The View From the Top - Camden Hills State Park

I've been a bit busy being sick, a mixture of a cold virus and severe fall allergies has had me struggling to get through the days for over a week.  I can't believe it myself, but today marks 11 days since I've even gone for a walk! Wherever you are if fall allergies are a problem for you I wish you rain and a good hard frost.

Mt. Battie Tower, erected 1921

I'm guessing it's gorgeous back in Camden right about now, with cool days and nights and fall festivals and foliage bringing out the leaf peepers.  At Camden Hills State Park we drove up to the top of Mt. Battie and took in the views of Camden Harbor and Penobscot Bay, which were impressive even on a cloudy day.

Penobscot Bay, one of those many islands is Islesboro

The view has been inspiring people for many years, including Edna St. Vincent Millay who was born in nearby Rockland and wrote the poem "Renascence" in 1912 while sitting on top of Mt. Battie when she was just 20 years old.

Camden Harbor

From "Renascence":

All I could see from where I stood
Was three long mountains and a wood;
I turned and looked another way,
And saw three islands in a bay.
So with my eyes I traced the line 
Of the horizon, thin and fine,
Straight around till I was come
Back to where I’d started from; 
And all I saw from where I stood
Was three long mountains and a wood.

The poem is quite long, and goes on to examine life, death, and God.  Not a bad read, but I'd have preferred it to carry on the way it started, as nature alone is enough to fill me with awe.

lichens and ferns at Adam's Lookout

I struck out one morning to head up Megunticook Trail to Adam's Lookout, and the climb was steep and the view of the Bay not as inspiring as the one from Mt. Battie.  Still, it was a good hike and I wish we had been around longer to explore the trail system.  There are 30 miles of trails within the park, not all of them straight up!

Megunticook Trail

Next time I'd like to try the Cameron Mountain Trail which goes past old farm land and blueberry fields.  I miss picking handfuls of blueberries while hiking.  But I bet the spring wildflowers would be fun to see there too.

There are no rain or freezing overnight temperatures in sight for the next 10 days here, but there is a frost warning for Merrill tomorrow so maybe I'll scoot up to Council Grounds or a bit farther south with my tent on Friday night, the fall color has started up there and I'm eager to see those splashes of yellow and orange.

The bath remodel is finally done, I've been busy doing clean-up on the house following the dusty work.  Before and after pictures on their way!

Ferry to Islesboro

On our last day in Maine we decided to take the ferry from Lincolnville to the 14 mile long narrow island of  Islesboro.  If you're on the way to the ferry make sure to stop at Dot's for lunch to bring with you like I did because their food was amazing!  I got a chicken pecan salad wrap and a giant ginger snap cookie that might have been one of the best cookies I've eaten in my entire life.  Lots of locals were stopping in and picking up sandwiches, always a good sign, and they sell gourmet food and wine too.

The ferry to Islesboro is only about a 20 minute crossing, which is my kind of ride.  It's $10 per adult to ride round trip, but the vehicle rate is $27.50 and includes the driver.  It turned out we got undercharged by a few dollars because our truck has more than 4 wheels, so keep that in mind too.

The harbor was dotted with buoys and the lobster boats were out making their rounds.

Lincolnville from the ferry

Hopefully the L'il Bugger's traps were full and they made a good haul.

Coming in on the ferry the first thing we saw was Grindle Point Light which was built in 1874.  The tower is open to the public and the building has nautical related displays but we did not stop...definitely next time.

 I finally convinced Wayne to quit driving randomly and we stopped at the Rabbit Corner Cafe to get some guidance.  The barista got us a map and showed us where the footpaths on the island could be found.  We didn't have a lot of time since we didn't get to the island until 12:30 and we wanted to catch the 2:30 ferry back out, but the Hutchins Island trail wasn't far or long so that's where we headed.

The trail is maintained by Islesboro Land Trust and you can get there by taking the main road to Bluff Road and then park where it intersects with Hutchins Island Lane.  From there it was just a short walk down the road to the preserve.  If you want to live on Hutchins Island Lane there is currently a waterfront 4 bedroom Cape Cod for sale for half a million dollars.  Let me know if you buy it, I'll want to come visit.

We were in luck and it was low tide when we reached the beach. See the houses in the distance?  A lot of properties out on "points" had private roads leading to them and one of those private roads leads to the summer home of John Travolta.  Rumor has it Kirstie Alley sold her property, but an island this size maybe one big celebrity is enough.

When the tide is low a strip of land is exposed that allows access to Hutchins Island.

It was a crunchy walk.

If you have a boat you can easily check out Hutchins Island as well as other Islesboro spots, but we had to make do with hoofing it.  We didn't go all the way around because of the time problem.

 Back across the sandbar we spent another few minutes exploring the Elaine Coomb's trail.  Wayne's take on it was "nothing spectacular" but methinks he's gotten a little spoiled by big destinations like Yellowstone and has forgotten how to appreciate nature's more common beauties.

There was a marker on the trail for Ansley Marie Bell, a local girl who loved exploring this area and died at the tender age of 6 in 2008.  At her funeral requests for donations to the trust were made in lieu of flowers.

After leaving and heading back toward town we saw this guy hanging out.  When we stopped to watch for awhile another motorist stopped and said it had been hanging out there all morning.  Hopefully it wasn't suffering from a serious injury.

Before getting in line to get back on the ferry we stopped at the General Store to get Wayne a sandwich (the amount of people in there getting deli sandwiches made was astounding and everything smelled delicious) and ran in to the local lineman from Central Maine Power.

Wayne is convinced this is the job and the life he wants to have, even before we ran into the guy it was all he could talk about while we drove around the island.  They conversed for quite awhile and I wandered down the road to get a mocha at the Rabbit Corner Cafe while they talked shop...and employment opportunities?

Here's a little background on past and present marine ecology around the area from Islesboro Land Trust:
Early Islesboro settlers found an abundance of cod, halibut and salmon. “The waters abounded in fish and the shores in clams… The salmon were so plenty that the first town poor protested against being served with salmon more than twice a week.”

Unfortunately now this is the reality:  Today... there are hardly any cod at all and those found are a fraction of the size that once lived full, productive lives in and near Penobscot Bay. Same for haddock, flounder and numerous other fish species that not so long ago swarmed Penobscot Bay.  I had some haddock while in the area since I enjoy fish and not crustaceans, and let me tell ya, I'd love to see the waters around Maine once again swarming with haddock and cod!

The Gulf of Maine evolved from a marine system dominated by large predatory fish, primarily cod, into something radically different. Researchers call this an “ecosystem flip,” whereby a whole, natural system capsized and, because of reinforcing feedback mechanisms, entered into an entirely different state.  “Dynamic food webs and dynamic climate are colliding. Big fish are ecologically extinct,” said Dr. Robert Steneck, University of Maine School of Marine Sciences, quoted in a November 19, 2012 Portland Press Herald report by North Cairn.

Want to know more about the history of Islesboro itself?  Here's a link!

Of Lobsters and Lights - Belfast and Owl's Head

While staying in Camden we made a stop in Belfast to have a quick meal and a look around.  I was hoping to check out the summer sandals on sale at Colburn Shoes but we didn't make it there before they closed at 5:00.  When we met up with my second cousin Nancy a day later she told us how Belfast used to be a place no one wanted to go because it had chicken processing plants that dumped in the Bay, causing the water to be polluted with globs of chicken fat and the stench filled the air for miles.

Belfast from the bridge over the Passagassawakeag River, 2015

Incorporated in 1773 there is a lot of history in town and I look forward to stopping in again sometime for a good look around.  It wasn't our first time for a quick lunch stop in town, we also stopped there for lunch with Nancy's mom, Great Aunt Rita in 2001.

Cory and Katrina with Great Aunt Rita in Belfast, 2001

The controversy over the chicken guts polluting Penobscot Bay may be over, but the new controversy involves the proposed dredging project to the harbor in Searsport.  When we visited the region we kept seeing signs on lawns supporting opposing the plan due to concerns over how it would affect the lobster industry.  The sticking point seems to be not the harbor being dredged, but the US Army Corps proposed dumping site for the dredged material and its possible mercury contamination that could devastate habitat and marine life.  Of course investors don't want to spend the extra money to haul it elsewhere, which seems to be the logical compromise that the lobster fishermen are suggesting.  Last week there was some good news when the application was withdrawn, but opponents are still vigilant as it is likely only a temporary delay.

When visiting the area in 2001 we took Aunt Rita and the kids on a lobster boat tour where the friendly captain told us all about lobstering as he hauled in his traps.  The kids loved it, and the grown ups did too!

Cory's fascination with crustaceans begins, 2001

Captain Katrina, 2001

One of the things we learned was that when holding a lobster you have to support the lobster's claws because they are heavy when out of the water.

 
Cory and Wayne saw a live blue lobster at Shediac, New Brunswick at the beginning of the trip and a fake lobster there too.  My men love lobster, but can you imagine eating one this big?

You'd need a crane to hold this lobster's claw up! Cory in Shediac, 2015

Another thing we learned all those years ago is that lobsters under 5 inches lay 2,00-5,00 eggs at a time while larger lobsters can lay up to 60,000 eggs!   Maine is careful to encourage reproduction of their lobsters and not overfish to guarantee many more years of lobster dinners for Cory and Wayne.


 But on this trip we skipped the lobster tour and toured the towns instead.  Southeast of Belfast and Camden lies the busy town of Rockland and just past downtown you can head to Owls Head and escape the craziness.

With a population of only 1,580 people Owls Head is my kind of town. And you've got to love their U.S. Post Office.

Don't forget to stop at the Owls Head Transportation Museum which I already reviewed, but we enjoyed just driving around and had no trouble finding things to gawk at.

I loved the collections of buoys on display everywhere, and if you're looking for buoys or anything else nautical to decorate your yard or home there are places for that including Downeast Nautical Salvage.

The buoys are different colors so that each lobster boat knows which pots to pull.  Want to know more about lobstering?  The Maine Department of Marine Resources has a website for that.  You can learn everything from the history of lobstering to its current regulations and even how to sex a lobster, which are things the lobster boat captain shared with us those many years ago too.  Take a boat tour or tour the world wide web, it's up to you!

 It's not all buoys in Owls Head, they have a lighthouse too!  Built in 1852 to replace the old one, the lighthouse is only 30 feet tall but can be seen for 16 miles due to its elevated location on the south side of the entrance to Rockland Harbor.

The lighthouse is located in Owls Head Light State Park. There is a large parking area near the lighthouse, and the grounds are open to the public with a vault toilet available.  A separate path from the parking area leads to a picnic area.  From spring to fall, the lighthouse is open on selected days; check the Friends of Rockland Harbor Lights site for the schedule.

The keeper’s house at Maine’s Owls Head Light Station is supposed to be open to the public and serves as home to the American Lighthouse Federation but was closed at the time we visited.  I thought Wayne had read a sign saying it was still under the domain of the U.S. Coast Guard but maybe I heard him wrong.  Anyone who knows the real status of the keeper's house please chime in!

Owls Head Light at dusk

Our main bathroom will be finished being remodeled later today but work started on the half bath which includes lots of sawing noises so I think I might pack up my car and head north.  Not only to escape the construction noise, but we had up to 5 inches of rain here in southeast Wisconsin last night and more is on the way!

A Walk to Camden

When Wayne left to go retrieve our truck from Quirk Chevy I set off for a walk in to downtown Camden.  It was a little over a mile and a half each way from the campground and I got to get a closer look at some of the stone walls.

 


 My favorite was the one in front of Gray Rocks, which is for sale if you're interested.  Views of the harbor and unseen from the main road, the 21 acre estate can be yours for the bargain price of $2,450,000.

I was happy to enjoy their rock fence and the great lichen living on it for the cost of nothing.

Less grand, though still lovely, homes line Hwy 1, including this lovely Cape Cod with the turquoise door.

The flower beds seem more lively here in New England, and we were just in time for the hydrangeas.

Some gardens had a "cheeky" appearance.

Everywhere along the roadside I saw the invasive Ornamental Jewelweed whose flowers are shaped like the Jewelweed I'm used to seeing but at about 10 times the size.  It's an invasive, but it can invade all it wants to in my opinion because the large purple blossoms were fantastic.

Goldenrod season is in full swing and it gets a bad rap by some people, so I'm going to set the record straight. If you have allergies don't blame goldenrod, which is insect pollinated, not wind-borne.  It flowers at the same time as do several species that do bother allergy sufferers such as ragweed but is too heavy to be the culprit floating around causing misery.

The Norumbega Inn was built in 1886 and was converted in to a B&B.

The large property with ocean views includes a gazebo and some interesting garden accents.

I darted in and out of the shops down by the harbor, but all I bought was two barrettes to hold my hair back off my face and a t-shirt for Cory that I'm sure he'll appreciate.

I sat on the bench at the public library overlooking the harbor and talked to Katrina on the phone for half an hour before heading back.  I got to the campground just five minutes after Wayne did, and I was glad I'd taken the time to see Camden's main street from a slower point of view than the passenger seat of a car.