With phones we’ve been given a constant window to the world, and that window shows the things we like to look at. For the most part, it’s stuff we like, and we have control. The real world doesn’t show us what we want all the time. It’s ugly, rough, and hard at times. Now we all have instant escape in the palms of our hands.
I left my girlfriend’s apartment for Maine around 10:00 a.m. The Ride to Portland was almost 2 hours. I stopped in Kennebunkport at a rest stop off the highway and got some Popeyes Chicken.
It was difficult to find little forested areas in the metropolitan part of Portland ME on Google Maps, where I could hide a camp. The graveyards seemed to have the best forested areas with the best cover. I am not too keen on sleeping behind graveyards after my last graveyard experience.
The parking lot I wanted to park my car at was for the college and across from the evergreen cemetery. I’m always worried about my car getting towed, so I just parked in the graveyard to scout my campsite. Although the evergreen cemetery was cool and there were lots of paths through the forest, there were “no trespassing punishable by a $5,000 fine after dark” signs. I don’t want to take the risk of getting caught camping and have to pay a fine. I took a small path to a field near the power lines, and I saw a pine clearing through the brush, but when I investigated further I saw a huge tent already there. I didn’t want to disturb the homeless people living there so I just traveled on.
I took a drive over to a small residential forested area that had paths called Baxter Woods. This place was wide open and there was no place to hide my camp.
The next graveyard that I checked out had a lot of woods behind it. It was called Calvary Cemetery. This was a really cool cemetery, and I did a bunch of exploring. I was able to find a cool spot to set up camp and once again I came across a huge tent already in place. After I found this spot I did some more exploring around the graveyard and I found a small spot right behind the graveyard that I could call my temporary home. I still wasn’t comfortable sleeping behind a graveyard again so I decided to continue scouting.
I took a break after finding the spot and I decided to get something to eat at a sub and pizza shop called Amatos. I had a Chicken Parm sub. I also scouted a few other places along some of the walking and biking paths.
For Maine, Portland was thickly populated and it was difficult to find a campsite close to the metropolitan area.
I found a hospital on Maps right on the water in South Portland and I took a ride over there to see if it would bear fruit of a camping site. I drove past another cemetery that was right on the ocean and I stopped there and looked around. I didn’t think it would be a good place to camp but it was really beautiful seeing the convergence of the graveyard and ocean together. The area was beautiful and right on the water but I wasn’t able to find anything that would suffice for a campsite.
When I was driving to the hospital on by the ocean, I noticed an abandoned building off one of the exits nearby right on the ocean. I took a drive over there and I parked my car on the dead end street that led to the building. The building was fenced off but I found a small trail that led into a little wooded area near the highway. I was so excited I thought I found a spot, but the trail ended in an encampment. I decided not to disturb the inhabitants and I moved on. I took a ride on my bike down some old abandoned railroad tracks near the abandoned building. Was starting to get dark and I decided it wouldn’t be a good place to set up camp.
I figured in the dark I would drive to the Calvary Cemetery to set up my camp. I drove to the back of the cemetery and I parked my car on the grass and I walked over to the small entrance to the woods. As soon as I stepped into the woods I heard a rustling right from the area where I planned on setting up my camp. It freaked me out. I decided I’m not going to do this.
I also didn’t have a place to park my car. There was no parking in this area. As it was about 9: 00 p.m. I looked up some motels near me and I drove to a Best Western and I parked in the parking lot. It was too dark to scout. There was woods behind this motel, but there’s no way I could find a spot at night and set up. I figured I would just sleep in my car which I haven’t done up to this point. I called my girlfriend and told her about my situation. I was lonely and I felt defeated. I decided to drive back over an hour and a half spend the night at my girlfriend’s apartment.