The Island

This is a picture of the view from our cabin on the Maine island on which I spent almost the entirety of last week. This picture was taken at about 6:30 AM, as the mist began to rise off the lake and dissipate into the cool Maine air.

The island is owned by Craig Larsen and his family and is roughly an acre in size. Made up mostly of trees and large rocks, there's room only for a small cabin, which Craig's grandfather built by hand, and a small outhouse that's no longer used. The island has no running water or electricity, and it's very difficult to get a cellular signal. The cabin does have a toilet, but there's no water line to feed it, so you have to go down to the lake and fill up a bucket of water in order to flush it. We typically started our day by taking a bath in the lake - on the other side of the island is a large flat rock with a sandy area adjacent to it. I would place my toiletries, towel and clothes on the rock, jump in the lake and scrub up with a bar of soap and some shampoo. As soon as the soap started making a lather, smallmouth bass and perch would swim out from their hiding places near the rock.

The small boat in the photo was our only means of transportation to and from the island. It took between 20 and 30 minutes to get to the mainland, depending on the amount of weight in the boat.