Moosehead Lake, ME

After a string of damp camping days, we finally arrived at our Maine destination - Jenna's family friends have a cabin on the southwest shore of Moosehead Lake just outside of Greenville. We called the cabin home for three and a half days, and I loved it!

Our Maine home

Maine has a distinct feel - to its people, its towns, and its nature. The townies are resourceful, chatty, conservation-minded, and intellectual. It is a persona that I recognized from my mom's extended family, which is largely from southern Maine. Everything is farther apart than you'd imagine - part of the wonder of Maine is that the wilderness is so vast; that every scenic creek and lake is probably repeated one hundred times over throughout the state. And true to my aunt's one warning about Maine, the roads were frequently gravel rather than paved (even half and half in some places). There are some very scenic places in New York up through New Hampshire, but the rest of the Northeast is put to shame by Maine!

We arrived in the evening the day before the family crowd arrived, so we took advantage of finally having a kitchen and shower by cooking dinner and cleaning up well. The following day, we kayaked out on the lake for about 3 hours, and this gave me my first "beyond a picture" moment of the trip. The lake had 360-degree views of mountains covered in green pine forests, and the water had a cold, crisp, almost black quality to it. It was truly an incredible place and feeling.

The rest of our time included a hike along Gulf Hagas, dubbed the "Grand Canyon of Maine" (though this is a slight exaggeration.) The hike was very isolated from any kind of civilization, and the forest was as interesting as the canyon - swamps were common; inches-thick moss covered the rocks; 4-foot-tall ferns bordered the trail.

A smaller section of Gulf Hagas

We explored the town of Greenville, which naturally did not take very long. Besides a few gift shops and restaurants, there's not too much there, although I did get to eat my first (delicious) Maine lobster roll.

The majority of Greenville... in one picture!

A 20-mile drive north took us to Rockwood, where there were more breath-taking views across the lake, this time of Mt. Kineo, a local favorite hike, and even a view across the lake to Mt. Katahdin, the highest peak in Maine and an end of the Appalachian Trail.

Mt. Kineo

Looking across Moosehead Lake to Baxter State Park

After our stay at Moosehead, we stopped at Camden Hills State Park on the Maine coast to hike Mt. Megunticook. This mountain climbs 1400' in just over one mile, so the views at the top were again beyond pictures - the Atlantic Ocean stretched out, islands dotted the foreground of the shore, and the small harbor of Camden, full of boats, was also visible. The view embodied everything I had imagined Maine to be.

Our stay in the first of the country's four corner states was exceptionally good, and I believe it will be a highlight of the trip. I definitely want to return, at least to hike up Mt. Katahdin - not to mention, despite our best efforts, I didn't even get to see a moose!