The 2018 Ex-Camp group that Ms. Chandler encountered on the Allagash. Standing: Ian Ford, Cole Wofford, Anders Westerman, Dylan Ashby, Ash Fraiman, Alex Sidorsky, Satchel Toole. Kneeling: David Austin, Ben Brill, Tom Straus.
By Sarah Hunter
Late one night last fall, in a lodge bunkhouse deep in Maine’s Hundred-Mile Wilderness, I discovered, much to my surprise, that my weekend reading material mentioned Pine Island! Through Woods & Waters, about the author’s 2018 solo journey to and through Maine’s recently established National Monument, had been on my book list for a few years. But it wasn’t until the previous weekend, while camping outside Baxter State Park for a gravel bike event, that I had purchased a copy from the Golden Road Crossing. Now, tucked into the top bunk on another gravel bike trip, reading by headlamp, I found that early in her journey, on the West Branch of the Penobscot River, the author, Laurie Chandler, had crossed paths with a “group of boys from Pine Island Camp on Belgrade Lakes.” This was exciting! I wanted to text Sumner, but it was late, and there was no cell service. I read on, wondering who the Pine Islanders were and whether they would show up again.
A few pages (and river bends) later, there they were! “Not far downstream from Big Ragmuff,” Chandler writes, “I discovered the group from Pine Island packing up at a roomy, attractive campsite on Big Island…We talked back and forth as we paddled…the campers were from all over the states and even London.” Now I knew which group it was! In 2018, we sent out two Expedition Camp groups. This one was led by Ian Ford and Satchel Toole and included Dylan Ashby, David Austin, Ben Brill, Ash Fraiman, Alex Sidorsky, Tom Straus, Anders Westermann, and Cole Wofford.
But there was more to come. Nicky Isles, who spent fourteen summers at Pine Island as a camper, counselor, and driver, soon entered the cast of characters. On his way to resupply the Ex-Camper canoe trip in 2018, he got a flat tire on the Golden Road, which delayed his arrival at Allagash Carry and put him in a position to offer assistance to a certain fellow paddler.
“When I arrived [at Allagash Carry],” Chandler writes, “…gear was spread everywhere—tents set up and sleeping bags and clothes drying in the sun. I recognized some of it. The Pine Island campers must be somewhere ahead, portaging their canoes. Just then, I heard a vehicle approaching. The driver, Nicky, hopped out with a friendly hello.”
Nicky had expected to move the campers’ canoes, but they had already shouldered the heavy loads in his absence, so he offered to help Ms. Chandler instead. He strapped her canoe to the truck, and they headed down the road together. “As we passed [the campers], Nicky offered encouragement but didn’t stop…it’s good for those boys to carry the canoes, he said.”
As Nicky navigated the tricky, potholed road, he talked about Pine Island and the Expedition Camp program, but it was his kindness and generosity that made an impression on Ms. Chandler. He saved her from a tough carry and a long day that would have pushed on into the evening. When I met the author at a book signing a few weeks later, she fondly remembered Nicky and the Expedition Campers. She wrote a note in one book to Nicky, thanking him again for the ride, and in another she wrote: “It was a pleasure to meet some Pine Islanders on the trail.” This signed copy was added to the island library last summer.
Like Laurie Chandler, I’ve encountered Pine Islanders out on the trails and waterways during the summer, and each time, it’s been a delightful surprise. Although I’ve never needed a ride, I’ve always appreciated seeing them. But this was the first time I’ve come across Pine Islanders in my reading material, and it was wonderful to follow Ms. Chandler’s journey knowing some of the personalities she encountered on the beautiful Maine rivers.
