Backwoods Blog

SLIDE BANK

Backwoods Blog;

in the woods and on the road…

Last week’s polar-freeze temperatures hit subzero for several consecutive days and the river finally froze (which is a little later than usual). This means the “river ski season” is now open, my favorite time of year. I decided to take a short ski-run to Slide Bank, which is about three and a half miles upstream from the cabin – the halfway point between my spot in the woods and the bridge at Harvey Siding. It’s been several years since I last made the trip so I was overdue for a return. I left the cabin at 8am on Thursday morning and it was -5 below zero when I started, but temps were expected to hit the mid 20s by noon. I carried a light backpack with smartphone, extra socks (in case I fell through the ice), hard cheese, energy bar, water and a thermos of hot coffee. Just upstream from the cabin I came across a fresh deer kill from the night before.* Not how I expected to begin my trip, but not an uncommon occurrence this time of year on the river.

 Ski conditions could not have been better. The ice was covered with a thin layer of wind swept snow with narrow runs of open water where it ran fast. I only had to leave the river once to boot-it around an impasse. I made it to Slide Bank by 9:30am but I’d say the average ski-time would be closer to two hours with deeper snow and a more casual pace. I took my time coming back; enjoying the sunshine, noticing the snow granules glistening on the river surface, the sound of water running under the ice and along the open edges, a couple of eagles overhead and the felt-sensation of my body moving on skis. Interestingly enough, when I came back to the deer kill it was gone. The coyotes had returned in broad daylight and dragged it off, back into the woods. When I got back to the cabin I started a fire, opened a can of Dinty Moore and had my lunch too…It was a good day. 

I came across an earlier account of a trip to Slide Bank in one of my old notebooks and I’ve included it here along with a few photos taken on this one. Enjoy winter.

In January of ’98 I skied from my cabin on the North Branch 
three and a half miles upstream to Slide Bank. It’s called 
Slide Bank because a section of the steep ridge has given 
away and all that’s left is a tree-less gravel slide, sliding 
right into the edge of the stream. The river makes a 90 degree 
turn at this spot and there is a small island located at the 
bend. On this particular day I decided to climb the slide and 
get a view from the top. The slide section is probably only 
50 feet or so, but it holds a lot of snow which means you end 
up treading the snow without gaining much distance. Depending 
how vigorous your assault upon the slide (it is non-technical, 
but exhausting), the reward is proportionate. On reaching the 
top of the slide, the sudden dramatic gain in elevation and 
the total exhaustion, induces a new orientation to your 
surroundings. Above the slide the climb continues another 
fifty feet to the top of the ridge making it the most dramatic 
stretch along the river that I have noticed during 
my meanderings. 

	I continued on to the top of the ridge
	now in the trees
	larger trees than you usually see 
        in the Maine woods these days
	skidders stay away from these places
	(they like it flat)
	from the top I could see 
        both directions of the stream
	the approach
	the departure
	from the top I could see the island below
	from the top I could see the north woods

	I stood and there was only QUIET
		no noise of man-made highway
		or machine I often get at my
		cabin downstream

	ONLY QUIET
		and a gorby off to my left
		and a woodpecker just overhead

	ONLY QUIET
		and the man
		in this nature

		standing on top of the north woods


And what struck me about this trip was the realization 
that I literally had the entire river to myself, even at 
this late date in our human expansion and development. 
I thought of how many millions of people share a river 
like the Ganges in India, and yet, here, I have access 
to a river relatively untouched nearing the end of the 
20th century. Wild places and open spaces are the 
solitude of experience.

* check out the poem “bleak days” at backwoodsblog.com for another deer/coyote incident.

In the woods,

Dave

February 15, 2023