We’ve been wanting to visit Maine for a while, but we kind of winged this.
Some friends of Sara’s were living in Maine; we had recently met them in Massachusetts and they invited us to come visit them in Maine. We warned them that we really would! :)
About a week before, we worked out that we’d arrive on Friday and depart Sunday.
We figured that we’d want to hike in Acadia, and sightsee in Portland and Camden.
The night before, we did some scouting in Portland, and found a train society that does trips along the eastern promenade (we love trains!). We decided to play the rest by ear.
We woke up early, finished packing and began our drive out. We encountered no significant traffic as Sara navigated us towards Portland.
On the way, we identified a restaurant to brunch at, and made a reservation for 13:15. We arrived on time.
We ate some (delicious!) food, wandered east to a book store that I’d really wanted to visit. It was only open by appointment, thanks to COVID, and I didn’t feel like bothering them to let us in, since we’d only be meandering.
We wandered south to the coast, passing a cemetery, and some new construction, before arriving at the train museum. We purchased our tickets and waited for the #1 to roll into the station.
The train ride was delightful! We relaxed, taking in the passing harbor and beach views.
The train paused on the northeastern section of the peninsula’s coast, by a small beach. The conductor — also the director of the train association — told us that they had raised enough funds to build a small station here with additional tracks.
We meandered west and north. Sara was feeling quite thirsty, so we
stopped at a
We wandered north and west to the downtown district, and observed
that our favorite ice cream
shop was closed with a brb sign! Bummer.
We then wandered south, and did some gift-shopping on the main drag. After some time, the ice cream shop was still closed and the sun was getting low, so we decided to drive on to Camden.
The road to Camden was quite beautiful, passing through Brunswick, Bath and Rockland. There was no traffic, and we pulled in to our friend’s driveway at sunset.
After a good time chatting, Sara and I ordered some food for take-out, and drove over to pick it up. Nothing super special, but it hit the spot.
We made some tentative plans for the next day, about where to hike and what to do for breakfast, before turning in for the night. We slept like the dead!
We woke up early, and walked downtown with friends to the Bagel Cafe. I got a bagel toasted with lox and scallion smear; Sara got an everything bagel with scallion smear.
In between ordering and pickup, we got a mini-tour walking around downtown Camden, showing us the waterfront and park. We got the bagels right as they came out, having timed our walk perfectly!
We wandered back to our friend’s place, and ate there. At this point, we decided that we would drive inland to pick up a friend, do some activities around Camden this afternoon, and hike Acadia tomorrow.
We all drove up to pick up a third friend who was staying further inland Maine, and stopped by Belfast on the way back for an outdoors lunch.
Afterwards, we wandered the neighborhood and waterfront for a while, before completing the drive back to Camden.
The day half-gone, we decided to do a warm-up hike in the nearby Camden Hills, to whet our appetites for Acadia.
Our friends led, as they hike in these hills all the time. It was a strenuous but fun hike, through a varied forest of maple, ash, and northern red oaks. Acorns littered the earth, and select few trees were beginning to turn colors.
The trails here criss-cross the mountain range. Our friends talked of how they’d done long hikes here with their parents, capping multiple peaks in single outings. They knew the path well enough to get us to the cliffs without consulting a map.
We made a long, but never-scrambling ascension to a clearing in the pines, by the name of Maiden’s cliff.
We ordered takeout from Long Grain, a locally-renown Thai place, and killed the interceding time with a more extensive and meandering walking tour of downtown Camden.
They showed us the waterfront, the highly-trafficked restaurants, and the little stores that were fun to visit. There was some controversy on which ice cream shop had the best scoops in town, between River Duck (soft serve) and Camden Cone.
We passed by a get-out-the-vote rally by the USPS office, and sat a bit by the river. We chatted about the town’s history, and how our friends had gotten to know it over the years.
Eventually, we retrieved our food, and carried it home to eat.
Back at the house, we planned out the Acadia hike we’d conquer the next day, choosing one that would aim to be fun for all of us.
We decided we’d wake up pretty early, and try to be out of the house by 08:00. Our friends offered to make everyone pancakes for breakfast, and we were very grateful!
Our friends were gracious enough to take Sara and I out stargazing. Camden has very little light pollution, and on a clear night one can see the Milky Way.
Four of us drove up to the Beech Hills trailhead in nearby Rockport. There, we hiked by moonlight to the homestead-museum before taking in the view. We observed shooting stars, planets, the dippers, and Orion’s belt. It was a magical night.
After stargazing for a bit, we headed home to sleep early, ahead of the coming long day.
After breaking our fasts, we piled into the Camry to make the scenic drive up to Acadia. We got there around 10:00, not bad!
We hunted down the parking lot by the trailhead, which was full of cars and had a line. As we waited, the line dispersed, and we remained. Nearly 10 minutes after arriving, a family came off the trail and left us their spot. Great luck!
We took a photo of the map at the trailhead, and marked it with the path we would follow. Afterwards, I traced it in alltrails, see which one you prefer. :)
The hike began with a steep ascension of Mt. Pemetic, involving an interesting ravine and several scrambling sections.
From the peak, one could take in 360 degree views of the park, including Jordan Pond, the North and South Bubbles, Mt. Penobscot, and the ocean.
Midway through our descent of Mt. Pemetic, we stopped to lunch.
We descended along the ridge trail to the shore of Jordan Pond, and spent some time photographing the impeccable vistas. We detoured to the parking lot, to use the restroom.
From here, we traveled north, tracing the eastern perimeter of the pond until the junction with the South Bubble Trail. This path was heavily-trafficked and quite flat, with beautiful views of the pond.
At the junction with the South Bubble Trail, we made an impromptu decision to ascend the South Bubble peak, a crowning challenge after the gentle section of the hike.
The ascent was steeper than Mt. Pemetic, especially near the peak. I got to use the rock-climbing part of my brain for the first time in a while!
The descent was quite reasonably-paced, and took us to the parking lot.
We drove around the southeastern section of the island to bring us to Bar Harbor, for some souvenir-shopping and an early dinner.
From Bar Harbor, we drove directly home, listening to some John Denver and Zeppelin on the way. The sun was close to setting by the time we pulled in to Camden.
We bid our heartfelt goodbyes to our friends. It had truly been a magical experience for us. My first time in Maine! We packed up our things and drove straight home to Massachusetts.