Hey all, it's Friday. Yeah.

A mere eight hours of pseudo-work and it's off to the hills for some hiking.

I can make it.

But sometimes people can't make it. In time, that is.

Eh, you say?

Well, go to the Poop Report and you'll understand. And get a few good laughs to start off your weekend.

Take the story of a father and son on a fishing trip. The son suddenly has to "go" really bad, but steadfastly refuses to do it in the woods. So the dad interrupts the fishing and rushes the kid to the closet port-a-john. Unfortunately the ending is quite messy.

Anyway, that's the poop for now. Laughter cures all, doesn't it?! Have a great weekend!

If you haven't been looking in on the now famous budding eagle family high in a white pine tree somewhere up in Hancock County, then you've been missing a wonderful story of nature unfolding daily.

How, you say?

Well, via a live web cam, of course!

Check it out and watch the two proud parents and their little eaglets up close and personal like.

It's amazing and heartwarming!

Thanks to the BioDiversity Research Institute and its generous supporting partners for bringing us this incredible window into our natural world.

The comments are coming in hot and heavy on the Plum Creek plan today.

Thus far you'd think that Plum Creek was as bad as Big Tobacco or Big Oil, those hated multinational orgs interested only in making profits and squashing the little guy.

So take a look-see and add your voice to the mix, pro or con. It's what makes our country great.

In the meantime I'm gonna go make some popcorn, then come back to see more of the Plum Creek show...

Mother Nature sure can be cruel to some people.

Like to Tim Cook, who, apparently upset with being thrown out of a kegger, used signal flares to try to torch the party house. In the process he managed to set his pants on fire and needed the Portland fire department to extinquish his on-leg campfire.

This brilliant string of events promptly landed the DNA-challenged Cook in jail.

Bravo!

I hereby nominate Tim Cook for a Darwin Award!

There's some cool things happening real soon out there in outdoor-land that you might want to know about (and I want to get this junk off my desk!), so here goes:

* Eastern Mountain Sports stores in Portland and Augusta are having their semi-annual 20% off everything in the store sale this weekend, April 28-30. Come and get it, and save! And if you happen to belong to an outdoor club, drop by on Thursday, April 27th for Club Day (bring your club member ID) and grab some gear savings before the crowds hit on the weekend.

* The Happy Trails Big Bash and Silent Auction to benefit Portland Trails is happening this Friday night at the Pavilion in Portland from 5:30-8PM. Get in on the silent auction for cool stuff, dance to the Jerks of Grass, chow down on yummy food, grab a beer and have fun! And help PT raise much needed funds!

* Bradbury Mountain State Park in Pownal is looking for volunteers to do trail maintenance on their single-track mountain biking trails this Sunday morning, April 30th at 8AM. And of course you'll want to stay and ride afterward. Contact BMSP for more info.

* The ASC All-for-One Season Pass offer expires next Tuesday, May 2nd. No skier should be without one. So don't miss out. Take the hit on your credit card now, but then rest easy all summer knowing you'll be ready to roll next winter (a real one we hope!) with some cheap skiing. My choice: The Bronze Pass for $365.

* The Portland Regional Chamber of Commerce will be hosting it's monthly Eggs & Issues breakfast forum on Wednesday, May 3 from 7-9AM. The topic: Plum Creek's Moosehead Plan. Plum Creek officials will discuss their revised plan and its economic impact. That should be of big interest to all of us outdoorsy types. Cost is $15 and includes a tasty full breakfast. To register contact the Chamber at 772-1196 x228 (deadline is noon on April 28th).

* The Great Maine Bike Swap, presented by the BCM, will be held on Sunday, May 7th, from 10-2PM at 58 Fore St. in Portland. Sell an old bike, shop for a used bike. get bike safety tips, test ride a recumbent bike and have lots of fun! Contact Fred at 865-6978 for more info.

Dat's all I gotz for now...

Katahdin Lake and the surrounding 4,000 acres are now part of Baxter State Park. And an adjoining 2,000 is now under Maine Department of Conservation management.

Although it was a heated debate, it was a healthy one. And the result is that the Gov inked the bill yesterday. Done deal.

I think we all benefit with this compromise solution. A stunningly beautiful piece of land coveted by Percival Baxter himself has now been brought into the park fold some 30-odd years after his death.

The Katahdin Lake parcel will be closed to hunting and motorized recreational uses. But the state-owned piece will continue to support these traditional uses, something many of us wanted to see.

Could we have done better? Probably not. It's a reasonable win-win in my book.

Now I'm looking forward to getting up to Katahdin Lake, throwing on a backpack and exploring some new backcountry turf, and getting a different angle on the mountain we all love so much.

If you happen to maintain a section of the Appalachian Trail these days, as I do for the MATC, you are now required to take a chainsaw safety course if you plan to use a machine to get your trail work done.

And seeing as how a good part of any AT maintainer's job here in Maine is devoted to removing blowdowns (also known as blowdownus painintheassus) that block tha trail, a chainsaw is the only way to work efficiently. Especially when you might have to cut out 75-100 of them in the course of a few miles of trail.

And so, much to my AT Section Overseer's delight I would imagine, I attended one such 16-hour safety course this weekend at a woodlot in Windham, sponsored by the Appalachian Trail Conservancy.

Driving there Saturday morning I was wondering just what in the world we were going to learn about chainsaws that was going to take up an entire weekend.

Well, did I ever find out!

We spent 3/4 of our time right out there in the woods running through just about every possible scenario and practicing most every needed type of cutting method, from limbing, bucking and felling to boring cuts, calculating back lean and side, and figuring your face cut and hinge width.

What you say?

Exactly.

It was a lot of stuff jam packed into what turned out to be quick course.

But the 14 attendees no doubt came away safer and more knowledgable chainsaw users who will now be able to approach both routine and more complicated trail maintenance situations with an expanded knowledge base.

And what a thrill it is to now be able to properly and safely assess a tree, the hazards, escape plan, it's lean, make a cutting plan and so forth, and be able to drop it pretty much right where you'd planned to.

I'd like to thank both Lester Kenway and Peter Jensen, certified sawyer instructors for the ATC, for their professional approach, their patience and their sense of humor. You guys did a terrific job! Thank you.

Many thanks also to Larry Clark for the use of his beautiful farm and woodlot.

And thanks to the ATC for supplying personal protection equipment (chaps, helmet, ear and eye protection) free of charge to each maintainer who successfuly completes the course. That's a real nice bonus.

And Phil, I do promise I'll be wearing it all out there this season!

Practicing boring cuts.

Releasing a spring pole.

Assessing the lean.

Felling the tree.

The crew and instructors look on.

Measuring post-cut tolerances.

Reviewing the cut.

Demonstrating the slab cut.

Explaining the practice boring stump.

Looking down a well-felled birch.

Chainsaw maintenance.

It may well be our own 10-mile Bold Coast Trail in the Cutler Coast Management Unit of Maine's Public Reserve Lands system!

I made a weekend backpack trip of up there earlier this month and had a wonderful time. A great way to usher in the springtime.

Take a hike up there yourself and let me know what you think.

Here's a quick photo tour to get you going...

The Bold Coast trailhead is on Route 191 in Cutler, about 17 miles from East Machias and Route 1.

Walking through moist coastal forest enroute to the ocean.

Scrambling along steep cliff tops above the thundering ocean surf.

The trail leads around headlands of dark forest and grassy meadows.

Stopping to admire the killer view.

Where else can you backpack along the coast like this?

Colorful trash from the sea.

Buoy and seaweed.

Crossing grassy meadows back from the water aways.

A splash of color.

A sweet pocket beach.

Cozy tentsite in the trees just yards from the ocean.

Not much privacy here!

Hiking on the rocks toward Fairy Head.

Fairy Head with the Little River lighthouse in the distance.

A freshwater pond on the way out.

Bog bridges leading back to the car.

Helen's (in Machias) blueberry pie is said to be the best in the U.S.

Just a scant couple of days before Earth Day--the 37th anniversary of the much-heralded event--I came across an interesting column on the environmental movement in today's Harvard Crimson, the student newspaper of Harvard University, that's worth sharing.

Piotr Brzezinski opens "Requiem for Environmentalism" with quite a bang: Having lost its credibility with alarmist rhetoric and obsolete ideological ballast, the movement must develop a moderate discourse while challenging its previous assumptions and outdated theories.

Whoa.

I've been carping on the nauseating din of environmental alarmism for some time, the shrill the-sky-is-falling screams of impending doom and gloom.

Brzezinski puts his finger right on it. And in it.

The environemtal message, however important, when couched in such a way, isn't resonating with Joe Public. I know it never did with me.

Is there anyone among us that doesn't care for the environment?

I doubt it.

But every problem need not be cast as end-of-the-world.

"Be Worried, Be Very Worried": was a recent headline in Time, referring to global warming.

Please!

"Contrary to popular opinion, the U.S. environment is getting healthier," writes Brzezinski.

He's correct.

For example, our lakes, rivers and coastlines are cleaner than they were 30 years ago. The land is covered by more forests now, not less.

Are there serious local, domestic and global environmental problems?

Absolutely.

Industrial pollution, an energy deficit, rainforest decimation, food shortages and a few too many others to note here.

But these issues are being dealt with. Maybe not so well or quick enough in the myopic eye of a human lifetime, but they are. Human ingenuity and improved technology are being harnessed. The natural caring we humans have for our environment compels us to act, and we do, and always will, to improve our world. Because it is the right thing to do.

Brzezinski closes with sound advice for re-tooling the environmental message: Until environmentalists cease depending on nightmare scenarios, they will fail to influence the public at large. Let the next generation of environmentalists begin to reestablish the movement’s credibility by exploring currently heretical ideas and producing moderate, nuanced reports, even if they do not make for good press.

Well said.

So, let's celebrate Earth Day! This Saturday and every day. Yes, it's a difficult, complex world with lots of problems, environmental and otherwise. But it's also a beautiful world with lots of good people and ever-emerging solutions. Let's celebrate that, too.

Do you love Acadia?

Of course you do! As do I. Who doesn’t?

The pink granite cliffs, the pounding ocean surf, the sand beaches and secluded coves. Mountains that rise tall from the sea, pocked with jack pines. The cool, dark black spruce forests and sparkling clear streams that run between them. The winding carriage roads, the narrow foot trails and the Park Loop Road that help us explore and see and touch and smell the natural beauty that is Acadia.

But did you know that in the last four years federal funding for parks has increased from $903 million to $1 billion annually?

Probably not.

And you probably never noticed any problem getting into the visitor center, or finding a roll of TP in the john, or finding a park ranger during your visit.

Nope.

Thought so.

But Acadia is in crisis, don't you know! Remember that annual $1 billion figure for parks? That funding level increase is less than the current annual 3% rate of inflation. So, some in our government call that a “cut” and cry foul.

Like our own seemingly math-challenged U.S. Congressman Tom Allen.

Allen continues to beat the steady drum about “tax cuts for wealthy” and “cost of war” and whatever other convenient but tired mantra as the reason for such an abominable “erosion of services” as is happening to Acadia.

Acadia gets a couple million $$$ a year more now than just a few of years ago, but it just can’t seem to get by, according to Allen’s line of thought.

Hmmm.

This is what I love about our government. There is never enough money for it to spend. It wants ever more. More of my tax dollars and yours. It never asks where you and I will get the money to pay for more fees and surcharges and revenue enhancements and other disguises for TAXES.

This current administration is no better. Fiscally conservative? Not a chance. It's spend, spend, spend.

Please tell me: What government agency, be it local, state or federal, couldn’t do with a flat line budget for awhile until we get our fiscal house in order?

You and I do it every day, every year. We make do with what we have. We have no choice.

So should the government. At all levels. Even our parks.

I’m weary of the-sky-is-falling alarmism. There simply isn’t enough money available to do all the things that we, the pampered, spoiled and lazy American people, now ask our government to do. There just isn’t.

Can’t we accept that? Shouldn't our leaders, regardless of party, be more responsible?

Our parks are wonderful, beautiful places. Acadia will survive on $6.5 mil a year. It's tough love, but I’m pretty confident.

But if the next time I visit I can’t find a ranger when I need to ask a question, I might consider figuring things out for myself. If the visitor center isn’t open late, I’ll pick up a brochure outside and show myself around. And if I can’t find an open outhouse, I’ll pee in the woods.

Beloved Acadia will still look the same. And I’ll enjoy it just as much.

Seawall in Acadia National Park.

That's Corsican for "across the mountains."

And that's what I'll be doing come June: Trekking across the mountains of Corsica (a French island in the Mediterranean Sea, south of France and west of Italy) on what's called the GR-20 Route or Grand Randonee 20.

The GR-20 is reputed to be the most difficult long distance trek in Europe. In 125 miles over the course of 2 weeks there is an astounding 70,000 vertical feet of elevation gain and loss.

Jeez, my back, knees and feet ache already! And a peek at the maps of the route does little to comfort me.

Fortunately, however, I am well into my usual pre-trek training regimen of walking daily to and from the car and consuming as much pizza and beer as possible in order to be in peak physical condition.

So far the training has been quite a success, and I'll no doubt be ready to tackle the rugged ups and downs of Corsica, enroute from Calenzana across the rugged interior of the island to Conza.

Corsica you say?

Why??

I'd never have put Corsica on the top of my hiking list, much less even on my list, had it not been for my friend Dr. John, a retired physician from the UK, who I met while trekking the Haute Route through the Alps from Mont Blanc to the Matterhorn in 2000.

John was spending his early retirement traveling the globe and walking as many of the world's best trails as he could. And in the handful of nights that we and his group shared in cozy Swiss huts over mugs of Cardinal beer and glasses of red wine, he kept coming back to Corsica.

The GR-20 route was, he said, the hardest hike he'd ever done, and the most beautiful. It beat the crap out of him, but he loved every step of the way. The jagged peaks and lonely cirques, alpine meadows and high lakes, the mix of fellow trekkers from around the world that he met each day on the route, and each evening in the bergeries and gites. And the lovely, friendly, accomodating Corsican people.

The idea stuck. It made "the list." And my good trekking buddy Phil and I have kicked it around ever since the Alps trek. Threatening, ever threatening to go.

And now we are.

Maps and guidebooks have been purchased. So have airline tickets from my travel agent pal Nancy at AAA in South Portland. The packing list is on the table and gear is being sorted, evaluated, organized.

It's really happening. The GR-20 across Corsica. A dream come true. I can't wait.

But first I must continue my rigorous training...

Picking up my plane tickets to Corsica from Nancy, my awesome AAA travel agent.

Trekking friends from Britain pause for a photo and a laugh atop the Meidpass along the Haute Route in Switzerland, September 2000. Dr. John, the idea guy behind my upcoming Corsica trek, is at far left.

Yours truly descending into the tiny village of Gruben-Meiden, Haute Route, Switzerland, September 2000.

Toasting the completion of the Haute Route beneath the Matterhorn after 13 days and 150 miles of hiking. I trust that Corsica's GR 20 route will bring more great scenery and similar revelry.

Fra li Monti!

18,000-plus hours.

That's the amount of time that Maine Appalachian Trail Club members volunteered in support of Maine's Appalachian Trail in 2005.

It's an astounding statistic, and one I can't wait to hear every year at the MATC annual meeting, which was last weekend in Farmington.

18,000 hours devoted to everything from brush clearing, branch clipping, blowdown removal, bog bridge construction, blazing, signing and trash pick-up to administrative tasks, envelope stuffing, newsletter organization and printing, travel, meetings and whatever else that needs to get done.

All in the name of and devotion to the Appalachain Trail.

My hat is off to all MATC volunteers for a job well done.

And so I must ask you all: The next time you throw your pack on your back and hit the trail, please consider the enormous amount of volunteer hours that go quietly unnoticed throughout the year--each and every year--in support of trails in Maine.

Makes you want to give a little something back, doesn't it?

I thought so.

Here's how you can do it:

For starters, contact the good folks at the Maine Appalachian Trail Club, the Maine Chapter of the Appalachian Mountain Club, the Maine Land Trust Network, any organization listed on Healthy Maine Walks, MOAC.

Surely someone there will be able to direct you as to how you can help with trail work. And believe me, they need and want your help. There are NEVER enough volunteers to share the load of taking care of our trails.

So please pitch in a little of your time for the trails that you and I love.

You will not only get immense personal satisfaction from doing so, but you will be profusely thanked by the trail club or group that you volunteer for.

Thank you!

Consider volunteering to do some trail work this year. It'll come back to you in spades. Thanks!

Yep, sure looks like it.

Both Sunday River and Sugarloaf are scheduled to close after this weekend. The Loaf closes Sunday, while the River will be free skiing for all on Monday, Patriot's Day.

So, if you're going to get a few more turns in before hanging up the skis, this is the weekend to do it.

The forecast is pretty decent, so it looks like a good weekend to get outdoors regardless (duh!).

Now, about last weekend and Reggae Fest...

I missed the not-so-great skiing on Saturday (I was attending the MATC annual meeting down in Farmington), but I did get up there in time to catch some fun music and mix with the mass of humanity on The Beach. And maybe throw back a mucho expensive beer or two.

Sunday was the day: Perfect blue skies, mega sun and soft snow. Real snow! (The 14 inches the prior Wednesday was a real gift from the ski gods!).

Timberline chair was running and we skied trails that hadn't been open all season that I'm aware of, like Cinder Hoe and Upper Binder. Awesome! Timberline trail was worth skiing over and over.

Narrow Gauge, King's, Hayburner, all good. Very good.

And with a little midafternoon break in the sun for a cold one at Bullwinkle's, all was well with the world.

And even more so, when we ducked into The Bag to toast the end of the day with a Pick Pole Pale Ale and a superbowl of mountain chili. I mean, is the chili in The Bag the best in the world, or what? Yum!

The doctor says no more skiing for me this season due to a bum knee that I've been pounding the pee out of all winter long on hikes and skiing.

So I hope that you all can get out there and take a few turns for me this weekend and finish up the ski season (which hasn't been all that bad to be honest) with a flare.

Until next season...

The mountain, crowds and reggae music. Must be April!

Reggae crowds on The Beach.

The snow on the upper mountain, especially the Timberline chair, was awesome!

The Bag chili could be the best on Earth.

Trail Head say Reggae Fest '06 good fun.

...so I'm selling the rights to my name, too.

Hey, if Muhammed Ali can do it...

I can get a tank's worth of $$$ for it on eBay, don't ya think?!

Sigh.

I filled up the tank on the way into work this morning. Another 10.2 gallons. Another $27.35 out the door.

$2.69 a gallon is painful, but is it keeping you from going hiking?

Let's see, this tank should last the rest of the work week. But it ain't getting me to where I'm going this weekend.

Which includes a day hike east of Bangor, another on a new section of the Georges Highland Path near Rockland, and maybe one more (it's a holiday weekend after all) somewhere else.

Gonna rack up some good miles for sure. And at $2.69 a gallon and rising fast by the week, some more bucks, too.

But, the odd thing is, complain all I want, it isn't stopping me from going hiking. And hasn't stopped me from logging all those trips to Sugarloaf all winter long.

Yet.

So, I wonder... at what point will it? $3? $3.50? $4? God forbid $5 a gallon?

I don't know.

And hence my question to you: What is the breaking point? When will the price of gas affect your recreational travel? Or has it begun to already? Are you cutting back, hiking closer to home? Or are you scrimping and saving in other ways, like I am (as an ex-AT thru-hiker, I can still live on PBJs and mac & cheese for weeks if I have to), to have enough cash to fill the tank for those coveted weekend get-a-ways?

And then, of course, there's the high price of beer. Which has been slowly creeping up and has me equally concerned...

Just in case you've missed the PR barrage on TV, you can check out the details of the new and improved Plum Creek plan online.

It outlines the conservation, economic development, recreation and public access components, as well as how the plan has evolved through input from a host of outside sources, and answers some FAQs.

I haven't gone through the whole thing yet. But I'm printing off a copy now to place in the john at home, where I can read it in a more comtemplative and relaxed state.

I'll get back to you with my comments soon.

If you have any for me on this in the meantime, feel free to post them here.

If you've always been fascinated by the way Mount Washington generates its own weather--mostly bad weather it seems, and mostly when I'm hiking up it!--then you may be interested in the program tomorrow night at 7PM at the Falmouth Memorial Library in Falmouth.

Life at the Top of Mount Washington: Weathering the World's Worst Weather will be presented by former Mount Washington Observatory weather observer and current WGME meteorologist Sarah Long.

And what do you know? April 12th is the anniversary of the world record setting wind speed day on Mount Washington, recorded at 231 MPH in 1934! That's quite a gust, eh?!

Should be a fun and informative program. RSVP requested. To do so, call 603-356-2137 or email mnester@mountwashington.org.

See you there...

By the way, if you've never seen Breakfast of Champions, you can purchase the DVD, or check it out the next time you're in the Mt. Washington summit museum (it plays continously). It's a hilarious short video of coping with the mountain's high winds.

Sorry Colleen, but I just couldn't resist!

Saturday I attended the MATC annual meeting in Farmington, a packed day of fun trail talk. Wouldn't you know it, but the morning session ended before noon, and we had to dine on eggs for lunch in the cafeteria. No kidding.

In the afternoon I headed further north to catch Reggae Fest at Sugarloaf, where I found plenty of good music, big crowds and unlimited cold beer. But no eggs.

The skiing on Sunday was the best of the entire season. REAL snow blanketed the entire mountain and, under brilliant blue skies, made for outstanding top-to-bottom skiing.

And what did I eat for lunch (besides a beer at Bullwinkle's)? A hard-boiled egg. Really!

So you see, between Colleen and me, it was a truly egg-citing, egg-centric, egg-ceptional weekend!

And yours?

If you were at last evening's meeting of the Maine Outdoor Adventure Club in Portland, then you got a pretty good eyeful of the incredible natural beauty to be found by hikers along the International Appalachian Trail.

Dick Anderson, the founder and president of the IAT, detailed his organization's latest efforts at international trails collaboration with the extention of the trail across Newfoundland to the farthest natural reaches of the Appalachian Mountains (on this side of the North Atlantic Plate anyway) amid the icebergs of Belle Isle.

Dick's group is also negotiating with the good folks of Nova Scotia to bring an arm of the IAT through the lovely countryside of that province as far as windswept Cape Breton Island.

And here at home in Maine, the IAT is working with landowners to carve out a corridor and move more of the trail off road and into the woods.

It's an incredible effort, and if you listen to Dick and see the devoted group of advocates working tirelessly to make this concept a reality, you can understand just how it all came to be and why it will be successful in its bold vision.

Which, by the way, ultimately calls for IAT trail in Scotland and Ireland as well. Without going into plate tectonics and all that, suffice it to say that the IAT may one day indeed cover all of the original Appalachian Mountains, regardless of what side of the Atlantic Ocean they may now be.

I'm sending in my check today to become a member of the International Appalachian Trail. Maybe you'll want to also. This is an amazing and ever-evolving trans-cultural and trans-continental project. I not only want to support it, but now I want to hike it. All of it!

Thanks for your inspiration and leadership, Dick!

Dick Anderson (right), founder and president of the IAT, with IAT board members Jack Seigel (left) and Walter Anderson (middle) at last night's MOAC meeting in Portland.

It's true.

The black bears are gone. Migrated to the midwest I'm told.

The reason?

Habitat destruction? Food shortage? Overpopulation? Global warming?

Nope.

The Frozen Four!

Yes, that's right fans.

The Maine Black Bears are in Milwaukee today to play in college hockey's national championship semi-finals.

Their prey, er, opponent?

The Wisconsin Badgers.

Question: What do Black Bears eat?

Answer: Badger meat!

Do what you must today. Get your work done. Get in a nice walk or run or bike ride outside later on. Eat a good dinner. Then sit your butt down with your chips and dip and cold ones and tune in for some Maine hockey tonight at 8PM on ESPN2.

A 3rd national championship for our boys in the blue and white?

Maybe. Hopefully.

It's happened on the ice of the Bradley Center in Milwaukee once before, in 1993. That magical come-from-behind victory over Lake Superior State 5-4. (And again in Los Angeles in 1999 against UNH. A 3-2 heart-stopper).

M-A-I-N-E... Goooooooo Blue!

Fill the steins to dear old Maine, shout til the rafters ring...

Well, I finally finished reading Where Less the Path is Worn by Nimblewill Nomad.

It's taken me awhile to get through it, but that's solely because I've been savoring each page and each step along the trail. And last evening Nomad and I reached the northern tip of Newfoundland at Belle Isle and the completion of his epic 5,000 mile journey from one end of the Appalachian Mountains to the other.

At the conclusion of his book, Nomad writes a short ditty entitled "Why Go!":

It's the people, the places,
The pain and the trials.
It's the joy and the blessings
That come from the miles.

It's a calling gone out
To a fortunate few.
To wander the fringes
Of God's hazy blue.

You rock, Nomad.

It was a no brainer, of course, to scribble this journey down on my life "to-do" list. I've been planning for some time now to do a repeat thru-hike of the AT, but maybe now I'll expand that idea and add in a few extra miles on either end. Like 2,800 or so. What's a few more miles anyway?

This far northern trail through Newfoundland is in its infancy and development of it is proceeding along rather well I'm told. It will be part of the ever-expanding International Appalachian Trail that will one day extend from our own Baxter State Park through New Brunswick, Quebec and thence across Newfoundland. There is talk now of an arm of the IAT also curving off into Nova Scotia.

If you're interested in the IAT, whether for a few days of hiking or a full-on thru-hike, or just for yucks, you can get a glimpse of the project at tomorrow night's Maine Outdoor Adventure Club (MOAC) meeting in Portland.

Dick Anderson of Freeport, the brainchild and tireless advocate of the IAT, will be the featured speaker and will detail efforts to build more IAT trail in Newfoundland and Nova Scotia.

I'll see you there...

Often times the trail to the trail leads us through the friendly skies.

What, you say?

That's right.

To get to the trail sometimes, whether it's out west or down south or Europe or Patagonia, you've got to fly.

And flying is an adventure in itself, especially in this post-9/11 world. It's at least always interesting, provided you approach it with the right attitude. Which mostly involves patience.

I made yet another plane trip just a few weeks back. Per usual I scribbled a few notes down during my half-day excursion to the west. And thumbing through my notebook last night I came across these random thoughts on my latest bout with plane travel:

* Note to self: When traveling by Concord Trailways to Logan on a Saturday, get to the bus station early. Very early. Must be that I've never bussed it out of Portland on a Saturday before, as I was totally not prepared to find the station teeming with people at 4:45AM. I got the last seat on the 55-person bus. I don't honestly know what I'd have done if I'd been just one step back in line. I didn't stick around to find out. Just grabbed by ticket and bags and slipped through the door to my waiting bus.

* How is it that people still show up at travel ticket counters with no ID? And then yell at the agent when they are denied boarding. Uh, what rock do you live under?

* Arriving at Logan via bus I noticed a very long line queued up for the sky cap desk, my usual MO. I walked past the line into the terminal to see if the indoor check-in was any less busy. Of course I went right for the new, faster self-check in kiosks. Again, a long line of people slowly shuffling forward, clutching cups of coffee and kicking their bags ahead. Around the first bend in the check-in merry-go-round, I noticed their was nobody--nobody--in line for the regular, old fashioned human check-in. Under the rope I went. And was headed for security, boarding pass in hand, in seconds.

* With time to kill I experimented with security by not removing my shoes. And I didn't beep. But rather dumbly, my Swiss Army knife set the machine off. But rather than having to turn over my precious knife to security, never to be seen again, I was able to mail it home. For $12. Note: Ignore the supposed rule changes to acceptable carry-on items (knives with blades less than 3" were OK, so I thought). They vary from airport to airport. Pack the knife in the checked bag next time just to be sure.

* I love getting to end of the security line with carry-on bag, laptop, laptop bag, jacket, hat and whatever else in hand and shuffling out into the terminal walkway looking for a place to get re-packed and re-dressed. At least this time I still had my shoes on. It'd be funnier I guess if security wasn't so serious these days.

* Why is it that the airport bar isn't open at 7AM? Is it just me? Or is no one else interested in a breakfast beer with their morning paper?

* Why is it that loading a plane is like watching a clip from Night of the Living Dead? Seems people lose all ability to move along at anything more than a snail's pace down the ramp and up the aisle of the plane. Where, of course, you are met by people who loaded fifteen minutes ago still standing in the aisle fussing with their carry-on and blocking 150 people behind them from advancing toward the rear of the plane. Can you say "awareness of your surroundings"? I knew you could. Shove it in and sit down, will ya?

* Why must the person behind me jerk my seat when they get up to move each and every five minutes? At this rate she will surely set a record for trips to the restroom on a five hour flight. And I may set a record for high annoyance factor. But then, that's maybe why the flight attendant is now handing me a second Bloody Mary. Happy place, happy place...

* Did you know that the new airline seats have a head piece you can fold out to cradle your head? And keep you from slumping over your seat mate and drooling on them. Maybe they've always been there, but I'm just now noticing? In any case, they're cool, and they keep my head from jarring violently every time the jerk behind me gets up for the john. Nice touch.

* Jeez, where are my meds anyway? Hope they're not in my checked bag...

* I love the roar of the engines. The going. The ability to cover thousands of miles in just hours. The view from above.

* Are those rivets on the wing loose?

* What really happens in the hour between the time you land and the time your baggage pops up out of the chute and slides its way toward you on the carousel? Do the baggage handlers stop to pee? A smoke? Ten smokes? A couple of pops? And why is it that anyone in an airline uniform can't tell you why your bags haven't surfaced yet? And why baggage claim displays never match the actual carousel? A little game of "find it if you can" maybe. That'd be fine if my bus home hadn't just driven off.

* I love flying. I really do. And I really am patient. Honest.

The view from seat 11F.