Old Town Canoe

Noted outdoorsman Hurd dies at 101

31.12.69

On April 1, Maine lost an extraordinary outdoorsman, Lawrence Hurd, who was 101 years old when he died at home in Bangor. In 2011, organizers of the Eastern Maine Sportsmen’s Show in Orono recognized Lawrence’s lifetime spent outdoors by dedicating the weekend show to him. He attended opening night, March 11, his 100th birthday, and everyone helped him celebrate.

Lawrence acquired many of his outdoor skills while growing up in Old Town — paddling, hunting and fishing on Sunkhaze Meadows. Oh, the stories he could tell and write about in letters he called Beaver Grams.

At age 85 in one Beaver Gram he wrote, “I worked at Old Town Canoe Co. from 1929-1936. When I first worked at the canoe shop we worked fifty-five hours a week, five hours on Saturday. Often after work some of us would go home, get our canoes, carry them to Indian Landing and at one or one-thirty we’d shove off. It took us about four hours to get to the Meadows, where we fished for trout. We’d have trout for supper, camp overnight near Ash Landing. We’d get up as day was breaking the next day and fish our way back down the Meadows and home.”

Source: Bangor Daily News

Timbuktu more than a myth

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When turban-swathed Tuareg rebels swept into Timbuktu on Sunday to plant the flag of their northern Mali homeland, they found very few tourists in the bars, hotels, museums, mosques and libraries of the fabled and ancient Saharan trading town.

Local guides say numbers of foreign visitors had already fallen off after a Dutchman, a South African and a Swede were seized by gunmen in the historic Malian city in November. A German citizen was killed in the abduction claimed by al Qaeda.

With the rebels, including Islamist factions preaching sharia, now in control of Timbuktu's dusty streets, tourists may not be returning soon to the spot near the Niger river that for centuries was a symbol

Source: CANOE

Clinch River might become site of Southwest Virginia's newest state park

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The Clinch River might become the site of Southwest Virginia’s newest state park.

A group called the Clinch River Valley Initiative, which grew out of an economic development summit more than a year ago, is piecing together the funding for studies on the cost and economic benefits of creating a state park along the river.

The area to be studied is a long stretch of the river running from the Pinnacle Natural Area Preserve in Russell County to Speers Ferry in Scott County, said Steve Linderman, land protection program manager for the Nature Conservancy.

“We don’t know exactly where it’s going to be at this point,” he said of the proposed state park, which could span three counties: Russell, Wise and Scott.

Source: TriCities.com