Trip to Maine, part 2: Woods Adventuring

One of the things on my list of things to do this summer was to go adventuring and walk for miles out into the woods past my house in Maine. I was looking for beautiful scenery and hopefully cool stuff like skulls and weird old trash and stuff (there are property lines created by small rock walls all throughout the woods around my house, and I have found 2 very obvious dumps full of insanely old bottles and rusted kitchenware- even possible parts of foundations). I had 1 specific place to get to, probably 2 miles away- a beautiful, incredibly green and lush swamp in the middle of nowhere woods- just trees and nothing, and then just green, green, green. I found it years ago when I used to ride my sweet L.L. Bean bike randomly down roads and into the middle of the woods. Upon following a grown over road and freaking out that there was somehow a road in the middle of nowhere, there was a swamp, and I wanted to get a picture while it was still there.

So I took off, and was instantly destroyed by bugs. Within 10 minutes of being in the thick of the woods, I realized I was out of bug spray. I was wearing pants, a long sleeve shirt, and a doo rag completely covering my face and ears, but the bugs were still all over my face and trying to penetrate my shirt. And my ipod died. I took this as a small blessing though, since without music, I'd be able to hear a Squatch coming after me, but still. It sucked.

The first cool thing I realized was that in all my years growing up wandering through the woods, I never noticed that game trails weren't just something Elk made and Bear Grylls talked about on TV. Now that I mountain bike and perpetually see the woods in a state of where trails should be, I noticed that animals were already doing the work for me- this is the exact line I would have chosen if I was making a trail out here. It's neat to think that animals literally have roads that they follow time and time again out in the woods. It was not surprising to find an upside down crate at the top of this hill, as this would be a fantastic spot to hunt. 

Then I found a monster.

A tree hand? The Flood? An alien that will jump on my face and lay eggs in my throat until an alien pops out of my chest and kills everyone? Oh... no. A fallen tree.

Once I got to the road I found the old trail on, which used to be a roped-off road with a compost in it for the camp across the street, I realized that much of these woods had been destroyed. Sad.

Goddamn clear-cutting.

I worried, but at least for now, the road was still there. 

I wonder if the reason these roads are still so obvious is because animals are using them too...

The swamp. Honestly, even though this picture is insanely green, you can't even imagine just how green it is. At dusk, its pretty amazing too, as you get this weird kind of glow. I really find this place to be pretty awesome- its beautiful and calming, but the thickness of it is menacing. I always wonder if just beyond the thick, where I can't see any further, there is something watching me. 

And then, I found exactly what was watching me. 

This is either the home of a terrifying beast, or a terrifying beast itself. 

So scary. I don't want to ruin the terror, but in the interest of full disclosure, this was the result of a tree falling over, and the darkness is half dark, half murky gross water- it is not an unending abyss of evil like I thought. Or maybe it is...

This is probably my favorite picture I've taken this summer.

To the left of this swamp, where the road (which goes all around the swamp) goes, is a huge pile of rocks that seem completely out of place. Just as out of place is this gigantic tree that is growing on top of the biggest rock. So, I am not lying down trying to be arty- I am literally standing on top of a pile of rocks, my head just under the biggest rock, looking up at this beast of a tree. You don't have to go too far to get some amazing views. 

Next, I walked the forever distance back to my driveway, and ventured in the opposite direction, where I wanted to chronicle a few other spots. First, is, once again, in the middle of a thickly wooded area, a weird field. 

There is a cross section of about 3 property lines worth of rock walls (one of which I fell off the last time I ventured here years ago and landed right on my back), and insanely thick woods- just a blanket of tiny, sharp tree branches, completely hiding what looks like a meadow. 

And sure enough, that's exactly what is behind everything. There are always animal trails through here. I've wandered over here a few times over the course of my life, but have never noticed this before:

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Definitive proof that there was once a house here, or at least a well, chimney, or tunnel to hell. I was blown away that I'd never seen it before. 

Then I ventured further into private property to chronicle something else really sketchy that I found years ago:

Yup. Completely hidden in the middle of the woods. No path to it, no sign, no dividing line, nothing. This is clearly the graveyard of all the people who used to live in these houses that aren't there anymore. I was shocked the first time I found this. So many gravestones were cracked in half or had fallen over. I didn't have my EMF detector and wasn't able to capture any EVPs, but I'm sure this area is alive with paranormal activity. It looked like about 10 gravestones scattered throughout the area. Creepy.

I then wandered up the road past a gated multimillion dollar house, and ventured further into the woods to capture a picture of one of the best views I've known, growing up on this beautiful lake.

This is the path walking up to it. What could be behind that fence?

ahhh... Sebago Lake. What you may not realize is that this is 60-70 feet up a huge sand slide and you feel like you are towering over the lake from here. It's truly remarkable. The lake is yours. Once, at a Caspian show while they played a new song, I got a weird image of a running and jumping as far out into the air as possible off this cliff, just into the beauty of direct sunlight over the lake (of course) in slow motion. I don't know, maybe you'd have to have my mind to get it. But it's a nice view.

I fought my way back through the woods, delirious, dehydrated, and crazy, literally punching my way through brush and stumbling over everything. I had a splitting headache, was on fire, and was being destroyed by bugs. Allow me to offer up a few small tips when adventuring: Eat something before you go. Bring more than 1 dinky water bottle, and if your water bottle stinks like mold and soap before you fill it, your water will taste like mold and soap. Bring bug spray. And lastly, don't be out of shape, gone for hours in 80 degree heat in too many clothes, walking several miles through thick woods and thick bugs, and expect to not want to die afterwards. But still... 

A solid day of adventuring.

currently listening to: The Chemical Brothers- Hanna soundtrack, City And Colour- Little Hell