Lu Ferrett, 29, and Jordy Merritt, 35, arrived at Knight’s Pond in Northport late Monday night after driving to Maine from Grand Rapids, Michigan.
They set up a tent and camped on the shore on Monday night, along with their border collie Tico, they told a reporter the next day. Their plan was to stay until Wednesday.
“It’s amazing. This campsite is perfect,” Merritt said. “It’s really rare to be able to get a lakeside spot free of charge, especially with how all of the other campgrounds around here are charging 40-plus a night. And it’s really serene.”
There was just one problem with their decision: camping isn’t allowed along Knight’s Pond.
Over the years, that hasn’t stopped some people from spending the night on the scenic shoreline of the 102-acre body of water. It’s surrounded by a patchwork of town-owned land, a preserve owned by Coastal Mountains Land Trust and private property.
But the illicit camping has reached a new level this year, with the town receiving more complaints about both overnight visitors and the mess that some of them leave behind, including needles and empty cans. The town has received at least seven complaints about it this year.
“The town prohibits camping at Knight’s Pond, and we’ve been getting reports of people camping there this year,” said Northport town administrator James Kossuth. “It’s happening with much greater frequency than they’ve ever had before.”
In the several years that Kossuth has been town administrator, officials have typically called the Waldo County Sheriff’s Office several times a year to seek help with clearing campers from the pond area. But that has also been happening more frequently this season.
When police clear out Knight’s Pond, they generally warn campers not to trespass and ask them to leave the site, Kossuth said.
Bigger Maine communities have gotten used to impromptu campgrounds springing up in recent years, as a housing shortage has made it harder and more expensive for people to find permanent shelter in the state. But the rise of camping in places such as Knight’s Pond shows how those trends have also reached outside the service centers that have traditionally drawn homeless or itinerant people. They’re now more frequently extending to rural parts of the state as well.
The trend has frustrated some longtime users of the midcoast pond. The biggest complaint, Kossuth said, is that tents on the beach make it hard for others to swim, boat or enjoy the area. Another concern is the waste that some campers leave behind.
Donna Muschlitz Jackson, of Belfast, likes to go paddle boarding at the pond, but said she’s concerned about the cleanliness of the campsites that have sprung up. She has noticed used toilet paper strewn about the land, in addition to other trash. She said it appeared that some of the people who have stayed there are homeless.
“There’s a good reason there should be no overnight camping there, and it’s because there’s no restroom,” Jackson said. “It was not a good situation, especially since it’s a land trust. It’s a clean pond for people to go swimming in. But people have been there, taking advantage of the fact that there’s no one patrolling it.”
Jackson also expressed concern with the drug use that seems to be happening near the pond, given the possibility of an extreme situation such as an overdose.
“It’s a safety hazard, that’s what makes me uncomfortable,” Jackson said.
Merritt and Ferrett said that they learned of Knight’s Pond on an app called iOverlander, which allows users to share information about campsites and other attractions around the world.
Their eventual destination was Mount Desert Island, where they also planned to camp out until they could find somewhere to rent. They are looking for seasonal work for the summer. Merritt used their time at Knight’s Pond, in part, to have a Zoom call with a potential employer in Bar Harbor. They also made meals over a campfire and enjoyed the view.
However, by Thursday, the listing for Knight’s Pond on iOverland had been updated to show that camping was not allowed there.
“NO CAMPING,” one user wrote on Wednesday. “Was visited by police in a rainstorm and asked to leave.”
A week earlier, on June 25, another user wrote, “A cop came and informed us there is no overnight camping at this spot and it’s been a problem so they will be keeping an eye on it. Perfect for a day swim, nice little beach, fishing, and just relaxing.”
Ferrett said they could understand why some locals might be concerned about recent activity near the pond. On their first night there, they saw about seven cars parked nearby as a group of people had a loud party — a stark contrast to the environment the two campers had been hoping for.
“They had their music going until probably two in the morning,” Ferrett said. “There were people coming and going all night.”
Merritt added, “I could see how that might be an issue too, with people living nearby.”
