Maine – West border and East coast

Corinne Family, Sightseeing No Comments

The past two weeks have found us exploring the western part of Maine (and New Hampshire) and the East coast of Maine (aka “Downeast”).

Bethel, Maine

We left Paul and Kay’s driveway (see our previous post) and made our way 30 miles northward to the ski resort town of Bethel. We wanted to make sure we had a spot for the long Labor Day weekend when camping spots get scarce. Janelle decided to join us.

Covered bridge in the area screamed “photo op.”

There was a lot to do. The area has a multitude of breweries to be experienced.

Plus, the Appalachian Trail (AT) crossed through Grafton Notch State Park just to the north of where we were staying.

This is a trailhead on the Appalachian Trail at the State Park. Janelle decided to climb to the top of this hunk of rock, called Old Speck Mountain.

Jim and I were having nothing to do with Janelle’s little hike (too far, too much elevation gain, too old). So we dropped her off at the trailhead and promised to pick her up later; we would go explore some shorter hikes on our own . This trailhead parking lot was a people-watcher’s paradise. We saw everything from ragged looking thru-hikers (people that are hiking the entire AT) to day hikers that took an hour to get ready once they parked their vehicle. Dan K…your name came up more than once while we were here.

There is a reason the word “Notch” is in the name of this State Park. A lot of water flows through the notch.

UTVing in Gorham, New Hampshire

If you needed any type of supplies (and we did), the best place to provision was 30 miles to the west in Gorham, New Hampshire. While visiting the grocery store in Gorham early in our stay, we noticed UTVs all over the place. UTV = Utility Terrain Vehicles aka side-by-side aka Rzr. We had rented a UTV when we were in Black Hills of South Dakota and thoroughly enjoyed the experience…it was worth a repeat. We waited until the Monday of the Labor Day weekend to have our UTV adventure…the weather was better, the price was cheaper and there were less people around (most were already heading home).

The UTVs are so much different from what we rented in the Black Hills. This buggy had a built in GPS, USB charging ports, Bluetooth enabled speakers and helmets! I spend my time in the back seat.
Janelle and I in front of our Polaris Rzr looking cool. Can you see the wind turbines in the far off background?
Now you can see the wind turbines. Let’s check them out.
We were able to get right up to the base of the wind turbines. We actually witnessed one turbine rotate its blades and start turning.

Renting a UTV is fun. In South Dakota we had a blast driving all the trails. In New Hampshire, the emphasis seemed to be on narrow wooded trails with rocks and the experience of seeing if you traverse them safely. Apparently, the day before our rental day, the UTV rental company had four UTV rollovers!!! Some people just aren’t that smart. Anyway, Jim and I agreed we had fun this day, but the experience in South Dakota was better (read about that experience at https://rv.cjsquare.com/2017/09/riding-a-utv-out-of-deadwood/).

Lubec, Maine

With the Labor Day weekend over and Janelle back to Portland for work, we decided to head to the coast, or Downeast as it’s known. We had already been to over-hyped Bar Harbor a few years ago, we wanted something different. I had just recently rewatched the Ken Burns documentary on the Roosevelts and they talked about Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s “summer cottage” on Campobello Island. Researching that, I discovered Campobello can be reached from the little town of Lubec, Maine. Couple that with our friend Paul mentioning Lubec was on his future to-do list and the town being the “easternmost municipality in the contiguous U.S.”, what more could you ask for? We decided to head there next.

Our destination…the eastern side of the state.

I found a little campground (only 29 sites) in Lubec and reserved a week. And what a week it was. Sunset Point RV Park has become one of our new favorites.

Can you spot Sandy? The campground was on a peninsula and surrounded by water.

Lubec is in the Bay of Fundy, that body of water known for its very large tides, mostly in the Canadian Maritimes. Although the tides here were somewhat smaller than what you would see further up in the bay, they were still impressive. A 12 foot tide was typical.

The view from one of the many benches places around the campground. Jim got a lot of reading time in from this bench. Here it’s mid-tide.
This is another view of the campground. Not a bad seat in the house!
And this is why it’s called Sunset Point.

Janelle decided to join us again (of course!…working remotely is very much a thing). Coincidentally, Janelle’s BFF from her Spencerport Schools day, Laura, drove in from New York State for a visit. Bring her along Janelle!

Janelle and Laura led us on a coastal hike.

You haven’t lived until you have explored a coastal zone with a marine ecologist (Janelle) and an arborist (Laura). The Latin words were flying around as they identified species after species.

The first morning the girls were with us was low tide at the campground. Upon waking, they promptly headed out to investigate the tidal pools. Here Janelle is tossing around a piece of kelp for some reason. Watch out Laura.

As I said, Lubec’s claim to fame (other than being a truly quaint town) is that it is the eastern most town in the continental United States. Outside of town is the West Quoddy Head Lighthouse. This piece of land IS the eastern most point in the United States. It is also the closest point in the United States to Africa. Really! Get out a globe if you don’t believe me.

West Quoddy Head Lighthouse (still in service) and a granite marker stating this is the eastern most point in the USA.
Our hike took us along the Atlantic coast. Just beautiful.
Janelle and Laura playing “What tree is this?” It was more like me asking and Laura answering.
This was a unique tree. It had either burls or galls disfiguring its trunk. I don’t think we ever quite figured it out.

Another day we took a hike to a salt marsh. This was Janelle’s area of expertise.

It had rained this day…much time was spent swatting at mosquitos. Again, species identification was the name of the game.
At the end of the salt marsh trail was a rocky shore. I found the rocks to resemble a modern painting of sorts.

The town of Lubec has a fishing/boating industry and the docks to go with them.

Here our intrepid scientists are looking for invasive species.
While walking in town, Janelle spotted a stop sign covered with lichen and had to check it out. Of course she had to.

Lobster

One of the unique amenities of this amazing campground we stayed at is they will provide to you for FREE everything you need to cook lobster…the propane, the burner, the pot, big plates and all the crackers and forks. Count us in!

Here we have our lobster setup. It was amazing that this was provided for free. All we had to do it buy the lobster from the wholesaler down the road. Well, that and watch a few YouTube videos to see how to cook lobster. Yes, we have never done it before.
Janelle volunteered to put the lobsters in the pot.
Dinner coming right up.
This was truly a unique experience. Fresh lobster with a view. It was all yummy!

Campobello Island

We took a morning to cross over into New Brunswick, Canada (have your passport with you) to explore there. You can only get to Campobello island via the bridge from Lubec or via boat. Yes, Campobello Island is not accessible from Canada directly by car!

This is the Head Harbour Light House. It is at the far end of Campobello Island and you can access it only at low tide. Fortunately, we timed our visit right.
You have to scramble over all these rocks to get to the lighthouse. The staff warn you what time to be off this spit of rock. If you miss that time, the quick rising tide can trap you at the lighthouse itself with no way to walk back to the mainland. It would take a boat to get you off.
This is Frankline Delano Roosevelt’s 35 room summer cottage. It is where he was when he came down with polio. Why a summer cottage in Canada? A number of rich New York City residents tried to establish a resort community here. They succeeded for a bit. The Roosevelts would take a train up from New York City to Eastport, Maine. There, they would have a fisherman take them across the bay to their cottage. Eleanor Roosevelt continued to come here until her death in 1962.

We have truly enjoyed our time in Maine. We are currently back in Portland near Janelle. Callie has flown in to join us for a family weekend. After this, we wander back to Rochester, NY for some doctor’s appointment for Jim. Onward to more adventures!

Can you tell I’m a happy person? We didn’t make it to the Canadian Maritimes as initially planned, but I think we did Maine justice.
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