Excerpts from Henry David Thoreau's "Main Woods", 1864, which describe the Trail and tell the tale of a young Joe Polis' crossing in the early 1800s.

Sammy Says: "Ask yourself what would have happened to the Trail if Henry David had followed Joe Polis' advice and crossed from the Saint John to the Penobscot. The story of the crossing would have been written up and published - what would that have ment for the Trail's usage?"

Trail Description

Joe Polis' Trail of Hardship on the Trail - Again from HD Thoreau: The Maine Woods, Thicknor and Fields, 1864, Reprint Harper and Row, 1987.

Sammy Says "Our Crossing Party was luck to have Craig Mcdonald, an enthno-geographer with an understanding of First Nation languages, as one of our members. Craig suggests that Joe Polis would be know as "Joe Paul" today. Thoreau tells us that Joe's father was the governor (chief) of the Penobscot Nation in Old Town at the time they. Based on this, Craig suggests that the two letters "is" would have been added to the name "Pol" to denote the younger of the two Pol, or Paul, men. That is kind of neat - as the 1994 crossing was done by Martin Paul and Ty Polchies"