What does Piscataquis County have nearly 100 of that might draw visitors inland from the coast, attract new physicians to the region, get more people exercising and improve the region’s economic outlook at least a little bit? Give up? The answer, provided mostly through the efforts of one man over the past three years, is …waterfalls -- lots of waterfalls.

Erik Stumpfel, 53, has hiked off and on since his college days in southwestern Virginia. After a stint in the military, and while attending law school, Stumpfel returned to Virginia and hiked in the Blue Ridge Mountains and along the Appalachian Trail. Later, while doing an internship with the New Hampshire Attorney General’s office, he hiked the Franconia section of the White Mountains.

Time went by and life got busy. It wasn’t until Stumpfel’s doctor here in Piscataquis County urged him to get more exercise that he returned to hiking.

“Waterfalls allowed me to combine another interest, fishing,” Stumpfel said. “I would hike to a waterfall, then fish the pool or stream at the bottom. Now I mostly leave the fishing gear at home.”

These days Stumpfel is busy mapping and photographing waterfalls instead of fishing. Stumpfel is a member of both the Piscataquis County Economic Development Council and the Piscataquis Chamber of Commerce boards of directors. He was well aware that PCEDC had established a Piscataquis Tourism Task Force, headed up by Roger Merchant, an educator with University of Maine Cooperative Extension. Much of the PTTF’s work centered around developing a nature-based tourism itinerary that would attract more visitors to the region and support the many tourism-reliant businesses in the region.

“It seemed to fit in well with the efforts of Roger Merchant and the Piscataquis Tourism Task Force, to create more visitor information for the southern Piscataquis region,” Stumpfel said. “It was a natural fit.”

A Waterfall Guide to Southern Piscataquis County has been produced as a CD and is now available to the public. Some waterfalls detailed in the guide are roadside. Some require bushwhacking new trail. Most are located along trails – and the majority would never be seen by most people had this guide not been produced.

Thus far, Stumpfel has hiked about 500 miles over the past three summers. He has about 58 waterfall sites in his database. Of those, 37 are featured in the CD guide.

“So far this year, I have visited and photographed eight more, for 44 total,” Stumpfel said. “Keep in mind that all of these waterfalls are located in southern Piscataquis County, in the Piscataquis River watershed. My best guess is that this region has nearly 100 waterfalls. I’ve identified, I think, most of them, but by no means all. Just this year, for example, I have found a 20-foot and a 30-foot waterfall on the east branch of the Piscataquis River in Shirley. I had already visited Shirley gorge in 2006 and 2007 and had featured it in the guide. I thought I had found all of the waterfalls in that area, but I was wrong.”

The guide features about 80 miles of trails leading to 37 waterfall sites – some with multiple falls. All can be reached by day hikes of no more than five miles each way. An updated second edition is in the works to incorporate new falls as Stumpfel discovers them.

In the meantime, Stumpfel has partnered with the Piscataquis Chamber of Commerce to help market the CD.

“It is part of our mission to promote tourism throughout our region and Erik’s project gave us a lucrative vehicle with which to promote those efforts,” said Russ Page, PCC’s executive director. The chamber gave Stumpfel a page on their website, hosted the official launch of the guide at Center Theatre and assisted in getting the CD featured on a television segment of “Bill Green’s Maine”

A Piscataquis Public Health Council grant helped fund the project and marketing, and Mayo Regional Hospital CEO Ralph Gabarro ordered 40 copies of the guide to include in physician recruitment packets. A traveling photo exhibit featuring some of the waterfalls is making the rounds, currently located at the Greenville Municipal Office.

Stumpfel has posted photographs of various falls on the www.flickr.com photo-sharing website. Google “southern Piscataquis waterfalls” and Stumpfel’s Flickr posts will be the first link to come up. The Flickr photos are also accessible via a link on the chamber website at www.piscataquischamber.com. A Waterfall Guide to Southern Piscataquis County may only be viewed with Microsoft PowerPoint® and Microsoft Word® or compatible programs. Copies may be purchased at the chamber office in Dover-Foxcroft or by mailing the order form available on the chamber’s website.

“This is a great example of how one person’s dedication to a project can, if marketed properly, benefit an entire region,” Page said. “Committees are okay, but nothing can beat the passion of a driven individual. This was a labor of love not of industry and without it we would still only be talking about Gulf Hagas. With the discovery and mapping of 37 different waterfalls …now we have a destination-based natural tourist attraction. When combined with other nature-based attractions, its impact is going to be significant.”
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