THE AXE JUST DOESN’T CUT IT #90

There are a lot of fishermen and women out there that consider themselves to be hard core. Now, I consider hard core to mean, nothing will stop you from doing what you want or where you want to go, no matter what the odds or impediments are.

So, this past weekend was my and TC’s first real foray into the woods for 2017. We had made plans to fish out of the Fort Kent area, but had not really made any decisions as to where exactly we would go. The night before, we had loaded up the truck and prepared everything for an early morning next day departure.  On the ride, we decided that we would try one of my old fishing holes. If you follow any of my blogs, this lake was where TC laid a fly in the water in memory of her Dad’s passing. We traveled up the Wallagrass Lake road until we came to the road that would lead us to this lake. As we did so, I noticed that there were a lot of trees down, some having been cut out of the road to allow access. When we turned onto the access road to this lake, it was evident that no one had been there yet. There were trees down in many areas of the road. As the hard core that I am, I told TC that I would cut our way in using my axe. Each time we came to a downed tree in the road, I would get out and cut it up, and push it into the woods out of the traveled portion of the road. Now, the access road to this lake is at least a mile long, and with each tree I cut, more laid ahead. At one point, I decided that I would walk the road and cut the trees instead of cutting and driving the truck to the next blowdown. I was like a well-oiled machine, cutting and dragging and clearing just enough for the truck to get through. I got way ahead of the truck where TC could not see me and was working my way forward, when I heard the truck coming around the corner with TC navigating it along. We got about ¾ of the way in and the road ahead seemed to be much worse than what I had already cut. So, throwing up my hands, I gave up. It was clear that the trusty axe just was not cutting it, and the need for a chainsaw which I did not have, was going to make this effort impossible. We turned the truck around and drove it back out to the main road. The pond was not going to see us that day. TC did enjoy it though, and I found out later that she had videotaped my efforts and had also videoed me when I finally got back into the truck to turn it around. She had a great time laughing at the tape as I breathed heavy from my efforts, which she also recorded.

Our energy shifted and with a bit of quick thinking, we decided that we would head over to 1^st Wallagrass Lake where one of my friends had a camp. From there, we could launch the boat and do a little fishing and still save this day, so off we went. Once there, I decided that I would paddle and TC could fish. In the time we were there, she pulled out two salmon. This was rewarding, because she had never experienced hooking a salmon which can not only be fun but challenging, because in most cases they fight harder than a trout. After putting them both back in the water, we decided to call it a day. I had lost my hard core status to a road that conquered me, but we had made it work overall. Yes, the axe just did not cut it that day. Maybe I better invest in a chainsaw. What do you think?