To the end and home again... Day Three

Sometimes you beg for just a little more time. Sometimes you just want the day to be over. In many ways, that was how we felt about day three of our weekend. We started our day later than we normally would, but had success right out of the gate. Found a Jiffy box that looked like it had some visitors that didn't log their finds, but was getting more visitors that we would have thought it might have gotten. We mosied around coastal downeast Maine through waking fishing communities. One had trucks lining the road for what seemed like forever - yet not a boat was in the harbor. They had obviously gotten up much earlier than we had!

We ambled to the end of Maine - destination West Quoddy Lighthouse. We pulled into the parking area, and with mental clues ticking through Teacups head - we headed off in the direction of the letterbox. When one is close at hand - her homing devise kicks in - and 9 times out of 10, she finds me the box - without a cluesheet to guide her. We were also off in search of a box placed by 'the one never spoken of' but there was a Warden making his morning rounds. Not being put off by a Warden - I asked him where a certain marker was - and he directed us right to it! This saved us plenty of time we would have otherwise needed to rambled around seeking what we needed.



Now these boxes are generally on Teacup's list and I go along for the ride. She only asks for a few minutes to see if she can ferret out the elusive box, before moving along to one we know we will probably have more success with. I was content - out came my camera and I started taking shots of the lighthouse, the water - Canada! Teacup was making some grumbling noises - so I thought I'd give her a few minutes and climbed back where she was searching. She was rooting around one tree while I laid down on the ground under another - moved a couple pieces of bark - and found the box. Call it dumb luck on my part, but Teacup sometimes looks at me like I have a fourth head. But we were able to get this box off Teacup's list - at long last. The amazing thing about some of these boxes is that they have been around A LONG time. So some of the names in the logbook are as much a treasure to read through as finding the letterbox itself. And this was certainly true with this box. The sun was out and there was just a slight coastal breeze, so we pulled up a piece of mossy ledge and took a proper amount of time to truly appreciate this box, especially since there wasn't a soul around for miles!

Replacing the box - we started back for the one we didn't have clues for - but decided to forgo it since tourists were beginning to invade our seclusion, and we still had more than a few miles to put on the car to get home. Our next stop was along a trail for boxes planted by someone neither of us had images from. So these were high on our must have list. We should have known we were headed for trouble right out of the gate when we couldn't even locate the trail head. We ended up knocking on some one's back door for directions. Being so far out of nowhere - they were a little shocked to have someone knocking over their morning coffee. But when we need a trailhead - someone else's coffee just had to wait. We were in Edmunds looking for a Keltic Kara series that hadn't had a recorded finder in a while.

After getting properly turned around by the locals, we headed off on the hunt for this three box series. We mosied along trying to read the clues and trying to get the woods to fit the clues. Some weather damage had clearly changed many of the markers, but we finally thought we were in the right spot for the first box. Looking where we first thought the box might be - Teacup ended up injured. So a little trail first aid we took a second look around a realized that we were off a bit and adjusted out search. But the box was nowhere in the vicinity. Dang. Time to move along. We ambled along - bummed at not finding the first box amongst the considerable damage. But we ambled around, up, down, up, up, up again, slipped, slithered, crouched, and clambered over fallen trees on what we were convinced used to be a decent trail to the location of the neighborhood of the second box. It mentioned a 'great view' but the trees had obviously grown a touch since the planted had been to visit her boxes - cause we didn't see much of anything! But we DID find the second box. Off we trampled to try and locate box number three. Now we don't usually grumble about difficult trails or boxes that have been somewhat abandoned - but frankly, we were beginning to get a bit freaked out.

Teacup and I have a horrible habit of forgetting our water in the car. And we had been traversing this destructed trail for more than an hour, only to find one out of three boxes. We think we passed the third one, thought about going back down the hill to see if we did - for about a minute - and decided we really didn't give a rat's butt if we had passed 12 boxes - we wanted OUT of the woods and off this trail from hell. We kept hearing cars, but they sounded like they were on all sides of us. So we kept getting more and more disoriented. Between that and the horrible conditions of the trail, the lack of water and the fact that both of us were beginning to get more than a little skittish - we figured just heading in one direction was the smartest of all options. After more than 1 1/2 hours we made if off the trail and back onto the road. A short walk later we were back at our car and downed the cold coffee and warm water that was waiting for us. Just happy to have Keltic Kara behind us.

Looking at our next options for boxes - we opted to forgo the other Keltic Kara series for when Hell froze over, and headed off for Eastport. Shackford Head seemed lots less intimidating to us at this point. And time was seriously slipping away from us. Teacup had been to Shackford Head before and we wanted to pick up the Anniversary Box of Jiffy's along with another box planted by the woodland gnomes. So we happily left Edmunds and headed due east. Shackford Head was hopping just a bit, but we figured most folks were serious hikers and wouldn't be bothering us too much since they took the right side of the fork and we were heading out on the left. We walked across a planked boardwalk that was riddled with tiny ants. Reaching the end, Teacup and I reread the clues and thought we misread them so headed back to the fork. Nope - we were going in the right direction. Dang - back across the ant causeway. It was creepy - so we hot-footed it across the boards as quickly as possible to get to the other side. Once there we headed up Shackford Head for the first box.

The Anniversary box was in a location that afforded us an amazing view of Cobscook Bay and Canada. While looking for that box, we realized it was also in the same vicinity as one of the woodland gnomes boxes. So Teacup searched for Jiffy's box while I sought out the other. Both with boxes in our hands we made our way back to the bench at the lookout spot and started to crack open the boxes. Just as the wind picked up about 40 knots! We quickly tucked clue sheets under us, and gathered plastic baggies to keep them from flying off the edge. We stamped up as quickly as possible and replanted the two boxes so we could head off for box two of the series.

We continued along the trail and found the 'path' downhill that would lead us to the second box. I say path because it was more of a watershed than a trail. And had it been bad weather - we wouldn't have even attempted the journey. But down we slipped, scampered, death-gripped our way from tree to tree - while a local just sort of sashayed his way uphill past us. Tipping his head slightly, 'morning Ladies. And he was gone - like a gazelle up the hideous hill and we continued downward trying not to break our necks. We followed along the trail which snaked along the water's edge as the wind continued to pick up. We finally found the box and Teacup decided to try and reach her daughter for a quick phone call from the edge of the hill. The water was capping and the wind was getting stronger on this side of Shackford Head, so after wishing her daughter a happy birthday - we started back the way we had just come. The uphill climb didn't seem as bad as the downhill slide - but we were getting tired and worn out. This hike had turned into another that was harder than we had wanted it to be.

We made it back to the beginning of the trailhead and headed across the now completely cut down field of bamboo (when your trailhead goes through the center of it and you clear-cut the area, trailheads amazingly enough - change slightly!) Thankfully, a hearty local with a boat on her back - directed us in the correct direction to get to the water's edge. Okay - so maybe she didn't have a boat on her back - but I bet she could have carried one!

We made haste to get this last box as this area had more of those nasty ants and decided we deserved a brief respite before deciding our next set of boxes to go after. Teacup allowed me some 'touristy' time. Knowing I wouldn't likely be back this far east for a while - we traversed the rest of the roads until we made it to Eastport. Took photos of the official US/Canadian border from a very safe distance, pulled into a parking spot along the water to take some shots of a VERY large fisherman protecting the wharf and took a stroll through a giftshop to pick up some proper pirate gear. Who would have thought that Eastport Maine was the eastern pirate capital of the US? Unfortunately for us - we were about a week to early for the festival - but many locals were perusing the shelves looking for the perfect pirate gear for the following weekend's festivities. And we're guessing that the whole town gets involved since there were Jolly Roger flags hanging all over town!

Teacup picked up the first of a series written by an Eastport 'local.' I couldn't resist picking up some pirate tokens - took more than a few photos of the fisherman. And more photos of the local foundry - which was one of the original ones in New England before we headed off to seek out another local box. We headed off to school to check out a local historic spot that referenced a box, but alas - some of the recent restoration work had reclaimed the landscape and the box was sadly MIA. So here we were, in Eastport Maine... about as far away from home as we possibly could be and we had two choices. Start north and inland a bit and try for 6 more boxes or start to head south and try to make it to PIE before it was completely over.

We opted to head south. We were over 200 miles from home - and that was if we took the highway and didn't divert back along the coastal route to pick up the couple of boxes we missed on our way east. Chatting about it briefly - we made a cold hard decision. There was no way we were going to make it back in time to even remotely be able to participate in PIE. So I picked up the phone and called Robin's Nest to let her know we wouldn't make it. Robyn was clearly disappointed - but there was just no physical way to accomplish it unless we grew wings on the car and flew the rest of the way home.

We were tired and hungry and getting edgy about the drive home. We knew it would be a long one - but we needed a breather. So we stopped for lunch. After started to eat - we realized we were literally FAMISHED! We hadn't had any REAL food since that incredible lunch on our first day. No wonder we were edgy, tired and worn out. We didn't have ANY fuel in our bodies. So Teacup and I had a square meal - and felt WORLD's better. Our spirits rose, our energy seemed restored and we were back in the saddle once again. We continued south again - stopped to get one box that we missed along the Schoodic Peninsula and then made the choice to head towards Bangor and pick up the highway. we needed to get some miles under us so we could make it home before midnight.

We drove past Augusta at 7pm - and fleetingly thought about heading towards PIE - even though the event only had an hour left, but we just didn't have the energy to be friendly with each other - let alone with someone else. So paying the toll - we headed on home.

Now Teacup and I love our weekend jaunts. But sometimes we just plan a little more than is even humanly possible. We always have a great time - but we are both more than willing to admit - we were more than ready to be in our own beds. Our husbands even sounded more appealing than they had when we quickly bid them a fond adieu only three days earlier. But lets just say - Team MudCup was well road worn and ready to take a brief respite before hitting the roads once again.