Adventures in Maine 2021

The bold eagle that woke us up swoops down to the river and snags breakfast as we enjoy our morning coffee at a picnic table near his lookout tree. He lands on a dead tree that leans across the water on the other side of the river to enjoy his meal as we turn to watch the loons seeking their morning meals.

Sometimes we get into a rut of everyday life and forget the pleasures of adventure. Even as we were packing for this trip, double-checking lists and finalizing routes, we were too busy to slow down and enjoy the simple things. Like the antics of the mockingbird that hangs out around our yard, the buzz of bees seeking water on a hot summer’s day. When life gets too mundane, it’s time to pack up and explore.

My wife, Melinda, and I are packing for a trip to visit our daughter Carol and her boyfriend in Maine. A visit that was delayed because of Covid. Maine is a state that we have always wanted to experience. We have never been beyond the southern part of upstate New York and New York City. Tino, our daughter’s boyfriend, who had rarely been out of New York City and is now a police officer in the small town of Jay. It will be interesting to see how he is doing. How will he cope with the new job? How will he cope with small town life? Or even a house surrounded by trees?

After the car is loaded. We finalize plans with our trip contact, our son Josh, who will stay home to work. He will have information about where we’ll be, when we should be there, and information for emergency services if we’re not accounted for. We’ll keep in contact with him and let him know if things change. He can help others contact us if needed, as we may be out of regular communications range. 

Will There Be Any Sleep Tonight

Finally, we hit the road for the first leg of our trip. I’ll be driving mostly expressways into the Finger Lakes region of New York. The plan, to stay in a dispersed camping area of the Finger Lakes National Forest. The problem, this is the Fourth of July weekend, and we’re not sure how many others have the same idea. The backup plan, a couple of state forests that are reasonably close by.

Fortunately, we found a site. Many of the sites along the road were already taken. It seemed like it could turn into a loud holiday party night. We could hear music from down the road and, of course, fireworks. After a long day of driving, we were ready to rest. Shortly after dark, it seemed everyone else had the same idea.

The area seemed almost too quiet. We were near a small pond, but only occasionally heard a frog. No sounds of insects or birds. Maybe Ohio is just loud. Josh and I have taken ear plugs when we camp or backpack. We have noticed this silence in other places as well. We are used to frogs, bugs, owls and coyotes making their presence known to the world all night long.

After a splendid night’s sleep, we are on the road again. Choosing to avoid the expressways, we passed through Vermont and New Hampshire and entered Maine on Route 2. Just after the “Welcome to Maine” and all the small print legal signs, a black bear ran across the road! What a cool welcome party!

Reunion

How can one describe seeing their little girl after nearly two years? The fun of seeing how they are making Maine their home. Their kitchen wall has a map of Maine. Elsewhere, they have posters to identify trees, mushrooms and fish. Near the door are waders and snow shoes. And of course, boots for the spring “mud season.” There is blueberry milk in the fridge. And you’ll have to try Maine’s special soda yourself. Just ask for Moxie. And of course, Maple flavored coffee. They seem to be well on their way to becoming locals.

We are soon planning what to do over the next few days. Tino has to work the first two days, then Carol has to work the next two. Then we will need to be heading back home. We didn’t know their schedule when I scheduled my vacation for this week. We’ll just have to make the best of it.

Overview of Maine

On the first day, Carol wanted to take us for an “overview” of Maine. We drive toward the Rangeley Lake area. Rangeley is a beautiful area, even within a beautiful state. The area has lots of vacation homes and places for tourists to stay. The town of Rangeley is a small, touristy town. But we hang a right and leave town. Carol knows we like to explore the less travelled areas. We finally come to a gravel road that leads to the top of a bare hill. Quill Hill. The views from here are extraordinary. During our stay, we explored a good bit of what we could see from this hilltop.

Quill Hill is privately owned and asks for a donation to help with maintenance. “Maine’s best and most accessible views.” With a well-maintained road, easy parking, wheelchair trail and picnic tables, the donations are well deserved. A must-see if you visit Maine.

After Quill Hill, we did the touristy thing and visited downtown Rangeley. We had lunch at Parkside and Main, a restaurant serving local American food. Casual dining, we ate on the patio, where we watched float planes take off and land on the lake. I had a fantastic haddock sandwich and Carol had Poutine. Now I am really believing she is a true local because who else would know what that is? Pronounced poo-teen. It’s really quite simple and good, just fries with brown gravy and traditionally cheese curds, although this just had shredded cheese. At first, it sounds weird, but really we have mashed potatoes and gravy, which is basically the same thing, then add some cheese.

It was enjoyable just sitting and listening to mother and daughter catch up. They are so much alike. Yet, so different. Carol has always been the quiet one, until you get her alone, then she really opens up and will talk your head off. She has times when she can seem overwhelmed by a situation and just breakdown. Then, other times, she powers through like she has no fear and will let no one help her.

We spent a bit of time visiting some shops, including the bookstore named Books, Lines and Thinkers. As this is a fishing area, the play on the phrase “hooks, lines and sinkers” is quite creative. On the way home, we stopped by a “rest area” on Route 4 and found the “Small Falls.” Stop at the rest areas and pull offs along Maine’s roads. They often contain some beautiful scenery and history lessons about the area.

Coastal Maine

The next day was our trip to the coast with Carol. We went to Rockland and walked out to Breakwater Lighthouse. This was an exceptional experience. After passing a period dressed artist doing some paintings along the shore, we walked almost a mile along the breakwater to the lighthouse. They made the breakwater of enormous granite blocks. This must have been a huge undertaking. With the water on both sides, the view was almost like being on a boat. Tons of lobster trap buoys. We even had the pleasure of seeing a seal playing in the water. Don’t miss this lighthouse if you tour Maine.

As we returned to the car, Melinda stopped to ask the artist about his paintings. He paints here and near Acadia. He dresses in period clothing from sometime in the 1800s, if I remember correctly, and has some nice props, including a cute squirrel. Carol is our artsy child and spent a little while talking with him about painting. We left with a nice painting of an island scene near Acadia, and he was rewarded for his creative marketing.

Walking for a couple of miles gave us a nice appetite. So we drove to Archers On the Pier. Here we had our first Maine lobster rolls. Sitting on a deck overlooking piers and watching boats always seems to make for a good meal. The food and service were great. Even after spending so much time with Carol already, it’s amazing how setting down to eat in a relaxing atmosphere can be such a good time of bonding.

That evening, we stopped at Arkay Pizza in Farmington and ordered a couple of calzones. Usually I see calzones that are individual meals. Not these! They were whole pizzas folded in half. This was also our introduction to Moxie. About all I can say about Moxie is that you just have to try it. Does it taste like root beer with a bitter aftertaste? Or does it taste like Dubble Bubble gum with a bitter aftertaste? Melinda picks Dubble Bubble. Just try it if you see it.

Devil’s Den

The next day, we would spend time with Tino. He wanted to search for a place called Devil’s Den. It’s north of Andover. We had no idea what to expect.

As we arrived at the map location on a small gravel side road, we encountered some people on horses. Trying not to spook the horses, we drove carefully by. We drove along a rough gravel road until it ended near a small pond and took a short hike. Along the road were some magnificent views. As we were returning to the main road, we passed through where several cars were parked and my wife said, “there’s people down there!”

We had completely missed Devil’s Den as we passed the horsemen earlier. Devil’s Den is a small canyon right by the gravel road. We parked and walked down the creek to views of waterfalls and the creek’s own small canyon. Then we made a left turn and came back up the Devil’s Den canyon. The canyon is probably 20 or 30 feet deep near the road. Absolutely beautiful! Truly a hidden gem of Maine.

After this great find, we continued to drive north and along the edge of the Richardson Lakes and Lake Mooselookmeguntic. We found a small pier and ate a lunch of MRE’s and Mountain House meals. Further along, we found a pull off with a beautiful walk to the edge of the lake. The lake was very low, and we could walk into the lake bed. There we saw deer and moose tracks. On this trip, we would never get to see the elusive moose, or is it “mythical moose,” we’ll just have to try again.

We made our way around to Rangeley again. We couldn’t take Tino out and just feed him MREs, so we stopped at a barbecue place called The Shed. The dining was very casual, and the food was great.

Again, eating is such a great time of fellowship. I wondered how Tino would do outside of New York City. Tino is really growing as he experiences the world. I was worried he would want to run back to the shelter of New York. After spending time with him in Maine, I no longer have that fear.

We covered a lot of ground in Maine today and had a great time.

Supply Run

The next day would be a supply run. We needed to top off our supply of Mountain House meals that we use for camping and when we’re just too far out to find somewhere to eat, like yesterday. Carol also wanted Chick-Fil-A sometime while we were there. So Tino guided us to Bangor. On the way, we drove through Jay, where he is a police officer.

While in Bangor, we stopped at a Dick’s Sporting Goods to top off our food and I picked up a small pair of binoculars to keep in the car. Our old ones just were not very good, and we were missing too much without a decent pair always being in the car. We also stopped at a military surplus store Tino enjoys and added some more MRE’s to our supply. And of course, we took Chick-Fil-A home for Carol.

By this time, I found out that I would be laid off for the next week. We had an entire week extra for vacation before having to get back to work! The auto industry, I’m a pipefitter at Ford, has been having problems because of the microchip shortage, so we are having random temporary lay-offs. Nothing serious.

We decided that the two of us would go exploring and camping on our own while they worked until Monday, when they would both be off. But we were running out of clothes, and Friday was when tropical storm Elsa dumped a lot of rain on Maine. So we stayed at their house and did laundry and watched it rain from the huge window in their living room.

Weekend of Exploration

Saturday arrived, and we were ready to begin our own adventure. We started with a McDonald’s breakfast. This broke our rule of not eating anywhere we know the name of. (I guess Chick-Fil-A did too, but that was Carol’s request. Lol) We also stopped by Walmart for some supplies. How do you drive past a Walmart without seeing it? We did.

Finally, we were re-provisioned and ready to spend a couple of days away from all conveniences. We drove toward the Bigelow Preserve and Flagstaff Lake area. After a couple of closed roads, we backtracked to Kingfield and followed Long Falls Dam Road north to where we wanted to find a camping site.  

Our first choice, “Round Barn” off East Flagstaff Road, was full. It looked like a beautiful area. You would have to carry all your camping gear to the sites. Another area called “Little Bigelow Gravel Pit” also looked busy. This is why we like to travel and camp during the week, fewer crowds. We noticed that almost all the vehicles were from Maine. It seems we have found where the locals go.

Finally, we found a spot in the “Big Eddy” area on the north side of the lake. This used to be a gravel pit. They took some enormous stones and divided it into camping spots. Some sites are large enough that you could fit a couple big fifth wheels in them. The eddy area of the Dead River is right across the road. It was fun watching people fly fish. Fly-fishing is something I would like to get better at. Maine looks like a great place to learn, as some areas are fly-fishing only.

One of our neighbors played loud music and kept driving off, then coming right back. But when evening came, everyone got quiet. The pit toilets were cleaner than most gas station restrooms. This was something we noticed throughout Maine. We travel with a Cleanwaste toilet system because we rarely have any amenities where we stay and because pit toilets are often pretty nasty. But we didn’t even get it out in Maine.

Sunday morning we woke up to the sounds of the river and our friend the bald eagle. We had coffee almost underneath his favorite lookout tree. As we sat there, he grabbed some breakfast out of the river and was kind enough to take it to the other side of the river to eat.

We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast and watched the river, the eagle, and a small squirrel dozing in the sun on a log. I suddenly noticed that some rock cairns along the water were no longer visible. The water had risen several feet as we sat there. The loons seemed to enjoy the new flow, but everywhere the fly fishermen had walked last night was underwater now.

We spent the first part of the day driving around the north side of Flagstaff Lake on dirt roads. We had a snack at a gas station along Route 27 overlooking a lake. After our snack, we drove north on 27 along the Chain of Ponds area and to the Canadian border. After turning around there, we ended up back at the same gas station for lunch.

We went in to get  something to eat, and we discovered much more. The store had groceries as well as camping gear, fishing gear, car and ATV maintenance parts, even home maintenance supplies. There are few large stores around Maine, so the small stores have to carry the necessities. The nearest major store from here would be the Walmart in Farmington, over an hour away. The nearest Lowes is about two hours away.

After lunch, we went to check out the Round Barn camping area again and hoped some people had left. People don’t seem to camp on Sunday night too much. I suppose everyone has to be back to work Monday morning. I work the afternoon shift, 3-11pm, so if we’re near home I can easily stay Sunday nights.

After the long drive around to the camping area, we were rewarded with some empty sites. There are only 9 here, and one is on an island. We got one that wasn’t too far to carry our gear from the car, maybe twenty five yards. If you want to stay at site 1, I would recommend backpacking gear. We are used to living out of the back of the Escape, so having to carry our heavy gear was different for us. Our tent, about a 30-second setup, weighs a nice 40 pounds.

This area is beautiful to camp in!! The sites, first come first served, are just far enough apart that you don’t really see your neighbors. But the views of the lake are fantastic. The smell of the pine needles as you walk was amazing. Sites are big enough for groups or large families. Spotless. Another thing we noticed about Maine was the people seem to help with keeping it clean. We had a splendid night here and would highly recommend it.

The next day we had to get back to Basecamp, our daughter’s house. Finally, we would have both of them off on the same day! On the drive back, we found the wire bridge near New Portland. Think of a swinging bridge for cars! You can see it sagging as cars drive across. Melinda would not ride across with me, so she took a video.

Driving In The Sky

After picking up Carol and Tino, we headed west into New Hampshire. We drove the “auto road” to the peak of Mt. Washington. Mt. Washington is part of the Presidential Range in White Mountain National Forest. The views from the car on the road up are almost like looking out of an airplane window. This was hilarious because Carol and Melinda kept scooting closer and closer to the center of the car and ducking down so they wouldn’t have to look out. On the way down, they sat in the back seat and talked together without looking out at all.

Mt. Washington is 6288 feet high and has some magnificent views. It also has some of the worst weather in the country, including winds recorded at 231mph, the highest ever recorded. Besides the auto road, there is a cog railroad with one coal-fired engine and other diesel engines. The Appalachian Trail goes to the summit.  

While you are at the summit, use the US Post Office to send some postcards. Also, enjoy a snack and buy some souvenirs. I try to take pictures of the US Geological Survey benchmarks while I’m on a peak. These are about 3 inches round metal markers that are the official record of the peaks. Most people walk on and around them with no idea what they are. You can get small replicas in the gift shop.

Mountain peaks are fun to visit. I especially enjoy driving to them. We have done Pikes Peak in Colorado and now Mt. Washington. These are two of the most touristy, but it’s still worth the time.

Now for the trip down. Caution! Brakes don’t like too much use and this could push them to the max. Use low gear and allow the brakes to cool at the pull off areas. Also, make sure that your vehicle is not loaded too heavy for the trip up and down. For overlanders like us, this is a good time to leave some gear behind if you’re using a small vehicle or you are close to capacity. We unloaded nearly everything since there would be four adults in the Escape. The ‘05 F-150 we took to Pikes Peak did better, using the large engine to brake itself on the way down, but the Escape didn’t do bad. We had no burning brake smell like other vehicles. I used sport mode on the transmission and used the button shifter to select first gear.

After our mountain top experience, we went back to Farmington and ate at the Jade Palace. A very good oriental restaurant. The portions were huge.

One More Maine Adventure

The next day, we went to the Moosehead Lake area that Tino had been wanting to visit. We drove toward the south end of the lake and just before entering Greenville we found the Indian Hill Trading Post. The trading post could supply all your adventure needs, including a nice grocery store next door. After spending a little money there, we drove to the east side of the lake to Lily Bay State Park. There is a small fee to enter, $4 Maine resident/$6 out of state.

Lily Bay SP was beautiful. Not just the lake views but the beach, picnic areas, camping areas and hiking trails. We had lunch and hiked for a couple of miles. This was our last Maine adventure for this trip, and it was worth the drive.

At home that night, Carol made us a great supper, and we spent our last night in Maine.

Homeward Bound

Having to say goodbye to any of our kids is difficult, but especially when they live so far away. After a relatively tearless goodbye, we were once again on our way to more adventures in the Northeast.

We drove west through New Hampshire and into Vermont. On a wall at home, we have a US map. We put pins in it when we have visited places, and we wanted to add one more state while in the area. So, we stopped at Quechee Gorge near Hartford. We seem to have an unplanned gorge theme for this year. On a trip to Florida, we took a quick visit to Providence Canyon in Georgia. While in Maine, we visited the small Devil’s Den. So why not visit another.

Quechee Gorge is a great stop! The gorge, of course, is great to see, probably best viewed from the bridge. There is some nice hiking. While we were there, we visited a couple of shops and, of course, we had to eat. Staying with our plan of eating at places we have never heard of before, we had lunch at a Mexican restaurant called Nostalgia. It’s right across from the gorge visitors center. The servings were large and good. You could tell the tomatoes were fresh. The food was not very spicy for a “Mexican” restaurant, but very good. We got a box for our leftovers.

After our lunch, we drove to Long Pond State Forest in New York and spent the night next to a babbling brook. Well, it was really just a babbling brook because it had rained, but it was still a delightful sound. Again, this was a near silent camp. Until 4am. Suddenly, a limb broke out of a tree with a gigantic crack and crashed to the ground.

After getting a good night’s sleep, apart from the limb, we were again on the road. This time, making some time on expressways. We stopped at a rest area in New York and got a couple geocaches. Geocaching is something we really enjoy, but all too often I completely forget! We could have gotten caches in 3 other states! I’m sure Carol and Tino would have enjoyed the hunt.

As we arrived back in Ohio, we were bored with the fast lane and got off the expressway. We found a nice place to eat called Cal’s Restaurant and Pizza Express in Garrettsville. The food, great! The service, not bad. The entertainment, listening to the ladies working that shift gossiping and complaining about the other employees. We lovingly nicknamed this restaurant the Hen House. Stop by, and you will not be disappointed by the food.

We finally arrived home to be greeted by our faithful little puppy, Jack

What We Learned

As we cleaned up and unpacked from the trip, we reviewed what we had learned. We definitely need to be prepared for any weather. It was much cooler in Maine than we expected. That applies to both clothing and sleeping gear.

We need some extra gear for when staying at others’ homes. Slippers, a grab bag for our coffee kit, laundry bags.

Also, for travelling we need a grab bag for using toilets, whether our Cleanwaste or pits, with extra toilet paper, wet wipes, hand sanitizer, Lysol wipes and a flashlight. Maine’s restrooms were spotless, but a grab bag would be great just in case they were not or were out of toilet paper.

We also decided we want thicker pillows for camping. Ours are good but too thin.

The binoculars we picked up were a great purchase and well-used on the trip. We picked up a mesh laundry bag before the trip was over, which worked great.

We continue to perfect our packing list and fine tune our gear. This, of course, will probably never end. We’ll always find better or more efficient ways to do things.

We need to consider packing slightly differently so it’s easier when staying at someone’s home for part of the trip; we packed too much for living out of the car. I think we can fine tune that.

A grab bag with our coffee kit would be great. It’s the first thing we do in the morning. We could also grab it to use in other people’s homes. Right now, it’s just part of our camp kitchen gear. It needs a place of honor all of its own.

Overall, this was a fantastic adventure!! We covered a huge part of Maine. Found some fantastic places, both natural and manmade. And most of all, we got to share the adventure with Carol and Tino. We can’t wait to see them again.