MAINELY MARVELOUS MAINE

Katahdin in Baxter State Park 5268ft

Cutler - DownEast Maine

West Quoddy lighthouse

Easternmost point in USA

Leaving Acadia we headed north east along the coast - DownEast as Mainers call the region. Much more rugged with isolated villages earning their living from lobsters and fish. Our love of lighthouses led us to West Quoddy Lighthouse near Lubec the easternmost point in the USA, a real pretty striped lighthouse, looking like a barber's pole. 
We have seen very little wildlife this trip but today we were rewarded by a bald eagle flying over and a fuzzy caterpillar crawling by - sublime to the ridiculous!

sublime Bald Eagle

Hickory Tussock caterpillar will turn into a moth

The Owl hike

Summit of the Owl

tough climb up the Owl

The Owl hike view over Katahdin

We visited the Maine Highlands region (Alaska of the East), camping at Big Moose Campground just outside Baxter State Park. This 200,000-acre forest preserve is a massive tract of wild land traversed by remote hiking trails and dominated by mile high Mt. Katahdin. The park is also famous for its wildlife it says - bears, moose, eagles and deer and the fact it marks the beginning or end of the 2,050 - mile Appalachian Trail which we crossed many times on the Blue Ridge Parkway earlier this year.

We did a trail yesterday to a pretty pond but did not see any moose, today we hiked The Owl, a beast of a mountain at 3736 ft, we actually climbed 2679 ft from the trailhead. Took us just under five and half hours to complete the seven and half miles round trip and dont my legs know it! It's the first time I've know Roy to say we were turning back but there was no way I was not going to the summit after so much effort. It was worth it, sunshine, endless views and egg/mayo sandwiches - what more can you ask for!
As we left the trailhead we gave a lift to a young man who had just completed the Appalachian Trail, he left Georgia on 14 April and had just done Katahdin - the last peak. It was great hearing his tales about the trail - - a good end to a tough but fullfilling day..

Steamship Katahdin and photo above shows what it used to do