We’re lucky in Maine to have easy access to any number of outdoor activities within easy reach. So, for example, from the Portland area it wasn’t out of the question to head to Bremen on a Friday afternoon for a night of island camping and head back home the following morning with the incoming tide.

As we’ve invested in nicer camping gear, I’ve become more and more paranoid about canoeing incidents that might dump our supplies to a watery grave, never to be recovered. It’s a mostly unfounded fear stemming from some rocky waters years ago, but it’s at least partially rooted in my feelings of really not being a fan of canoeing. Give me a kayak any day and I’ll feel much more stable, speedy, and generally at ease.

So as Dan planned our getaway to Crow Island, he was thoughtful enough (or sick enough of my whining about the canoe) to plan to canoe out with Copper and our supplies while I kayaked alongside them.

We were moving against the tide on our trip to the island, and while it took a while to paddle out, the water was calm enough to keep me at ease. It was a beautiful evening and we arrived just in time to unload our gear and find a spot to enjoy a sunset picnic.

We had the island to ourselves on this particular evening and set up camp in one of the existing camping areas before building a fire by the water. What followed was our biggest camping disaster of the season when I made the mistake of leaving Copper in the tent so I could go check on Dan by the fire. Copper promptly ripped through the tent (yes, I should have seen that one coming) which at that point had only been used a handful of times. Silver lining – we got to fully appreciate the ease of a lightweight backpacking tent as we were forced to utilize our older gear for our next few trips. But it certainly put a damper on the evening.

We woke early to catch the sunrise, and our paddle back to the mainland took probably half the time as we were traveling with the incoming tide. Despite the destruction, we had a lovely whirlwind getaway, and I’d be excited to return for a longer weekend visit.