We left Vermont on Tuesday September 16. Had lunch in Lancaster, NH and drove into Maine. We got a campsite at Cupsuptic Lake near Rangeley. It's a nice little campground, very clean, and on the lake. After driving through two country's and four states advertizing moose on the road signs, we finally saw two just down the road from the campground. It took us doing an evening drive. Since today is Lora's birthday and she always wanted to go to Maine, here we are. There is also a beach on the lake so I scored extra points.
Wednesday we got up and drove through Rangeley to the Cascade Stream Gorge. A short hike through a rocky gorge with waterfalls. From there we drove South to a rest area and Smalls Falls. There is the main fall plus more as you hike up the creek. On the way back we stopped on the AT crossing and put our feet on the Appalachian trail. From there we stopped and picked up some groceries a then headed East to Quill Hill. It is a privately owned mountain that you can drive up and enjoy a wonderful view of the area. After that we headed back to the camper to drop off food and then headed to Bald Mountain and hike to top of that. There is a firetower on top with wonderful views. Enough for one day we came back for dinner and did some laundry.
Thursday we hiked around campground and then headed to Milo to meet up with Lora’s cousin. Having a little extra time on our hands, we stopped at the public beach in Dover for a couple of hours. We headed on to Michael’s place and had a good evening of catching up. He spoiled us with Lobster and then a big dinner later on.
Friday Michael took us to Borestone Mountain for a little hiking. Beautiful views all around. He even served us strawberry shortcake on the summit and then he spoiled us with milkshakes to recover from the hike.
Saturday the 20th we head North to Easton to see another cousin of Lora's. Christy took us around her town and showed us the cabin where they vacation as much as they can. She also introduced us to the Whoopie Pie which is the yankee Moon Pie. We stayed in her driveway.
Sunday after a wonderful breakfast, we headed Southwest to Millinocket and stayed at Wilderness Edge campground. After setting up camp we headed to Baxter State Park to see about hiking Mt. Katahdin. They said that we could be on standby if we showed up at 5:30 in the morning and at 7 if there is any room in the parking area they would let us in. A simple no would have done. We hiked Trout Mountain and climbed the 80' tall tower at the top. What a view!
Monday we did not get up at 5:30. We drove to Bait Hole and hiked the Bait Hole Loop and North Twin Dam loop. Easy hike and very beautiful along the water. Made a trip into town for supplies and saw a 864 pound moose getting checked in on the first day of hunting season. After lunch we drove to see the ice caves. We were warned not to take the Golden road because it was too rough. We took Old State road instead. What a mess that was at 5mph. The trail was interesting as was the cave, but the view was awesome from the top. After talking with people on the trail we took the Golden road back and it was a whole lot better.
Tuesday we headed for the coast. We took Hwy 6 over to Hwy 1 and drove down to Trenton. Of course the lighthouses along the way were closed or being worked on. We camped at Wild Acadia campground.
Wednesday we headed to Acadia NP. We drove the loop road and climbed Bee Hive mountain and Bubbles mountain. We hiked around Jordan Pond and had a snack at the lodge. Then we toured Bar Harbor and had dinner there at Geddy's.
Thursday the 25th we headed to Schoodic to check it out. We did the loop drive and stopped to hike Schoodic Head and Anvil. Many views of the ocean. We ate lunch at the Wharf in Winter Harbor. The rain settled in and later we headed to Bass Harbor to see the lighthouse. We drove the West Coast on the way back to camp. We got to see a seal, some deer, and turkeys.
Friday we headed South. First stop was Fort Knox SHS and Penobscot narrows observatory. We went up the bridge tower, 447 feet, to the observatory. Beautiful views. Then we toured the Fort Knox fort which was pretty cool. We ate lunch there. Then we visited Rockport to see the Lime Kilns, the Vulcan Steam Engine, and Andre the Seal. Next stop was Rockland where we hiked the 7/8 mile Breakwater to the lighthouse. Lot's of people hiking today. Then we stopped at the Marshall Point Lighthouse and museum, which closed as soon as we got there. We spent the night at Pemaquid Point campground near Bristol Maine.
Saturday we drove to Pemaquid Point lighthouse first thing. Got there just before they opened and looked around. After they opened we did the museum. After that we drove to the Maine Maritime Museum to check that out. It was awsome! We learned how to build ships, took the cruse on the river, got to see seals and an Eagle, and got to see the navy ships being built next door. We pretty much spent all day there. We drove on to Scarborough and camped at the Sun Outdoors campground. After setting up we headed to Ken's Place for some seafood.
Sunday we got up and drove to Portland Head Light Fort Williams Park. We saw a couple of schooners when we arrived. Then we saw the Goddard Mansion, Battery Erasmus Keyes, and of course the lighthouse. From there we went to Bug Light Park to see the lighthouse and the main Portland harbor. Lot's of different kinds of boats. Our last stop was Cascade Falls which has a couple of short trails and the cascade.
Monday we headed South. We visited Kennebunkport just to see it before we left Maine. We went through New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and into Rhode Island. We camped at Holiday Acres campground.
