Coastal Maine: 2025

Linda and I began a fourteen day trip along the Maine coast with an awesome week in the Mid Coast, near Acadia National Park. We spent that first week with Chris, Cathryn, Anna, and Rosie (Linda's son and his family) in and around Brooklin. Highlights included hanging out with the charming and precocious Anna and her parents, hikes to the Penobscot Bay and Acadia National Park, a couple of boat trips around coastal islands, and much more

A hike near our BnB to Harriman Point in Blue Hill Bay

Hike to Harriman Point

A hike around Jordan Pond in Acadia National Park

Hike around Jordan Pond

A Lobster Boat Tour of the Merchant's Row Islands near Stonington

A Lobster Boat Tour of the Merchant's Row Islands

Merchant's Row Islands Boat Tour

A Sailboat Cruise around the Brooklin Islands

A Cruise around the Brooklin Islands

Coastal Sail near Brooklin

A hike to Caterpillar Hill, a scenic overlook near Blue Hill

Hike to Caterpillar Hill

After that first week in and around Brooklin and the Acadia National Park, we said our goodbyes to Chris and Cathryn and headed as far northeast as we could, to the border town of Calais (pronounced CAL us), Maine. We then started working our way south and west along Route 1, making stops at interesting places along the way

In Calais, we visited the very cool Wakanabi Cultural Center, a museum highlighting the history and culture of indigenous people from the area. It is located along the St Croix River, near the US - Canada border crossing between Calais, Maine and St Stephen, New Brunswick

Wakanabi Cultural Center

Near Lubec, we visited the Quoddy Head State Park, home of the easternmost lighthouse in the US, the West Quoddy Head Lighthouse

West Quoddy Head Lighthouse

We spent an overnight in an informal campsite in South Addison, a lobstering village. We watched these working boats coming in with their catches during dinner and heading out the next morning

South Addison Harbor

Then we were off to the Schoodic Peninsula, a more remote and less visited part of Acadia National Park, where we met up with Linda's old (and my new) friend Nan, who showed us around the place. This was one of my favorite stops on the whole trip!

Schoodic Peninsula, Acadia National Park

The Penobscot Narrows Bridge and the Fort Knox National Historic Site. The bridge is a cable stayed structure with an observation deck some 420 feet / 130 meters above the bridge deck. The "observatory" is one of four bridge-based observation decks in the world. The deck provides wonderful views of the Penobscot River, the Fort, and the nearby town of Bucksport

Penobscot Narrows Bridge

Penobscot Narrows Bridge: Views from the Observatory

After overnights with friends near Bar Harbor and Searsport, we continued our journey to the south and west with a visit to the Owl's Head Light Station, near Rockland

Owl's Head Light Station

Later, we found a beautiful little hiking spot near Yarmouth on the Littlejohn Island Preserve

Littlejohn Island Preserve

Unique Bike Racks at Littlejohn Island Preserve

We spotted Eartha, a four story globe inside the Garmin Company headquarters, near Yarmouth

Eartha

We had one more sightseeing boat trip along the Kennebec River. This foggy tour was sponsored by the Maine Maritime Museum at Bath, ME, and included closeup views of the huge ship building yards in Bath. These yards mainly build ships for the US Navy

Boating along the Kennebec

The "Bug Light" at Portland, so called because of its insect-like appearance from the water. The design was inspired by the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates in Athens, Greece

The Bug Light at Portland

Coastline at Two Lights State Park, near West Portland. The park is named for twin lighthouses built almost 200 years ago

Two Lights State Park

An interesting tidal salt marsh interpretive hike in the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Preserve near Kennebunkport

Rachel Carson National Wildlife Preserve

The "Nubble Lighthouse" at Cape Neddick. From Wiki: "This lighthouse is a famous American icon and a classic example of a lighthouse. An image of the lighthouse is included on the Voyager Golden Record carried by the Voyager spacecraft as one of Earth's most prominent man-made structures or natural features, alongside features such as the Great Wall of China and the Taj Mahal, to be viewed should it fall into the hands of intelligent extraterrestrials."

It was very crowded on a sunny Sunday afternoon

The "Nubble Lighthouse" at Cape Neddick

Our final stop was the Fort McClary State Historic Site, along the Piscataqua River at Kittery. It was so foggy that we could not see Portsmouth, New Hampshire right across the river! Still, a fine and fun way to end a wonderful tour of coastal Maine!

Fort McClary State Historic Site at Kittery

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Coastal Maine: 2025

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