Jackman

Totality over Sally Mountain

I did not plan on experiencing totality at the Big Wood Pond boat launch (Jackman). I had never seen the boat launch, nor did I know that mountains surround the pond.

I had spent months daydreaming about possible hikes (Mt Chase? Saddleback? Sally?) until a week before the event. My five year old knew about the path of totality. The eclipse could not be experienced without him. However, he could not handle a long hike in April.

I started panic-texting friends in Greenville. Would anyone have room for us? By some miracle, a friend left her camp on Moosehead heated and driveway plowed. It was ours for the taking.

I told myself we would watch from the camp. Yet I woke up in my “more mountains, less jerks”sweatshirt on eclipse morning. I wanted to be in Jackman, the Switzerland of Maine. I had fallen for the mountains and woods and waters of Jackman in the last two years. I needed to be there.

On our way to Jackman, I noticed more folks camping on 15 than I had ever seen, even in summer. Still plenty of parking on Main Street when we arrived at 730am. The destination on my mind? Attean Pond.

We headed down Attean Road, a paved road that turns to relatively well-graded dirt. This time of year, Attean Road is gated a mile before the boat launch. Hikers park here to access Sally Mountain via the railroad bridge. At 8, 10 or so cars were parked.

We walked the snow-covered mile to the boat launch. Once at the launch, I realized I had goofed. Though the temps were in the upper forties and climbing, the ground remained snow-covered. I brought nothing to sit on. The view from Attean Pond does not become dramatic until you paddle further out. Did not seem like the best viewing location.

Once back at the car, the number of parked vehicles had doubled. We headed to Main Street. We parked the Raav as close to the junction of 15 and 201 in hopes of dodging afternoon traffic. The viewing area next to the town office did not thrill me. Although a Boundary Bald fan, I wanted to face a mountain in the southwest.

The town now a zoo, we opted for late morning pizza at Bishop’s. Bishop’s pizza is legendary for those of us who recreate in Jackman. As a hiker, I think of Bishop’s to give me an extra push at the end of the day. I had not been since deer hunting season.

The eclipse crowd could not be more different than the deer hunters. No Mainers, all out-of-staters bundled up in down jackets in now fifty degree temps. I pulled a Mainer move and purchased a tarp to sit on.

Once done eating, we did not know where to go with this tarp. I saw a boat launch sign off Main Street. I decided to check it out.

Fifty folks already lined the edge of Big Wood Pond. When I saw the view, I did not care: Sally to the southwest, the scenario of my wildest dreams. Other mountains framed the pond to the west and north. I had found Switzerland!

We found a large flat rock…and waited…and waited..and waited. The moon crept so slow that it was never going to happen. It was never going to bust a move.

Then came…The Move. A professor announced to his class that we could see totality coming from the west. As the darkness swept over us, sunset glowed above the mountain ridges. The most beautiful moment of day, teasing us at 330 in the afternoon.

My son began howling like a wolf. Someone in town set off a couple fireworks. I gazed at the corona over my beloved Sally, and I burst into tears.

I have paddled to Sally. I have picked blueberries up there and jumped in the pond afterwards. I have crossed the railroad bridge and completed the glorious loop across the ridge. I already considered it to be a not-to-be-missed Maine woods experience. Now I feel more connected than ever.