Rock Ribbed Floral-esque Maine Coast

This year, Miranda and I figured we ought to check out the northeastern USA, and really...why not Maine? And since we live in landlocked Colorado, let's focus on the Maine coast. Watery, greenery, flowers, pine trees, sea food, fog, blueberries, fiddleheads...what's not to like? We stayed at a combination of actual bed and breakfasts, which were quite adorable and had amazing food, and the somewhat increasingly infamous airbnbs...which have kitchens, beautiful scenery, plenty of space, are extremely relaxing, and tend to displace local populations and squeeze home prices nationwide. Sarcasm aside, we had a pretty awesome vacation. 

Far in the sunset's mellow glory,
Far in the day-break's pearly bloom,
Fringed by ocean's foamy surges,
Belted in by woods of gloom,
Stretch thy soft, luxuriant borders,
Smile thy shores, in hill and plain,
Flower-enamelled, ocean-girdled,
Green bright shores of Maine.

-Isaac McLellan

 Here is a general overview of our route. We flew to Portland, spent a few nights there, then headed up the coast to stay on the ocean at a really special place near Boothbay Harbor. Then, we continued our journey and stayed in Camden next. Finally, we finished our trip staying on Mount Desert Island / Acadia NP. It was all super beautiful. 

A sailboat looking out into Casco Bay in Portland. This was a long day. We left our hotel in Denver at 3am and got to Portland close to sunset. 

May 9th here, and things appear to be a little behind Gunnison in terms of greening up. Did we come too early? 

A little stroll in a cemetery on the edge of town. 

It's pretty awesome to get a nice breakfast at a cute bed and breakfast in a house older than than when much of the west was founded. We stayed a couple nights at a place called the Chadwhick B&B, the owner there was very friendly and accommodating. It's nice to be a tourist sometimes. 

Miranda admiring the views as we explore parts of downtown Portland. Portland was a really neat city, and it never really felt all that large, busy, or crowded. Granted we visited on the edge of a shoulder season, us Colorado mountain town people know that's probably a better time to visit than the high season.

Parts of this city kind of reminded me of St Paul, MN. 

With a couple days to check out Portland, we headed over to some trails along the Presumpscot River. Super nice. 

It was neat to watch the spring progression throughout our trip.  From the beginning to the end (10 days) a whole lotta change and greening up occurred. 

Maine has some pretty massive pine trees, which I really enjoyed. 

These are "fiddleheads"...a type of young fern. During this time of year, people pick them and fry them up. Really quite delicious. They're pretty cute too. 

Quite a bit of fungus amongus. 

We had a spectacular spring day!

As we headed up the coast, we stopped at this small lighthouse - the "Doubling Point Lighthouse" on the Kennebec River. 

Our second main stop on the trip was to spend a couple nights at a really awesome place on the sheltered coast - where the Dammariscotta River meets the Atlantic. 

Here is a view off the back deck. It was surreal to watch the tides come in and out, the daily morning fog, the stars, and all the bird and frog noises.

                                More fiddleheads!

The night sky here was so ugly    /s

                                                        I wish Gunnison had more (or any) fog. 

Next stop was a pretty famous lighthouse - Pemaquid Point. We spent 4 hours here checking out all the cool rock formations and watching the waves smash into the shore. 

It's hard to put into words how neat this place was. 

Where's waldo? Notice the guy just to the right of the lighthouse and left of the little red house painting. When you see that, you know you're in a pretty place (and a touristy spot!) 

                                       Maybe enter at your own risk? A not so bad 45 degrees.

By the time we were getting ready to leave, we spent so long here that Miranda's hair started turning slightly red due to the chemical reactions involved with the salty sea air oxidizing Precambrian metasedimentary rocks and excreting an iron-rich mist that permeates hair follicles....haha j/k her hair tips were simply remnants of an old henna experiment. 

Here's another beach we visited. It had a lot of seabirds, and really sparkly, micaceous sand. 

M found herself another abandon lobster trap. No Miranda, it won't fit in the trunk and we can't take it back on the plane!

Really beautiful old cemetery. 

Right next to the cemetery, there was an archaeology site with old foundations of several houses dating back to 1630s!

Fun woods hike down to the beach. 

Another beautiful rocky coast. 

I think she's saying: "I'm hungry, and if you don't get me a snack I'm gonna kick your ass"...oh wait no I think she's just pointing out an interesting seabird flying by nevermind. 

Every day, the morning fog rolls in and then burns off. I don't even need sunglasses here. 

I think he wants something (our lunch)...

Pretty chilly with a stiff wind and fog at the Owl's Head Lighthouse. 

A little hard to see but dense fog on right side of image, clear on left. Lots of ship traffic moving between the two, and fog horns as well. Pretty neat sound. 

Our next destination was Camden. A cute tourist town right on the ocean, with some decent hills, trails, (and even a small ski area in upper left). Super pretty. 

Pretty neat to have a waterfall right through the center of town heading down into the bay. 

At a brewery...grabbing a lobster roll

We signed up for a wildlife tour to see some potential lobsters and seals...but now Miranda really wishes she could get on one a dem SCHOONERS. 

Yeah, she's really not having a great time. Terrible, actually. 

I'm not too excited about it either. 

So what are all the floaty thingys in the background? Well, come peak season, a boat will be parked at each one of those. 

The Schooners are so cool looking. Soooo un-Gunnison-ish. 

Lots of things are really starting to bloom now. It's a beautiful time of year. 

One of our breakfasts included fresh fennelheads, very tasty. 

We had some pretty amazing breakfasts here, at the Blue Harbor House. 

The owners were incredibly kind, and we would love to visit again. 

Next up, we took a tour out to some small rock island outcrops, hoping to see some harbor seals. On the way, we saw this osprey nest. 

Passing a small lighthouse.

Part of our 'wildlife tour' entailed watching and participating in 

baiting and checking a lobster trap. It was pretty neat to see. 

When they pulled the trap up from the shallow seafloor (about 40'), 

all we had were crabs! This guy is big enough to be a keeper. 

Since the trap didn't catch any lobsters, they showed us one 

they kept on hand, to point out where the female lays her eggs. 

Some people were pretty into it. I felt kinda meh/eck?

A few miles offshore and here they are. These guys are HAPPY. 

They've got rocks, full bellies, sunshine, and it's time to just relax and rest!

If you look closely, you'll see some babies (lower right). 

I also like the guy literally hanging over a rock. So comfortable looking!

This beach really is littered with seals. But to phrase is that way would be a disservice to them. So I mean, decorated with seals. 

On our return to the mainland, Miranda, the brave soul, volunteered somewhat hesitantly to assist in pushing the trap back off into the sea after it had been re-baited. 

More Schooners for ya. 

So now, we decide to go on a hike up in the hills above Camden, and we're overlooking Megunticook Lake. Pretty awesome! Top center in the distance is the local ski hill too. 

Nice rendition of Camden Snow Bowl from 1970. 

So it's getting to be close to sun set, but we are starting to have a small issue....the bugs have found us, for the first time on this trip.

Pretty neat tree. This is an Eastern White Pine, Maine's state tree. Before European colonizers came in the 1600's, these guys commonly stood over 200' tall!

Look carefully, and you can see the famous "May Black Flies" that are known to occur this time of year here. They bit us multiple times on this evening. In fact, one bit my ear near a scar I have from a mole I had removed, and it got me wondering whether I had a new skin cancer on my ear or what....turns out it was just a bit of raw wound from one of these stupid things. 

Wow Miranda. Camden is pretty nice, eh? Looks like we could buy a 'tear down' for a million bucks. Haha!

It's misting, and we might as well see another lighthouse. This time, it's the Breakwater Lighthouse near Rock Port. Cool thing about this one is you simply walk out over a mile to get to it straight out into the bay. If the tide's getting high and your ramp is becoming less visible because it might soon be underwater, maybe start walking faster... 

On this gorgeous day it's drizzly and maybe 49 degrees out. 

We finally made it. 

This suspension bridge has a tower that is 420' tall and has an elevator/viewing room up top. We probably shoulda checked it out but we didn't. 

Finally, we arrived at our prime destination: Mount Desert Island (MDI) a.k.a. Acadia National Park

This NP is technically an island, and is a crown jewel of the east. In 2021, over 4 million people visited this park, which ranks #16 in the country. Lucky for us, in mid-May the park was in a shoulder season and was pretty uncrowded. Although they are hard to see, if you zoom in on the map, each yellow star shows areas of the park we visited. One of the main tourist towns here is called "Bar Harbor".....which in these neck of the woods would be referred to as "Bah - Hah - Bah".

The first trail we took a casual stroll on was called the "Little Harbor Brook Trail". It was a perfect easy hike after a few hours in the car. 

Birch bark is really neat looking. 

A lot of the trails we've hiked so far in Maine are rocky, rooty, and occasionally swampy such as here. 

This is a very colorful and flaky looking fungus we found on a downed tree. I think it's probably "turkey tail" / Trametes Versicolor. 

No idea what this fungus is, somewhat scary looking. 

Next up, we did a really cool hike with LADDERS. We noticed several trails at Acadia have a combination of metal ladders fixed into the granitic rock (referred to as Cadillac Granite). 

That sounded unique and fun, so we sought those trails out. Some of them were pretty 

interesting, similar to say, Angel's Landing at Zion.

Lots and lots of pine trees in Maine. Pretty awesome. 

The trail really starts to climb now in the midst of a shaded mystical forest. 

Fun!

After the first ladder, the trail traversed the base of a rather large cliff.

Up, up and up. Pretty neat!

Lots of birch trees in this section. 

Nearing the top...

Lots and lots of flowering vegetation on this trip. 

Really excellent view from the top looking down on Echo Lake. 

As we made our descent, we entered a massive pine forest, I'm pretty sure a few of the trees had to be old growth.

We encountered quite a few cute little burbling granitic brooks in Acadia. 

MOSS!

While in this part of the park, we decided to check out another nearby lake, er uhmm in this case, we are looking at "Long POND". That is to say in Maine, here is a what a pond looks like. 

Quick little shower

We stayed in a small studio above someone's garage in a town called "Northeast Harbor" while on         Mount Desert Island. It was really quiet. 

Northeast Harbor boat dock

Really gorgeous early evening sunset lighting. 

More of the fennels.

Out of all the "Ladder" trails open in the park, this one looked the coolest. It ascends a steep bluff and has several sections of scrambling with handrails and ladders to assist. Probably not recommended in wet weather!

Ascending at the start of the trail, looking out towards Sand Beach. 

Here we go!

Pretty close out the gate, the trail really started climbing and gaining a bit of 'exposure'. 

About half way up, we stopped on a ledge to take pictures, admire the views, and sort of people watch all the other hikers coming up behind us. A lot of people, even with cameras, appeared too spooked to even stop or take pictures. It was purely a mental game, and we thoroughly enjoyed it. 

Gettin way on up there. 

Really nice view of Sand Beach from up here. 

Long range view from below the trail, if you look carefully you can make out a number of people on the cliffs above. 

Nice place to hang out on the beach after the hike. 

The water was about 46 degrees, and we saw a number of people going for full body swims. No thanks, haha.

Looking back at the Beehive Trail outcrop we just hiked. 

Zoomed in on the cliffband the hike went up (left side of image). Pretty neat!

Sand Beach is a pretty rare thing. It's one of only two beaches north of Cape Hatteras, NC that is entirely composed of calcium carbonate shell fragments. According to NPS website, this is because: 1) abundance of shell producing organisms nearby; 2) lack of land based sediments (no eroding Cadillac Granite feeding it); 3) "Old Soaker" offshore rocky ledge helps break up surf just enough to allow fine shell fragment particles in and prevents dramatic wave action from pulling shell fragments back out to sea.

Next, we hiked along the coast just southwest of Sand Beach, near Thunder Hole and Otter Cliff. The views were pretty spectacular. 

Pick out the sea birds in this picture...

We scared them away finally, as we slowly tried to get closer to take a better pic. 

Our next stop was Azalea Gardens in Northeast Harbor. Japanese gardens are so beautiful, we really enjoyed it here. 

Finally, one of our last stops were to visit some waterfalls and 'carriage road' bridges, built in the 1920's. 

THE END. 

Oh wait, not quite. We left Acadia, headed back to Portland for a Fri night flight back home. Except the flight got cancelled that night, which caused us to stay another night in Portland. We got to the airport on Sat at noon that next day. At 9pm on Sat, the flight got cancelled again! Finally, on Sun morning we left Portland with a connection in Atlanta. Once we got to Atlanta, we found that our "connection" was actually a 1 day and 35 minute connection. CRAP! So we talked to the help desk and they managed to route us through Salt Lake City, then to Denver on that same day. So we finally made it back to Denver at 9pm on Sun night, 48 hours after we were supposed to. Then we drove two more hours to Woodland Park (my parents) and our dogs. I can usually fly to Mongolia quicker than that! If this is a sign of what summer airline travel will be like this year, YIKES FOLKS. 

Finally, an ode to taking a vacation:

Freedom, by Olive Runner

“Give me the long, straight road before me, 

A clear, cold day with a nipping air, 

Tall, bare trees to run on beside me, 

A heart that is light and free from care. 

Then let me go! — I care not whither 

My feet may lead, for my spirit shall be 

Free as the brook that flows to the river, 

Free as the river that flows to the sea.”

Thanks for reading!