Very little current, but another gorgeous day in terms of weather. (Not a single one of these is going by unappreciated after the rainy, snowy debacle of the Northwest Branch.)
We set ourselves the goal of ending in Nackawic, a 24-ish mile day that covered the bulk of Meguntic Lake. We stopped mid-morning in the tiny town of Meguntic to grab gas station coffee and inquire about camping options, and were surprised to find ourselves in the town that makes Sabian (formerly Zildjian) cymbals. The owner let us use the landline to call ahead to an RV park that is JUST ACROSS THE LAKE FROM THE WORLD’S LARGEST AXE, which I was very excited about because I LOVE weird roadside attractions and also IT’S A GIANT FUCKING AXE.
The paddling was a little bit of a slog, but the lake itself was gorgeous. We had a bit of a time trying to figure out how far we’d gone (no real landmarks, and the ones we looked for may still have been underwater) but there was a fun selection of architecture along the way and we spent a solid portion of the day debating the pros and cons of RV vs. tiny house vs. houseboat and the various styles of deck.
We hit the WORLD’S LARGEST AXE! Late afternoon, and while I was sad it was hollow it was basically everything I could have hoped for: nicely located, very weird, and you could touch it.
From there it was a quick scoot across the lake to Mariner’s Point RV park, where we pulled up on the beach and were immediately welcomed in with open arms. George, the owner, had us set up just above the beach by a birch grove with a picnic table. There were hot showers (OMG) and LAUNDRY (OH. MY GOD.) and then we watched the sun set over beans, brown bread, and scotch while marveling in how nice we smelled.
After that we made it one hand into gin rummy before Jen and Paul Devereaux, our campsite neighbors and resident hosts, invited us over to their campfire to sit in lounge chairs and shoot the shit while working our way through some cold beers (and Paul and Steve worked their way through a bottle of Jameson). NICEST. PEOPLE. EVER. I have a newfound respect for RV’ers; they’re just as into the “adventuring” as we are, they’re just a little smarter about how comfortable they want to be while doing it.
