Looking for a moose at Moosehead Lake

We are way behind in getting travel posts published this summer because we're having too much fun traveling! So we won't be confused about when each "wandering" happened, we'll start each blog with its actual date.

August 29, 2022

After a quiet night in our very remote Boondocker Welcome camp site, we were up and on the road before 8:00. Our destination today is Moosehead Lake--where moose outnumber human residents by a 3 to 1 ratio. We are serious about finding a moose! We've read the hints on the best places to see them in this moose-saturated area. Curiously, one of the best places is at the department of transportation barn. We assume that moose are in search of the salt that is stored here and used on the winter roads. The secret is out, and the moose-watchers must be a problem. They now post a sign, "Keep out - No watching of moose from this site."

We didn't have to be reminded to keep out, because no moose were hanging out in the department of transportation yard near Greenville. So we headed on to Moosehead Lake. This is the biggest lake in Maine, and we got the kayak inflated and ready for our first adventure of the day. A couple paddle boarders left the the shore right before us.

 

We were paddling from the dock in Rockwood, Maine. Instead of kayaking, we could have taken the public shuttle this morning. But at $14 for a round-trip ticket, we would rather paddle ourselves this morning since the water is pleasantly calm.

We are paddling to Kineo Island, a little over a mile from the Rockwood public boat launch. Moosehead Lake is 40 miles long and 10 miles wide, and it has 80 islands. But Kineo is the most visited because of the trail system at Mount Kineo State Park that leads along its tall rock ledges.

We beached our kayak on the rocky outline of Kineo Island, and pulled it up onto the trail that encircles most of the island. We stowed the kayak in the bushes, and changed from our boat shoes to our hiking boots as we started our hike around 11:00.

We started our loop hike going counter-clockwise. That took us up the steep Indian Trail where we got to some great views over Moosehead Lake quickly.

Moosehead Lake is not only the biggest lake in Maine, it is also one of the deepest. It is up to 250 feet deep. That means that this mountain that we are climbing is actually about 250 taller than it looks from the boat.

Overhead, we saw several float planes. This part of Maine has more lakes than roads, so a plane that can land and take off from the water is a very efficient mode of transportation.

It was about a mile to the summit of Mount Kineo. The tallest part of the island is covered in trees, but a fire tower allows visitors to climb above the trees for views. We read in a recent trail review that the fire tower was closed because an active hornet nest was very close to the steps to the top.

Sure enough, we could see large hornets going in and out of the large nest attached to the corner of the tower. That nest is a natural work of art!

A group of hikers had gathered at the bottom of the tower, trying to decide if it was prudent to make the climb today. After noting that the hornets seemed tranquil, Mark made the climb to the top. From his perch at the top, he assured Denisa that it was safe to come on up.

Sure enough, it was safe. The hornets didn't swarm, and Denisa didn't tarry long on that flight of steps. The views from the top were worth the climb.

After making the climb to the summit of Mount Kineo, it would have been sad to miss these views of Maine's biggest lake.

On the loop hike down, we saw a whole different set of island flora because we came down the less-steep Bridle Trail. Because the spring wildflowers are long gone, Denisa is glad to find mushrooms in Maine to photograph.

These were clustered on a fallen log, making an interesting mushroom stack.

After our three-mile hike on Kineo Island, we changed our hiking boots for water shoes. Then we got the kayak back on the water and paddled part-way around the island. We probably would have made the entire circle, but the wind had picked up.

We had one more look at Kineo Island from our water level view. By the time we made it all the way to the boat dock, the waves were lapping into the kayak and we were all wet. It's a good thing that the weather is warm today! It was a worthwhile kayak trip on Maine's largest lake, as we saved $28 in shuttle fees!

We're disappointed that we haven't spotted even one moose on our day at Moose Lake! So we stopped to take a picture of the flying moose statue at Rockwall. We sure hope this isn't our only Maine moose sighting!

We headed back to the southern tip of the lake, to have dinner in Greenville. We ate at an outdoor table at a restaurant overlooking the lake. We had duck for dinner--not to eat--but as a dining companion. She stayed right beside our table for most of the meal, hoping for dropped morsels of food.

Besides close-up views of the local ducks, we also got close-up views of the local sea planes parked by the dock. We watched as several of them landed or took off on the lake.

 

We stopped in at the Appalachian Trail Visitor Center near Monson, and visited with a very helpful volunteer. She said they average about ten through-hikers per day this time of year. Hikers are closing in on the last days of their 2,100+ mile journey when they get here. This visitor center will help them make arrangements for their last day of hiking at Baxter State Park. We've already visited there, and know how few hikers are allowed in each day. Here they are reminded that they must get organized for the next 100 miles that are in the most remote section of the entire trail. This wilderness section requires that hikers have ten days of food. The AT visitor center also provides day-hike advice for hikers like us. Like we have done many times, we drove to the nearest trail head of the AT, and hiked a bit on this wilderness section with the signature white blaze on the trees.

We hiked a tenth of a mile to Spectacle Lake.

 

We also made the quick walk to the Goodell Falls that AT hikers will get to see.

That gave us another half mile of hiking to round out our day of water and land miles here in the Moosehead Lake area.

It was a delightful day of lake views and blue skies. We are at a higher elevation, so we are enjoying more changing fall foliage as we drove through some of the quirky little towns around Moosehead Lake. Some of the town names are very descriptive--like Greenville and Rockwall. Others seem to be impossible to pronounce with names like Kokadjo and Piscataguis. We're disappointed that we didn't see any moose, but we'll count it as another beautiful day of wandering God's wonders.

Saying good-bye to Blake and hello to more of Maine

We are way behind in getting travel posts published this summer because we're having too much fun traveling! So we won't be confused about when each "wandering" happened, we'll start each blog with its actual date.

August 28, 2022

We're sad that this is the last day of our son's vacation in Maine. He watched as we put the slides in and prepared the motor home for travel. Then it was an hour-long drive south back to Bangor to the airport. (Incidentally, if we drove an hour the opposite direction on this highway we would be in Canada.) We have found the highways to be very good in Maine so far. This is highway 95--a main Maine thoroughfare, with four lanes and wide shoulders. Once away from the coast line, all the roads look the same--hemmed on both sides with trees that are just beginning to change colors now that we're at the end of August.

This is moose territory, and we are seeing more highway signs alerting us to watch for these long-legged road hazards. This sign adds that there is a high rate of moose crashes for the next 6 miles. We also saw the portable electric sign warning us of a moose cow at mile marker 200. It's a little suspect that it was displaying the same message four days ago. We didn't see any moose again today!

Mark pulled the motor home into the airport departure lane to drop Blake off. Making airport pick-ups and drop-offs in the motor home was a new experience for us, and Mark had already checked to be sure we would fit. Blake went through those airport doors--and just like that, we were once again just two wanderers left to wander God's wonders by ourselves. We already miss him! 

There are fewer roads in this interior part of Maine, so we had to back-track to Bangor to get to our next campground near Ripley, Maine. This is another Boondocker Welcome site hosted by another generous RVer. The Curtis's are full-time RVers that own land in this remote area. They spend their summers here, enjoying Maine's cool weather. They added several more full hook-up camp sites so they could share this little piece of paradise with others. We enjoyed the view from the hill over their mowed grass lawn that stretched to the valley below.

After Blake left, we had laundry to do and groceries to replenish at the nearby town of Dexter. We also made a stop at their local Remy's. We discovered this store several stops ago, and we have vowed not to miss any more of their 17 locations in the state.

The reason that we have stopped in this remote location is to explore the area around Moosehead Lake. That's about an hour's drive to our north, so we'll make that drive tomorrow. For this evening, we are more than content to enjoy our views and the hospitality of our Boondocker Welcome host. They provide just-popped popcorn and a shaded spot for all their guests to gather to get to know each other. This late in the season, we are their last guests of the year. They'll be heading south next week, so we were lucky to get to stay here. We'll enjoy their 50-amp-full-hook-up camping spot, playing with their two friendly dogs, and getting to know this couple that have lived in Maine all of their lives. They told us about the spring when the snow is melting and this field will be a muddy mess. They are leaving before winter will engulf this hill in snow again. They told us stories about Maine's favorite author, Stephen King. One of his scary movies had scenes shot right on this property. We love getting to know the locals, and hearing their stories. It has been an enriching part of our wanderings this summer as we say hello to more of Maine!

Our last Maine Coastal Day

We are way behind in getting travel posts published this summer because we're having too much fun traveling! So we won't be confused about when each "wandering" happened, we'll start each blog with its actual date.

August 27, 2022

After a couple days in the mountains and forests of the interior of Maine, we're taking our son Blake to the coast. We're a little sad to think that this is our last Maine coastal day, because we have enjoyed that rocky shore line so much! It's quite a drive to get there from our campground in Medway, so we planned a couple stops in Bangor to split up the drive. One stop was at Stephen King's residence. This prolific writer of horror novels has lived in Maine most of his life. He uses the city of Bangor as the inspiration for the town of "Derry" in several of his books. The old turrets and the bats and spiders on the front gate look spooky, and we hoped to catch a glimpse of the writer.

The side yard is adorned with this interesting tree carving that included more intricate spookiness. We later found out that the Kings no longer live at this address. The house is now used as a writer's retreat, and the family actually lives next door--in the house that we totally ignored.

Besides Stephen King, Maine also claims to be the home of Paul Bunyan. This 31-foot-tall structure is the largest statue of this lumberjack hero anywhere. Denisa took a picture of her two heroes with their best lumberjack poses in this stop in Bangor.

Bangor was a good half-way stop on our trip to the coast today. There are lots of peninsulas of land that lead down to the ocean, and we're driving down one that we didn't visit when we were creeping up the coast in the motor home earlier. At the end of the peninsula we parked in the lot for the Barred Island Preserve and started up the trail. We were glad to see wild raspberries at the beginning of the hike.

It was a 1.1-mile hike across the rocks and tree roots and through the forest.

But the drive and the hike were worth it for Blake to get his first look at the Maine coast line. It would have been a shame to fly to Maine and not get to enjoy the smell of salt water for the day.

It's a rocky coast line, and the two goofballs that Denisa is hanging out with this week were jumping rocks and exploring.

We're wandering more of God's wonders on our last Maine coastal day. Have we mentioned how much we are enjoying Blake's visit?

From our rocky coastline, we can see a nearby island.

If we had perfect timing, we would have arrived here at low tide. But that would have been at 5:40 a.m. At low tide, the island in the background would have been connected by a sand bar that we could have walked across.

The map of our trail today shows that sand bar, with the island attached.

But we were almost at high tide, and no sand bar could be seen. Blake surveyed the situation, wondering if it would be possible to get to that island in spite of the tide difference.

By this time, several groups had arrived at our beach and they were wondering the same thing. But it was Blake who decided to try it. We watched as he walked through the ocean water, looking for the shallowest section to cross.

When he made it all the way to the island and pulled himself onto the rock, the small crowd on our beach erupted into cheers of approval.

While Blake was walking on hidden sand bars, Denisa was playing in the sand. We found some beautiful purple sea shell pieces to use to write "Deer" on this Deer Island beach.

We were certainly blessed with nice weather on our last day on the coast!

While the other on-lookers cheered Blake's successful arrival at the little island, no one else decided to try it. When Blake returned, he talked Mark into joining him so they could explore the little island together. Denisa has written about the fact that these two often enjoy adventures together, and these two goofballs headed across in the 61-degree water.

Denisa could take their picture with the zoom lens as they made their way to the far point of the island.

The views from there were of open seas and more rocky shore lines as the Atlantic Ocean opened up in front of them.

They got to watch the antics of the seals playing in the ocean. We were glad that Blake got a good look at these playful animals that we have enjoyed all along the coast.

They made the entire circle of the island, and Denisa took a zoomed-in picture as they appeared together on the other end. What a couple of goofballs!

From their perspective, they took a panorama picture of Deer Island, where you can barely see Denisa waiting on the beach for their return.

It was a nice little adventure to their own deserted island as Mark and Blake made their way back.

We have been blessed with nice temperature and no wind as we are wandering more of God's wonders with one of our favorite people! Even though it's August, we enjoyed a high temperature of 73 degrees.

Mark and Blake were still wet as we started the hike back through the forest.

Our next stop was the lovely little fishing village of Stonington, Maine. While Maine will land around 100 million pounds of lobster this year, 12 million pounds will pass through this little harbor. This is the top lobster landing port in the state that brings in the most lobster.

Lobster is the life-blood of the town. Even the ice cream store is decorated with a large red lobster. It's quite possibly the only ice cream shack that also sells lobster. We must say that their chocolate chunk raspberry and the blueberry ice creams were our favorites of the summer.

It was a gorgeous last Maine coastal day, with views like this.

Flowers love the humidity here, and the window boxes all over town exploded in color during their short growing season.

We were suckered into our next stop of the day, just a few miles out of the way. We saw signs along the road about "Nervous Nellie's" and so we made the detour to check out this strange collection of old buildings. We were surprised to see that the parking lot was full, so their advertising works.

The inside rooms are decorated in a surprising collection of memorabilia. We used words like weird and eclectic to describe our stop at Nellie's.

Visitors are encouraged to enter the buildings and interact in any way they want.

That would include climbing the tree house and posing for a picture at Denisa's request. While it was an interesting stop, we still haven't decided if we liked it or not. We're also not sure if we would recommend it to others.

With all this coastal touring, we promised Blake a lobster meal. He chose a stop at the Friar's Brewhouse Taproom in Bucksport, Maine. The descriptive sign at the front says, "Three Franciscan Brothers converted their Bucksport hermitage into a brewery. Now they can spread the word, one barrel at a time." They have some unusual rules at this eating establishment. For example, no cell phones are allowed. They don't offer free wifi, and their menu says, "Talk to each other . . . pretend it's 1995. . . exchange stories and conversation." You'll have lots of time for conversations, because they are proud to tell you that their service is slow. A sign outside tells you the if you don't like slow service, you should go some place else.

The friars are in charge of the cooking and brewing, but they also have a "no photograph rule." Their menu explains that you can take pictures of your food, the ocean view, the signs, pictures on the wall . . . "However please don't try to photograph any of the brothers. If you get caught, your visit will come to an abrupt and quite likely unpleasant end. . . no kidding." So we took a picture of the picture on the wall which was allowed.

Their monastery and brewery are seven miles away on Orcutt Mountain. The menu points out that they are friars--not monks. They wear "habits"--not costumes, and yes, they are quite hot in the summer. Being called "Friar Tuck" is quite insulting, and they have heard all the friar jokes.

Blake ordered the lobster roll, which was loaded with more lobster than he could eat. It's definitely big enough to share.

We don't often take pictures of our food, but the Baguette Banh Mi that Mark and Denisa shared was quite picturesque. It was also big enough to share.

From the back deck of the restaurant, we got a full picture of the viewing towers on the Penobscot Bridge that we crossed with the motor home a couple weeks ago.

It was getting late as we started the long drive back to the motor home. But we had another stop to break up the trip. Blake experienced his very first hand-pumped water at the Maine Forest and Logging Museum.

We took a few pictures of the covered bridges and water-powered mill. This is a free historical site that is open to visitors from sun-up to sun-down.

The sun was going down as we left, and it was dark for the last of the drive back to our campground. Blake enjoyed his one day at the ocean, and we were a little sentimental about ending our last coastal day in Maine. After being near the Atlantic Ocean for most of the summer, we don't know when we'll see this ocean again.