Covid-19 Impacts on Spring and Summer Adventure Plans?

Jeff Reardon

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We all have plenty to worry about these days--those of us on the front lines of treating patients or with businesses and jobs directly affected more than others.

My wife and I have been lucky. She's actually getting more work than normal--there is huge demand for online-training modules related to PPE and other Covid-19 management strategies. My work has not been affected yet, although it almost certainly will be before the summer is over.

Right now I'm working with a land trust, a federal agency biologist, and a state agency biologist to figure out if we can conduct a mid-May stream survey to find some locations for brook trout and Atlantic salmon habitat restoration via addition of large wood.

We're dealing with four different versions of social-distancing guidance from our various employers. All of them are similar and make sense, but have enough small differences to make planning a day in the field challenging. For now, it looks like we can get the stream surveyed so long as none of us share a vehicle, we wear masks, and we keep at least 6 feet part. I figure most people have more challenging worries right now than figuring our how we are going to park four trucks off the side of narrow logging roads.

There has been more impact to our home life. My wife and are very close--but not close enough for 24/7 sharing of the same house/office over a single phone line and (slow) internet connection. Be forewarned--if you attempt two different Zoom meetings over the same slow internet, both will fail. Even worse if one is a Zoom and the other a Webex that also ties up the phone line for three hours.

Biggest impact is to our summer plans. We spend a week or so in Maine's Baxter State Park--the nation's finest wilderness state park--every May/June. Wildlflowers and cow moose with calves for photos; brook trout on more ponds than I can count. This is a long tradition--I'm going on 30 years of doing it every year, but this year we can't go. We've tentatively rescheduled for July, but I think even that may not be possible. Maybe this will be the year we actually get most of our garden in by June 1 instead of being 2 weeks behind all summer.

I'm hoping that current restrictions on camping get lifted soon. I've got no interest in a big group campsite sharing facilities, but I can social distance just fine in a solo tent by myself. If allowed, the cancellation of my Baxter trip may open up opportunities to use those vacation days instead to explore some hike-in ponds that have been on my "someday" list for a long time.

How's this affecting everyone else?
 
Jeff Reardon said:
My wife and are very close--but not close enough for 24/7 sharing of the same house/office over a single phone line and (slow) internet connection. Be forewarned--if you attempt two different Zoom meetings over the same slow internet, both will fail.

How's this affecting everyone else?

This must be part of the "for better or worse thing". [;)]

I remember getting pushed out of our shared computer room. Now my laptop resides on the kitchen table. The only good thing is the hard surface chair helps keep my internet time in check. I'm retired so I'm feeling minimal impact to my daily life. My wife is an author and her speaking schedule has all been cancelled. Until group gathering are common once again, nobody is rescheduling for later dates.

Just yesterday I stopped at a local welding shop to purchase some raw materials for a project. They were open for business yet the door was locked. You knocked on the door, someone would come find out what you wanted, go get your stuff and then complete the transaction at the door. Yet when I went to a big bow store for some fasteners, it was petty much business as usual. The exception being there seemed to be about a 60% reduction in customers in the store.
 
Jeff,

Sorry to hear that your Baxter trip is off, I enjoy the park. But as you say, maybe there's a silver lining if you get some gardening done. So I wonder, how will they shortstop hikers heading north on the AT? Send them back south? I suppose most have probably abandoned the hike this year.

My wife and I are watching the Moosehead ice, it's about ready to go. We want to get up there, but don't want to violate the quarantine rules. We can drive straight through to the house with everything we need for a couple of weeks so we're adhering to the rules. I figure I can troll for salmon and brookies without endangering too many people.

My job includes representing clients at land use meetings, customarily at night in a meeting room. In the new normal I'll be trying Zoom for the first time next week, I haven't figured out yet how I'll do a presentation. I do know I'll need to wear pants though, as I probably will need to stand up to point at maps. [w00t]
 
Well, I live with my English Setter Belle and she refuses to do the social distance thing.

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I think for me the biggest change has been at work. We are expected to be at work, however I am the only person so far who has stayed healthy and doesn't have child care troubles. Even my boss was out for two weeks because of being sick, but even when she is here we don't share the same area of the building so I only see her if I gotta take her something or she is bringing us something. Luckily no one out sick has been Covid related. Soooooooooo I have pretty much been on my own for the better part of a month at work. Things are finally getting better for my co-workers sickness wise, which is really good because I am getting really tired of talking to myself all day!!!!

I do have to say that traffic has been exceptionally great. I don't come to work aggravated and I don't go home aggravated because of traffic. Gas prices are great for me since I am still using the same amount of gas as ever. Walmart and Publix (my grocery store) has been lighter than normal but the few times I have had to go to Lowes.....my jaw just dropped at the number of people in the parking lot. I have NEVER seen my Lowes parking lot so full. It was like Black Friday shopping crazy. People were staying apart from each other and being very polite but I haven't ever seen Lowes like that. I hope that gets better but I have been using Ace Hardware more because of it.

Summer plans....we had some fishing plans but that has changed. I hope to be able to go up to do some carving and/or fishing with Jason later this summer. I just joined a quail lease so I imagine I will be doing some things related to that with Belle over the summer. Since it is summertime, maybe I will be able to teach my dog to swim instead of amusing the entire beach with her drowning act. I am looking forward in time more to fall to see how/if Covid affects my fall trips. I shall see if I pull an alligator permit this year....
 
Its had more of an impact on our spring plans, wife and daughter had planned to go to DC for a long weekend when everything shut down.
We haven't been to the beach since mid-February.
We didn't make big summer plans but did schedule a camping trip to a local campground down at the beach in mid-July. Not sure if we will go or not.
Luckily we have high-speed internet, all 4 of us are working/schooling/remote-college from home.
Cabin fever is setting in and having all four of us here (especially the moody college kid who doesn't really want to live with mom & dad anymore) can be stressful at times. I hate to say it, but all four of us will be happy when he goes back to college, including himself.
My wife does EAP from home for a company in Japan. She works their night shift and right when she logs in at 6pm their time, the calls start and she stays busy for 3-4 hours. Pretty much a normal workload except calls are now about Covid19 vs. "normal stuff".
Our 7th grader really wants to go back to school, its been tough on her since she's new to the school and just made some good friends.

Jeff, my wife and I were looking at flights to Maine for July this last weekend. Roundtrip from Tampa is ~ $100. We are seriously thinking about coming up for 3-4 days. I'd love to catch a few brookies. Might bug you about how "open" things are as summer gets started. Also some advice on where to go close to Portland.
 
Carl, when my sister lived in Tampa, I used to love those cheap Maine to Tampa flights. Used to go down every March. I suspect getting out of Florida in July is a lot like getting out of Maine in March, right?

No better time to come to Maine. IF THINGS GO WELL, it looks like the governor's latest timetable might have things open for out-of-staters by then. If I'm around, I'd be happy to show you some brook trout. That's getting into the time of year when the best fishing will be from dusk into the dark.

Striper fishing will be prime, then, too.
 
SJ Fairbank said:
Jeff,

Sorry to hear that your Baxter trip is off, I enjoy the park. But as you say, maybe there's a silver lining if you get some gardening done. So I wonder, how will they shortstop hikers heading north on the AT? Send them back south? I suppose most have probably abandoned the hike this year.

My wife and I are watching the Moosehead ice, it's about ready to go. We want to get up there, but don't want to violate the quarantine rules. We can drive straight through to the house with everything we need for a couple of weeks so we're adhering to the rules. I figure I can troll for salmon and brookies without endangering too many people.

My job includes representing clients at land use meetings, customarily at night in a meeting room. In the new normal I'll be trying Zoom for the first time next week, I haven't figured out yet how I'll do a presentation. I do know I'll need to wear pants though, as I probably will need to stand up to point at maps. [w00t]

Ice out won't be long now. Schoodic Lake, Sebec Lake and East Grand went out this week. Moosehead is a little farther north and higher in elevation, but its supposed to rain like hell and blow hard tomorrow. It's been a weird spring. Had snow at my house Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. Nothing that accumated, just spitting snow alternating with rain showers, but it's still late for that. In between were some days near 60.

As I understand it, you are welcome to travel to Maine so long as you self-isolate for 14 days. After that, you are subject to the same social distancing as locals. Bring two weeks of groceries or plan to eat fish and fiddleheads.

Speaking of Moosehead, you've probably seen this, but did you catch the news this winter about the shore-spawning brook trout that are growing to very large sizes and ages of 6-9?

My take, when our press guy told me "this is going viral, you MUST blog about it". https://www.tu.org/...-face-of-challenges/

The video rightfully got a lot more play. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XcbnusH_NY

And the report from Maine DIFW's Tim Obrey is a nice piece of work. https://www.newsbreak.com/news/0OBOO3eO/monster-brook-trout-are-spawning-along-moosehead-lakes-shore
 
All razor clamming, crabbing and salmon fishing, worm-drowning with grandkids has been canceled since March 13th, and looks like it'll partially open next week.

April trip to visit son in Key West--Canceled
June trip to Colorado for niece/nephew graduations--Canceled
June Family reunion in Massachusetts-Canceled


Hoping that September Sharptail grouse trip to Montana can go forward
Same with October Waterfowl hunting trip to Alberta
After that I don't mind ......cuz I'm 4 miles from the boat ramp and the birds.

In the mean time the garden is in, built a new compost bin, working on a fish habitat/riparian restoration on my river frontage and converting 0.4 acre of unusable pasture to a pollinator patch.
 
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Thanks for the links Jeff. The second one could have been near our dock, I watched large spawning brookies in the area twice this last fall. What I believe to be one of the large trout concentration areas is only a couple hundred yards away. Pretty sure you know where we are on the lake. I love ice fishing but IMO they're going to have to close a few more of the stream mouths during the winter. I was there when three 4-6 lb trout were caught this year, one 5+ a year ago. I'm happy that my buddies put them back, but now that the words out they're gonna get creamed by trophy hunters all over the lake. It's like buck fever, all I hear at Indian Hill is trophy brookies, big brookies, monster brookies. You'd think they need harpoons to hoist these beasts through the ice. I had a nice chat regarding the big spawners with the biologist Jeff B, who I would guess you know. He's good luck BTW, he pulled up the first day of March when it had been slow for a while and the flags started flying. I think my friends kids caught a half dozen togue in ten minutes, so he got a workout weighing and measuring. The kids smoke the togue, although it's a little strong for my taste.
 
I agree, the targeting is the concern. Especially because these fish seem to concentrate in just few areas. Telemetry work on other big Maine lakes suggests brook trout don't move a lot in the winter, making them easier to target. And even a low rate of angling harvest could have big impacts on brook trout that are reaching that size by surviving 6+ years. Very different from managing a population like most in Maine where 4 year old trout are rare.

Once you are here and safely self-quarantined, let's get out. We can take a pair of canoes and pick a pond where we can socially distance. For now, sharing vehicles and boats remain strongly discouraged.

(Sorry folks, I was apparently typing drunk or entering early onset senility. Fixed the typos.)
 
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Things going on inside our home are going pretty well. My wife and I are artists, and have been doing our work in close quarters for years. Long winters are good practice for this shut in deal, but cabin fever is always present and must be fended off (not with lotta booze [;)]).

It does help that Mary Lee is a night owl, and I'm a morning person, and most likely why few unpleasant times.


All of our ventures out of state for various reasons have been put on hold for 2020, as there are already major concerns about fall and winter. Going to Canada for hunting, fishing, etc. I doubt will happen this year.

The projection for the virus to peak in our area is June. Summer travel, fairs, etc. are a washout I'd say.


Thank goodness the outdoors is very close by, to do the things we like to do. Lots to explore, if we are allowed, and so inclined.

I do miss sharing a vehicle with my buddies to go fishing and hunting. Most times I go on my own, but times spent with friends is very important.


Our game plan for 2020 is to remain healthy & sane, and wish the same for family, friends and everyone.
 
My annual Cape trip for stripers was supposed to be in two weeks- oh well. The campground will be open (maybe) for our June West Brach trip, but most of the attendees are from out of state, so I will still go, but.... Ialso was supposed to have a combined work/fishing trip to Montana in July for my volunteer job, also cancelled.

Stripers will be here soon though and I can social distance on my new to me boat.

Work is nuts. This how I do closings now. Not liking it.
 
I?m trying not to think about it too much. Head down and making progress towards a big trip, but trying to balance expectations.
 
Early June Vineyard striper trip postponed 'til September. West Branch Delaware trout in mid June still on, but doubtful. I'm counting on North Maine Woods pa'tridge late October though.

Matt
 
Ny is looking more and more like nothing is going to open. State camp grounds still haven't posted an opening date for over night stays . We 'll know more after Memorial day I hope. Large events are most likely not going to happen. I hope they open up for the fishing guides soon,those guys are taking a beating
 
Son and I were scheduled to go to Argentina to spend the first week of June at La Gringa, hunting and enjoying the company of our amigos. That ain't gonna happen this year.. Have a nice group of stool ready to take down there to use on the patos!. Looks like we have to wait until next yer. Damn, I recall saying that a lot as a Brooklyn Dodger fan!! HEHEHHE
God Bless and stay well. Take the time to read your Constitution, just to see how many violations your governors have to account for!
 
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