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

ACADIA NATIONAL PARK IN MAINE

We arrived in Acadia National Park and fell in love with it, so promptly booked an extra 3 days giving us a week here.
Acadia National Park, located on the rock-bound Maine Island of Mount Desert (pronounced dessert - only in America!), protects more than 49,000 acres of granite-domed mountains (all less than 1530ft), forests, meadowlands, marshes, Somes Sound, the only fjord in the contiguous states and stunning ocean shorelines everywhere. With 120 miles of hiking trails, 45 miles of carriage roads and a 27 mile scenic drive its a little gem.
We chose Seawall Campground on the quieter, western side of the island with the ocean 10 minutes walk away.

Acadia Mountain

Roy "bagging the peaks!"

 
We hiked many of the mountains and let me tell you that even though most only reach around 1200ft, these little mountains have attitude, some tough climbs and most starting at sea level!
Maine means lobster, so we have managed to eat a fair bit and of course we had to try the Clam Chowder(delicous) topped off with Maine wild Blueberry pie(we think it looked like Bear scat!) and endless ice cream, my favourite was Maine Maple Walnut - Roy just likes them all!
Near the end of our week here we discovered the Common Good Soup Kitchen offering wifi, coffee and popovers ( like mini Yorkshire puddings with butter and jam - yummy). A great place that operates every morning throughout the summer and you just give a donation. They say that with the money they get it, it lets them open during the harsh winter and put on meals, entertainment and activities for the local community.

Lobster buoys

Bar Harbor on Mount Desert Island - Acadia NP

Sand Beach

Summit of Cadillac mountain

Cadillac mountain

Our last day in Acadia we decided that we should hike up Cadillac Mountain, we had driven up its 1530 feet domed summit by car on the scenic drive. Of course the weather changed and Roy said it would be good to go up Dorr Mountain1270ft first. Remind me never to trust Roy's map reading skills again - there was a gorge that separated them which was horrendous and then it started raining and the trail down from Cadillac was a nightmare over granite rock like ice. Still we made it - took 5 hours to hike 4.3 miles! 

Pemetic Mountain

lunch stop

Roy playing silly faces with a rock!

Jordan Pond

North East Harbor

 Sunshine made us stay another day in Arcadia and we drove round to the mainland to tour the tiny Schoodic Peninsula, part of Acadia National Park, granite headlands, rocky beaches and spruce-fir forests. - similar to Desert Island but more intimate and secluded.
Crashing waves, eider ducks,many mighty Monarch butterflies on their migration to Mexico, made for a great day, then on the way back we stopped at a lobster pound near our campsite where we found out the answers to our lobster questions. Why do they call it a lobster pound where they cook them? - first reason was maybe because they sell lobsters by the pound and second reason was likening it to a dog pound - somewhere to keep them safe until they decide what to do with them! They steam them in a small amount of water. Are they alive when they are dropped in - yes. do they scream? No but the clams do! He was such a joker! But did you know that the lobster is an arachnid - spider family - it has 8 legs and has hardly any nervous system - so he says!
Au revoir Acadia.

Ladder trail up Dorr Mountain

The ladder!

filling up for winter

Cadillac Mountain in the background - the gorge between - unseen!

view from Dorr mountain

two poorlies! - dont argue with the mountain!

Blueberry (Bear scat )pie

Schoodic Peninsula

worn out again after lunch

mighty Mammoth

Wansqueak Harbor

Lobster Pound

NEW BRUNSWICK CANADA TO MAINE USA

Grand Falls minus the falls!

more of Grand Falls

  Leaving Quebec City we decided we would spend one more day in Canada and visit New Brunswick. Travelling north then east we enjoyed the big rolling, rugged, forested hills and the peaceful roads and supposedly potato fields. We have now been in every time zone of the USA as now on Atlantic time, just 4 hours behind UK, but just until we reach Maine.
We visited Grand Falls - a deep, dramatic gorge splitting the town in two. Would be a stunning place in the spring but in the Fall there were no falls! Moving further east we arrived at Hartland and the longest covered bridge in the world - 1282 feet with a walkway at the side which we took instead of taking the trailer through. Roy was sure we would fit but we didn't want to tempt fate twice as we would have had to turn around and come back through it.
Finally we returned to the good old U.S.A. and into Maine. No problems with customs!
We are now in Bangor and moving today to spend 5 nights in Acadia National Park with no services.

inside the bridge on walkway

We drove here thinking we were going to get 30 different kinds of "chips" as in UK type as thats what they call them in Canada but they were crisps - it was a crisp factory