Another season on East Grand Lake is officially in the books.
Dublin and I kicked off the annual Columbus Day closing weekend early Friday morning, rolling out of Hanover at 4:00 AM. After a quick pit stop in Gardiner and a run into Lincoln for spaghetti, seltzers, and a minor tragedy—realizing I forgot the Gordon’s gin—we hit our first adventure: a local speed trap just outside Lincoln. The officer clocked me doing 52 in a 35, but between a clean conscience and Dublin charming her from the back seat (she happened to have two Goldendoodles of her own), we were sent on our way with just a written warning. Doodles earn their keep in strange ways.
By mid-afternoon, we were walking the grounds and surveying the land recently carved out next door for Drew and Helena’s future place. Shortly after 6:00 PM, the “Franklin Crew”—Drew, Helena, Sam, and Dublin’s sister, Rosie—pulled down the camp road. It was Helena and Sam’s first time up for an October close, and we initiated the weekend properly: ice-cold martinis and Maine red hot dogs.
Marking Ground, Cold Dips, and Cable Scavenger Hunts
Saturday morning started slow (I managed to sleep right through breakfast until 9:00 AM). Once outside, we walked Drew and Helena’s lot, using stakes and tape on the ground to map out where walls and rooms will soon stand. Drew sent the drone up to grab overhead views, though the tape lines proved tricky to spot from the tree line.
Helena set the standard for cold-water bravery with a fully documented polar plunge off the cove side near the wharf, submerging completely into the October water.
Later in the afternoon, neighbor Tom Moakler rolled in on cousin Ted Wright’s ATV to say hello and get the scoop on Drew’s upcoming camp build. As the sun dropped, we lit a fire on the eastern shore for cocktails before heading inside for dinner: grilled steak, potatoes, asparagus, and an unreasonable pile of pretzels while settling in to watch The Fellowship of the Ring. Drew tapped out early, leaving Helena and me to see Frodo safely to the end credits.
On the tech front, I tackled getting telemetry from our APC UPS into the camp’s Protectli pfSense firewall. Naturally, the cable was USB-A and the firewall only took USB-C. In classic camp fashion, salvation came from asking around—Drew miraculously dug the exact adapter out of his bag.
Closing Chores, Game Day, and the Bunkhouse Eviction
Sunday brought brisk air and serious kitchen work. We cooked up brioche French toast while Drew handled sausages (with the dogs taking their customary tax).
The rest of the day was a blur of winter prep and diagnostics:
- The Camp Stack: Got pfSense communicating cleanly with the UPS, allowing the Linux host (bear) in the garage to scrape Network UPS Tools (NUT) and push health metrics home to Hanover. The battery testing confirmed what I suspected: it’s on its last legs, dropping straight to 70% under load. A quick $73 Amazon replacement is officially queued for May.
- Winterizing the Grounds: Sam got his initiation hanging the protective tarp around the screened-in eating porch. Drew, Helena, and Sam hauled in the deck furniture and dropped the roof on the martini hut, while I packed the porch tables and chairs away into the eating porch.
- The Trail Cam & The Drone: Drew relocated his cellular game camera to monitor his lot through the late-fall logging, finding a tree safe from harvesting with solid sun exposure for the solar panel. A follow-up drone flight didn’t fare quite as well—it wandered out toward the point and caught a stiff gust that brought it down into the brush.
Come afternoon, Helena treated us to an incredible chicken and white bean chili while we tuned into the Patriots vs. Raiders game on YouTube TV. After the whistle, we enjoyed one last fire and cocktail on the eastern shore, followed by spaghetti and meatballs and Doctor Sleep to fit the October mood.
The night ended with high drama in the bunkhouse: Sam successfully evicting a monster wharf spider, along with the piece of furniture it was sitting on.
Final Trails and the Last Roll Out
Monday morning, the Franklin crew geared up for a hike toward Sucker Lake. With Dublin sporting a slight limp and a minor glitch cropping up between the UPS and pfSense, Dublin and I stayed behind. I ironed out the firewall connection—and applied the same fix remotely to the Stowe setup while I was at it.
During our afternoon walk around the grounds, Dublin and I ran into Steve Gray, who stopped by to ask when dirt would start moving next door; as far as we know, Drew and Helena break ground this coming spring. The hiking crew returned later having found the trails rougher than expected, calling it early before making it all the way to Sucker Lake.
By 7:44 AM on Tuesday, Drew, Helena, Sam, and Rosie had the Jeep Gladiator packed tight and rolling down the road back to Massachusetts.
Now it’s just Dublin and me holding down the fort for the final lockup. A quick run to the dump when it opens at 10:00 AM tomorrow, a final sweep of the cottage, and we’ll point the truck south toward Hanover. East Grand Lake is tucked in for the cold months—we’ll see her again in May.
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