GREENVILLE, Maine — For folks who spend most of their time in a city, this northwestern part of the Pine Tree State offers plenty of surprises.
A wild animal might hop out of the woods around any bend in the road. River rapids thrill and spill thousands of paddlers each year. And deep in the woods, at the end of narrow footpaths, hikers are likely to find pristine ponds filled with frisky brook trout.
Along the banks of those ponds, they may also find a few dozen stashed canoes left behind by their owners.
The unspoken rules of the Maine custom are that anyone can use them, as long as they are returned in the same condition as they were borrowed.
Most of those ponds sit on land controlled by large forest landowners that rarely have issues with the practice. But even those who regularly use those canoes admit a problem could be brewing, especially with canoes that are abandoned by anglers.
To read the rest of “The Maine outdoors tradition that some say has gotten out of hand,” an article by contributing Bangor Daily News staff writer John Holyoke, please follow this link to the BDN online.
