DEIRDRE FLEMING: If you’re on the Baxter Line, you join a special group

outdoors

Published
January 28, 2012

DEIRDRE FLEMING: If you’re on the Baxter Line, you join a special group

This is part inside story and part full disclosure, and while I’m at it, I should say that in 20 years of journalism, I have never looked to personally benefit from a story.
Published
January 26, 2012

FOR THE BIRDS: Christmas Bird Counts yielded wide variety along the coast

This column is the second of three reviewing the results of the most recent Christmas Bird Counts in Maine. Let's visit some coastal count circles together, working our way from York County downeast to Eastport.
Published
January 26, 2012

SKIING :There are many deals available for senior skiers

Let's face it, as some of us reach and proceed through senior citizenry, we search for, and take advantage of, every little special deal we can find. Not that those of us who've passed into what some call our Golden Years don't have a great deal to be thankful for: making it this far, being able to enjoy our lives, our families, our memories and our ever-expanding circle of friends and, for some, good physical condition and the extra leisure time for recreation that retirement affords.
Published
January 26, 2012

HIKING :Yurt let’s you get away from it all

Tucked into the forest, high on a ridgetop in the hills of Montville -- about 20 miles west of Belfast -- is a unique and comfortable spot to spend a winter's night, known as Goose Ridge Yurt. Easily accessible via a five-minute hike, snowshoe or ski trek uphill from the parking area off Halldale Road, the yurt feels amazingly remote, as if it were miles deep in the woods.
Published
January 21, 2012

ALLEN AFIELD: Increased bag limit hurts

Here's the good news. In my lifetime, trout and salmon fishing in Maine has improved -- not a lot but enough to notice.

Published
January 21, 2012

Fly Fishing Gets Cold

KENNEBUNK -- Dan Dykstra couldn't wait to wade into the cold water of the Mousam River. So he asked fellow fisherman Kevin McKay to pull over for a taste of the brown trout fishery after they drove down from Bangor earlier this month. And didn't the Old Town fisherman get into a mess of brown trout?
Published
January 21, 2012

HUNTING: Contributions of hunters come in many forms

Hunting is big business. If you doubt it, consider that fish-and-wildlife-related activities generate $2.4 billion in economic value for the people of Maine. Deer hunting alone brings in an estimated $200 million a year. That huge economic impact depends on maintaining a healthy natural resource. Managing that resource is an expensive proposition, and most of the bill is footed by sportsmen and women.
Published
January 19, 2012

KIDS TRACKS: While waiting for snow, give skating a try

Mother Nature hasn't felt like offering up much white stuff (until recently) for my family to enjoy our usual outdoor winter fun on skis and sleds. So, we're adapting. The cold spell has offered conditions to get outdoor community ice skating rinks around southern Maine up and running.
Published
January 19, 2012

DEIRDRE FLEMING: Gift inspires artist who knows Baxter State Park well

When Friends of Baxter State Park President Barbara Bentley learned two weeks ago that the privately owned parcel beside Katahdin Lake would be given to Baxter State Park, she turned to the one person she thought could truly understand the nature of this unusual place.
Published
January 19, 2012

ON SKIING: Snow guns help ski areas combat woeful winter

After a big tease in the form of snowstorms around Halloween and Thanksgiving, it's been a distressingly snowless ski season thus far. The country has less than half the average snow cover over the past five years for this time of the year, and we New Englanders in particular expect some snow on the ground before mid-January.