ReMAINEder

By Jen.

Because driving 4 hours back down to Portland didn’t appeal to us and we figured Josh & Brit could use a day to themselves, we stayed overnight in the Acadia NP area. The next morning as we maneuvered to be closer to Portland in case Josh & Brit wanted to do something northwards, we came across this really cool bridge.

 

Turns out it was a replacement for the “most beautiful steel bridge” 1931. You can see one of the cross-sectional pieces there in the foreground.

 

After some research, we decided we wanted to check out Baxter State Park, which is a backcountry park that tries to keep the wild “wild.” No paved roads, plumbing, or electricity. There aren’t even any scenic pull-outs on the park road.

 

Fall foliage is beautiful.

When we started off the day, it was rather foggy. We were hoping it would clear by the time we got to the top.

That mountain in background is the mountain we will be hiking later, Doubletop Mountain. Fortunately the fog was clearing off.

These are called Ledge Falls, and in the summer, people slide down them!

Precariously perched…

Up until the creek, we had managed to stay pretty level…

Which meant that the trail would be super steep at other points.

When I had picked this trail, I was under the impression that there would be great views, but we were nearly to the top and the trees weren’t thinning into an alpine zone at all. I was afraid there wasn’t going to be any more view than this.

I was still enjoying the hike, but was feeling increasingly uncertain that I would get the views that I was hoping for.

All the snails!

There was a rickety little ladder to get us to the boulders at the top, which was better than the slippery rock (found out the hard way).

Finally, lo and behold, I had my panoramas!

While we were resting and enjoying the views, a bold mouse decided it should try for our granola bars.

It came right up to Jonathan’s boots!

Another mouse shortly joined it, but we made it out with no more holes in our bag and our granola bars safe.

We came across a ptarmigan on our back!

We were pretty tired after our trek, but Jonathan managed to do some maintenance on the van when we finished. The next day, we had planned to canoe in South Branch Pond, but the weather was not as nice as the day before and we didn’t want to brave the cold on the water. Instead, we did a few hikes.

 

The very diminutive South Branch Falls.

Evidence of beaver-felling!

To finish off Maine, we did a stop at Cadillac Mountain.

 

 

 

I wanted to try and kayak in Merrymeeting Bay, the largest freshwater bay, but it was too windy do so.

 

 

 

 

So, we decided to move on to the next state: New Hampshire!