It’s hot and humid here in Maine—summer’s suddenly in full force, and it’s great! I envy all of our wilderness trippers; whether they are near a lake, river, stream, or the ocean, they can get wet! The Allagash Canoe Trip group set their canoes on the water at Old Roll Dam, once used by log drivers, on the West Branch of the Penobscot River in the deep heart of the Maine’s North Woods. By now our stalwart paddlers have reached beautiful, quiet, 22-mile-long Chesuncook Lake. They’ve also visited tiny Chesuncook Village (year-round population about 10) and learned something of the history of Maine’s logging industry, which has played such an important role in shaping Europeans’ relationship with these forests.  Henry David Thoreau visited Chesuncook Village in 1853 and mentioned it in his book The Maine Woods, published exactly 150 years ago.  This little settlement is still off the grid–and probably more peaceful now than it was in Thoreau’s time.