Er ma God, I have made it through one whole month as a camp nurse. Ā ššš Like I said, more on that later. You can’t make this $h*t up. Perhaps an exposĆ© down the road. My only way of keeping sane is to take the occasional trips around on my 36 hours off. And trust me, you take advantage of EVERY HOUR! Le sigh, here’s another couple cool spots I have gotten to check out in this last month…
Hallowell
Ya’ll! Ā Totally cute little town a mere 30 minutes from camp. A much welcome respite. Cute historic downtown area with a few little shops and restaurants. I had the pleasure of going there one evening for dinner and cocktails (seems to be common theme of my travels, I know).
Hallowell was settled in the 1700s and was known for its granite production. It still keeps much of its old town charm with old brick buildings and is situated on the Kennebec River. Ā One of the probably most pictured scenes is the row of brightly colored chairs along the river. Perfect sunset spot!
Nice river sittin’
Bright colored chairs
Definitely head downtown and grab dinner at The Liberal Cup. Although it classifies itself as more of a pub, the food was delish! I got Ā the Brewer’s Cut. Good ol’ steak, garlic smashed potatoes as they call them, and a veggie. Ā It’s possible that my taste buds were a little off coming from eating straight camp kid rot your gut food for the last month or so, but my steak was cooked to perfection. They have anything from real deal meals to sandwiches and burgers and even good salads and soups for the light of heart. They also, naturally, have a full bar. š»š·Ā I don’t go to places too often that don’t have alcohol. Ā Another good spot to eat isĀ The Quarry Taproom. Another pub type place, but good none the less.
Peace āļø ā®ļø
Downtown Halowell
Downtown streets
Courtyard vibes š¶
After dinner, happened to fall in a magical little bar called the Maine House. The three piece band with a harmonica drew us to the funky little garden bar with good craft cocktails. The bar had recently been featured as best cocktail bar in DownEast magazine and not surprisingly so!
Sparkling Sunset ~ grapefruit rose, prosecco, topped with fruit š
Upta’ Camp ~ How appropriate! Bourbon, homemade vanilla syrup, toasted marshmellow
The Cold Strawberry Basil ~ Maine made vodka, muddled basil, housemate strawberry syrup
Definitely a spot worth checking out!
Cape Elizabeth
I was able to head back to Cape Elizabeth area and the weather was actually beautiful at that time! Cape Elizabeth has a few great beaches including Willard Beach (my attempt prior), Crescent Beach, and Kettle Cove. I had a day where I was able to head out to Kettle Cove which is essentially right next to Crescent Beach. Any place with “cove” in it seems magical to me, so I headed for Kettle Cove.
I had to do some work related things in Portland, Maine earlier in the morning so decided to make a day of it and hit the beach after. It was a beautiful drive out! On my way out decided to catch lunch at The Good Table and am sure glad I did! Got the gyro and some French fries to go and had a local beer dubbed the Portland Pale Ale by Lone Pine. Love trying all the local beers! I used to love a good wheat beer, but alas my acid reflux has changed all that. So light beers it is.
Portland Pale Ale @ The Good Table
Looks good, tastes even better @ The Good Table
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View from my always favorite seat in the house, the bar. šš·š»
Grabbed my super decked out amazing gyro and headed to the beach. Ā There is a small parking lot you drive in and park and then a short little pathway to the beach. Ā The beach was great! A perfect Maine combination of a rocky and rough beach meets a sandy beach. Quite secluded and not near a busy as neighboring Crescent Beach. Glad I made the choice to do Kettle Cove.
Hello my beautiful secluded cove @ Kettle Cove
Kettle Cove
Pathway to the beach @ Kettle Cove
How about those rocks? Was waiting for Ariel herself to wash ashore and greet me with a dinglehopper!
Tide pools on the rocks š
Highly recommend this beach, quite a treat! If you are looking for a bigger less rocky beach though, Crescent Beach is a mere 5 minute drive away. Ā Side note for your beach trip however, the seagulls are voracious! I fell asleep in the glorious sun and had half my gyro left in a giant brown paper bag under my outstretched arm and I awoke to an attempted snatch of my lunch by a seagull. I was so startled I screamed thinking a person was trying to steal my bag. Nope, just a hungry seagull!
Millinocket
In a completely different change of scenery, I had a trip to very Northern Maine. I was fortunate enough to have a coworker who had a house in Milonocket which happens to be a base camp for the great Baxter State Park and the end of the Appalachin Trail! For those of you who know me, I have been on the hunt to see a moose in the wild for 5 years! (Well not consistently, but I spent a travel assignement in NH and Maine prior so I’d say a solid 7 months in the area wanting to see a moose). For all intents and purposes Ā northern Maine was supposed to be nearly a guarantee to see one!
At any rate, headed up for a quick trip on my time off from camp to the Maine wilderness. First of all, the town is precious! Ā Tiny little downtown area with some shops and restaurants, most notably the Appalachian Trail Cafe. This little cafe caters to hikers finishing the near 2200 mile trip from Georgia to Maine. Hikers get to sign a ceiling tile marking the end of their amazing feat. So special! Great homey mom and pop feel to the place for hikers and locals alike.
Good ol’ country breakfast
Coffee!
Hikers signing the tile!
Baxter State Park
āāBaxter State Park… a MUST see! Absolutely stunning.Ā The park officially came to fruition in 1931 by way of donation of 6,000 acres of land from a native Maine politician and fellow nature lover, Mr. Percival Baxter. Ā Now the park is over 200,000 acres and a natural haven for wildlife, Maine wilderness, and home to Maine’s highest mountain: Mount Katahdin. Ā Mount Katahdin also represents the end to the Appalachian Trail! What a end to the trail! Mount Katahdin is nearly 5300 feet in elevation. Ā Probably the most famous/photographed/dangerous route up is the appropriately namedĀ Knife EdgeĀ Trail. Ā Steep and just as described, a knife’s edge hike up to the summit. Ā I did not have the time (several hours if not all day depending on your hiking speed/ability) to hike Katahdin, but next time!
I entered through the southern gate, Togue Pond Gatehouse about 20 miles up from Millinocket. There is a northern gate as well, Matagamon Gatehouse outside of Patten, Maine.Ā
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Upper Togue Pond with Katahdin in the background
You’re on my list Katahdin!
They have a beautiful little picnic area right next to Togue Pond. The water is crystal clear and the day could not have been more glorious! I only had a limited time and wanted to see a waterfall so I picked Katahdin Stream Falls trail. But Baxter State Park has over 200 miles of trails! Kathadin Stream Falls is a nice, shorter 1.2 miles up to the falls. Ā Apparently part of the bridge was down, so you could either detour around or ford the stream. Ā What kind of question is that? In an ode to my old love for the Oregon Trail, naturally I’m going to ford the stream!
For those of you who never played Oregon Trail, you are really missing out! Back in my day you had an old school video game where you had to travel in a covered wagon with all you friends and family in the wilderness and hope no one died of dysentery or starvation or drowned in the wagon because you decided to ford the stream. Anyways, so like I said I had no choice but the ford the stream for old times sake.
Much of the park is considered part of the Appalachian trail.
Head of the Katahdin Stream Falls
Checkin in solo for better or worse. Let’s do this!
Sights along the way
That mountain water though!
There’s my “stream” to ford! #oregontrailstrong
Well here’s where you make the life or death decision in Oregon Trail. The “stream” looks tame enough and its the shortest distance to get your destination (the waterfall). Ā Do you risk your life, your supplies, and your wagon or play it safe and go around risking starvation, dysentery, Ā attack my Native Americans or some other miserable fate. Ford the stream, 100%.
Here we go….
Well I managed to make it across and not lose an item of clothing or my backpack! Cold and fast flowing and about knee deep, but I made it!
Thumbs up!
Sun’s out guns out
Yup, there’s my stream.
I make it over the stream and head on up to the falls. It is a really nice hike; partly shaded and moderately strenuous so that you are working a little, but not like knife’s edge trail or anything. The falls are gorgeous! Katahdin Stream Falls is Maine’s tallest falls at 800 feet.
There she is! Katahdin Stream Falls, Magical!
Me in front of the falls
At the top of the falls, just need to back up a little more….
In thirst for more beauty I decided to continue up part of the Hunt Trail heading up to the peak of Katahdin. The total trail is 5.2 miles, so I didn’t have time to do it all but getting above some of the tree line was spectacular.
Heading up Hunt Trail
Wild Maine Blueberries ā¤ļø
Rainstorm rolling in over the mountains
Nature’s beauty š
Well as you might could tell there was a little rainstorm heading for me, so decided to be safe than sorry and headed back down after about another mile or so. Ā Went the detour way back down (which wasn’t near as picturesque and quite boggy to be honest) and got sprinkled on with rain but not too bad!
Got into my car and cruised down to the exit but stopped a couple of spots on the way out to see if I could track myself down a moose! I hear moose like low lying boggy areas near water so stopped by Stump Pond and Abol Pond. Ā Seemed like an ideal spots for a moose to hang out on a warm summer day!
Stump Pond
Looks like a good spot for a moose to me!
Lillipads for days, Abol Pond
Lillipads and sunshine Ā Abol Pond š
Sunshine glimmering off Abol Pond
Well alas, I didn’t see any moose. But I sure had a darn good time looking for one! Baxter State Park is amazing! Only wish I had more time to explore, so much more to see! There’s always next year, and maybe that time I’ll finally see a moose. Ā Just thankful for the time I did get to spend in this beautiful part of Maine.
I leave you with a couple of other great pictures as I left Baxter State Park. I hope you get to go visit this great place of nature sometime!
If you missed it, don’t forget to check out adventures touring lighthouses and Ā Acadia, Portland, and Old Orchard Beach!
The great Mount Katahdin!
