BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 2, 2025
We’re camping on a remote island in Upper Pierce Pond, Somerset County, trying to dodge wet summer weather and catch a few of the pond’s famed landlocked salmon. To the east, waves build and whitecaps unfurl in white streaks. From the west, a loon calls out, and the call is lost on the wind. There are few distractions, few unnatural sounds, save for the occasional outboard fixed to a square-stern canoe — guides and anglers from Cobb’s Camps, puttering around, trolling deep for trout or salmon. There’s no cell service here, no Wi-Fi network to join. Pierce Pond — like many of Maine’s remote waterways — exists in a dead zone where cellphones are useful only as cameras and clocks. After a day or so, time slows. My blood pressure drops and I am not thinking of the next thing I need to do.