OQUOSSOC — If Erin Hulyk’s family stopped coming to Cupsuptic Lake, she would lose a lot of what summer means to her. The 8-year-old from Massachusetts said she would lose out on fishing with franks, swimming in a lake, feeding the ducks and visiting with her chipmunk friend, “Stubby.”

When Benton MacKaye proposed the Appalachian Trail in 1921, he envisioned a long trail extending from Georgia north to New Hampshire’s Mt. Washington. Were it not for the dogged determination of trail pioneers like Arthur Comey, Arthur Perkins, and Maine’s own Myron Avery, that’s where it might have ended. Instead the trail was pushed on through the wilds of the Maine woods. And on Aug. 14, 1937, the final two miles of the 2,000-mile AT were opened by a Civilian Conservation Corps crew on the remote ridge between Spaulding and Sugarloaf mountains in western Maine. The AT was complete, and its northern terminus was Katahdin!

Hiking picks up in a Maine summer, and often enough, the whole family participates, creating lifetime memories that may last decades and maybe more.

Within a short drive of more than half the population of Maine, and with the only reminder that civilization is near being the sound of traffic on Route 1, is a special kayaking adventure that will come to many people, as it did to me on a recent paddle, as more than a surprise. It’s a reminder that even in the most unexpected places, another Maine resource is just waiting to be explored.

We are now halfway through summer and the days are getting shorter by about three minutes per day. Along with the annual Perseid meteor shower, we also will have a daytime occultation of Venus, and a close conjunction of Mars and Saturn that will turn into another quadruple conjunction similar to one we had last month.

For the six fishermen who shared in catching some two dozen stripers in the Kennebec River recently, the outing was the chance to bond with like-minded veterans.

CAMDEN — Ultra-light hiking has been embraced by the long-distance hiking community for at least a decade. But this scaled-down way of migration can be misunderstood. It’s not always about record-setting, cliff-bagging, speed or efficiency. Sometimes it simply is a question of comfort.

In the “Field & Stream” August 2012 issue, Keith McCafferty wrote about the skyrocketing cost of antivenin to treat venomous snakebites in Montana hospitals, and the price for a trip to the emergency room absolutely flabbergasted me.

Seven days on a bike seat isn’t for everyone. The thought of pedaling 400 miles can be a turnoff for some.