t have to do anything when he got there. He does so much. He is a husband and father, which is why, but it was nice to be able to take care of all of that. We had a beautiful night, which led into the 4th, and a second night of the overnight with the usual crew. Both were fun in their own way. Here are the pictures: