On the morning of July 30, Donne Sinderson, David Thanhauser, and Cloe Chunn met at  the Penobscot Salmon Club in Brewer, home of one of the PRPT campsites. We launched canoes at 8:20 on a slack almost-high tide. When we started seeing eagles over downtown Bangor-Brewer right away, we knew it was going to be a great day. Weather was sunny, dry, and cool with a light breeze nearly at our back.

We paddled past banks covered with July wildflowers in bloom: boneset, water hemlock, ninebark, Joe Pye weed, goldenrod, and beautiful but invasive purple loosestrife. They don’t mind being inundated by high tide. Behind them, Queen Anne’s Lace, St. Johns wort, Sweet clover, and Black-eyed Susans kept their feet dry on higher ground. Except for boats at marinas, we saw almost none moving on the entire 9-mile stretch of river, plus a couple of jetskis. (We did see more boats from the picnic table at our meeting in the afternoon.) We saw some fish jump, but not any sturgeon, which we had hoped to see.

While we were floating, resting our arms and having a snack a couple of hours into our trip, Linda Basilicato and Clayton Cole came speeding up behind us like a jetski in their fast, needle-thin racing canoe. After greetings and news, they sped on to cover more of the river than we would be doing. They couldn’t miss their daily work-out, and said they’d be back for the meeting. Not long after they passed us, we came to Sturgeon Leap Campsite in Orrington, our destination for lunch and Annual Meeting. We had paddled 9 miles in 2 hours 40 minutes. And that was with a falling tide and the wind at our back. 

We ate our lunches at the picnic table at the campsite, while several others joined us, including Peter Crockett, Jim Neville, Rick Henion, Bucky Owen, Jennifer Riefler, and Keith Bowden from the Town of Orrington. At the meeting, Clayton Cole was elected president, replacing David Thanhauser. Rick Henion as vice president, Jim Neville for another term as treasurer, and Cloe Chunn for another term as secretary.

The meeting highlight was the donation of a 6-acre property on Bowden Point in Prospect for a campsite. Owning land is a first for the PRPT. Jennifer Riefler will be the steward, and a work party will meet there on Sept. 24 to create the campsite. Its name will be Ferry Landing Campsite because it is located 100 yards downstream of a point built of granite blocks, formerly a ferry landing. This will be the 11th campsite on the PRPT. We still need one in Medway to complete the link between the confluence of the East and West Branches and the sea.