As the summer wrapped up and kids went back to school we had to get a little more creative in how we met up with our niece and nephew. One of the things we ended up doing was a flat water paddling trip on the Nashua River. Given that we essentially picked the location based on driving distance, the Oxbow National Wildlife Refuge was a very nice spot.
The color was turning on the leaves, the river was glassy smooth, and there were very few people out. We had a great time even though it didn’t end up being a terribly long trip. You can only go so far on the patience of a three year old after all. Along the way we saw the usual assortment of turtles, and bugs, as well as this massive Bullfrog.
Later that evening I also went for a walk at the Broadmoor Wildlife Sanctuary. Broadmoor is operated by Mass Audubon, so I was expecting some great views with a variety of birds, and that is exactly what it delivered. The photographic opportunities were a bit limited due to the overcast weather, so I’ll definitely be back here another time.
As nice as the previous evening was, the real purpose of the trip was slated for the next morning. We got up early and set out on the road to the Roaring Brook trail head. According to what we had read online we thought we had to be there early to make sure that we would get a parking spot at the trail head, so it was an early start. However, when we got there we were the first cars in the lot. Oh well, who needs sleep.
Once we were on the trail we quickly started gaining altitude as we climbed the Helon Taylor Trail. Before we knew it we were above the tree line heading for Pamola Peak, which towered above us for the whole climb. The views around us kept getting better, but it didn’t really sink in until we arrived at peak itself. In one moment as we crested the ridge the entirety of the knife edge trail and the towering Baxter Peak were on full display. It was quite the view, but one that I was not really able to capture in a photo very well.
The first view of Baxter Peak
After a short break to grab a snack, it was off towards the chimney section. This was where the trail started to make me think “Ah, this is what they mean by exposure.” Just barely past the summit the trail immediately descends a wall of rock to a small saddle, only to immediately climb right back up a similarly steep face. According to the map this section is only about 100 yards long as the crow flies, but descends and climbs 100′.
Looking down at other hikers on the descent into the chimney section
Once past the chimney we started really making progress up the ridge. I found this section of the trail to be the most interesting. I had been warned before hand about the exposure on this trail, but I was not expecting it to be this significant. For around the next half mile the trail was consistently narrow with large drops on one side or the other. Fortunately most of the trail has a rock face or boulder to reach out to and give you some comfort, so in the end it was not as frightening as I was expecting either.
Definitely lean left through here
Now one thing I saw many times before hiking this trail was to be careful about the weather. The last thing you want is to be on a ridge like this in bad weather. Fortunately, we had a pretty comfortable day, with no sign of rain. Unfortunately, there was a steady 30 mph wind blowing across the ridge. This certainly made things more interesting, and there were multiple spots where we had to “hike” with our hands on the ground to make sure we did not get blown off balance. I’m just glad it wasn’t gusty.
One of the last really narrow sectionsLooking up towards Baxter Peak
Soon enough the trail widened up a bit and the drops got slightly less sheer. The trail was still exposed, but now more like something that you might find at other summits. We climbed up the rest of the ridge and stopped for lunch just before the top. Once there, the character of the trail changed completely. Suddenly we were hiking across a gently sloping boulder field with alpine grasses all around.
Not hiking on knives any more
We slowly descended down the ridge on the other side of the summit where we were greeted by the next surprise. Our route down into the valley, chosen because it was the gentlest descent, turned out do drop straight down a rock slide. It made for awesome views, but also slow going. It was not until we were much lower in the valley before we were really able to pick up the pace.
The trail here goes straight down
From here on out the trail was very manageable. It featured a number of pretty views, a couple of bridges, and a pond. We knew we were close to done when we met up with Roaring Brook again for the final walk to the trail head.
This hike really felt exciting, and was a real treat after the isolation of 2020. I was really impressed at what Baxter State Park has to offer, and definitely want to return some other time to explore the rest of the hike. For now though it was back in the car to head back to civilization.
With all of the chaos that has been 2020 I decided I wanted to find something special to do. Given the limits on travel I was focused closer to home, and ended up setting on a trip up to Baxter State Park to hike the Knife’s Edge trail. I booked a lean to, completed my Maine quarantine, and headed up. My goal for the first day was to really just get up there and get set up for the hike the next day. However, it turned out to be an amazing day all by itself.
The first sight that caught my eye was the Medway Veterans Memorial Park in the town of East Millinocket. It was in a pretty little park just off the side of the road, but had an impressive tank on display as well. Given that I had been in the car for nearly 3 hours at this point, it was a nice little spot to stop and stretch my legs.
After another 20 minutes of driving I started to catch sight of the mountains in the distance. I made a few more stops to take in the amazing fall color and to simply enjoy the solitude. There isn’t much development this far north, so everything felt quiet and private, even when I was standing in the middle of a road.
Once I made it to the camp site I dropped off my camping gear at the lean-to and went for a walk along the Appalachian Trail. I hardly made it 100 yards before I was amazed at the beauty of this place. The tails were beautifully maintained, the landscape changed at every turn. I walked through clear pine forests, across small streams, through marshes, and over little hills.
The clear highlight of the hike though was the string of little ponds I wove through. The images above are from Grassy Pond. The glassy water perfectly reflected the mountains glowing in the evening light. I’m sure my hiking pace was slow as I stopped every quarter mile to take in another incredible view. Throughout all of this I never encountered another person. Some day I will have to come back here just to explore these ponds some more.
After weaving my way past Elbow Pond I ended up at Daicey Pond just as the sun was setting. Though I still didn’t run into anyone, I did see some signs of activity here. I could hear a few people cooking dinner at the campground at the end of the pond and saw the smoke from the fires floating just above the water. I also saw two people out enjoying the sunset in one of the canoes provided by Baxter. I tell you, this place has more to offer than any other state park I have seen.
After the colors started to fade I pulled out my headlamp and headed back towards camp. The last mile of the hike went by quickly. Once back at my lean-to I put together one of my top backpacking dinners: tortellini. Once the dishes were washed and all of the food was safely hidden in the car, I stopped by the group campsite to see how the stars looked so far north. Once again Baxter did not disappoint.
A few more ocean side odds and ends today. We went for a walk one afternoon down to the boat launch at low tide and spent some time poking around the tide pools. However, these snails on the mud flats were even more interesting. There were easily thousands of them. A herd of little snails all “running” towards the receding tide. They were fascinating to watch, and you could really see them making progress.
One of the other highlights was seeing our own effects of the California and Oregon wildfires. We had a couple days of strangely overcast weather with some very odd sunset colors. One evening the sun basically just faded out as it got lower until it was gone. It really drives home how bad it all was out west.
It wasn’t intentional, but our day started early. We woke up at around 5:45 AM, early enough that the sun wasn’t up, so we decided to head outside to watch it rise over the bay. It was a very peaceful and quiet way to start off.
It was a lot colder than we were expecting so early in the morning, but a warm drink and every layer we had brought up to Maine made it manageable. I don’t know why, but I always feel like sunrises have the best color. We had a really nice time taking that color in and watching it give way to a beautiful blue sky day.
Once we had a chance to get some breakfast and pack a lunch, we packed the paddle boards on to the motor boat and headed to Fort Georges. The fort was built in the late 1800s in order to help defend Portland. It sits on a tiny rocky island right across the main shipping channel from Portland harbor. The ride down from Mere Point is about 15 miles, but it went by quickly. The perfectly calm water made it comfortable too. Once there we anchored and hopped on the paddle boards for the short trip to the fort.
We spent about an hour wandering around the inside of the fort. The main structure is in surprisingly good shape for the age. Clearly solid granite makes a durable building material. Many parts of the fort were open to explore, including some of the living quarters, gun batteries, and powder magazine. The many tiny gun windows all had great views of the channels and boats around Portland.
The highlight of the fort itself was probably the roof view. From here you had the perfect view of Portland itself, as well as the inside of the fort. This was also the home of the only remaining gun that we saw. Once we had our fill of the city view, it was back down the stairs and out of the fort.
At this point I wandered around the small portion of the island that was not part of the fort itself. Like most islands around here it is mostly rock and seaweed, but it was also home to a small sandbar. The sandbar is clearly the most popular place to hang out, and there were a couple of small motor boats pulled up on it while we were there. I had to pay attention though because the sandbar ended up completely under water while I took my photos. Fortunately it wasn’t too deep when I headed back to the paddle board.
We ended up relaxing on the boat for a while and had a nice floating picknick lunch. With the wind starting to pick up a bit we made our way back towards Mere Point. Compared to the morning we had a low key afternoon, and even managed a nap to make up for the early morning. To close out the day we had a classic Mere Point sunset. All in all it was one of my favorite days of the summer.
We returned to Mere Point late in the season this year to spend some more time away from home. To kick things off we headed out to a new destination we haven’t explored before, Little Whaleboat Island. We were fortunate enough to get a perfectly calm morning, so we put the paddle boards in the motor boat and cruised out. Once we got there we paddled around the shoals and rocks. It was a pretty interesting place for the paddle boards. You could easily see down into the water, and the rocks made for some interesting underwater sights. I couldn’t really get a good look at it from dry land though, so you will have to take my word for it.
After taking a snack break on the boat I paddled over to the island to do a bit of exploring and take some more photos. The island did not disappoint with some classic Maine coastal views. Once I had my fill it was back out to the boat so that we could head home for lunch.
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After all of the fun I have had with sunset photos recently, I’ve been keeping an eye out for the ideal cloud conditions for that great color. When a promising evening presented itself I hopped in the car and headed over to the Sudbury Reservoir to find a good view. I walked along the path at the water’s edge where there are a number of really pretty spots like this one:
I passed a number of the sunset views that I have used in the past in search of something a little different. In the end, I never found anything quite as good as what I had used before, so I ended up having to wade out into the water a bit to get an unobstructed view.
Once the colors started to fade I hiked back to the car along the larger path. It may not have been the most photographically productive walk, but it was a beautiful and relaxing evening.
Below I have a couple other photos I took on the walk, as well as a few from some other trips around town around this time.
We made the trip out to Jewell island again this summer, but this time with the rest of the family. We spent quite a while relaxing at the punch bowl. My niece and nephew had a blast playing in the shallow water, and I poked around looking for some of the interesting sights, including this pink snail.
I have no idea what made it so pink. It looked completely unlike the rest of the snails I saw. I also made my way out to the rocks on the edge of the punch bowl, where I found more interesting color. This time it was a combination of red oxidized rock, little blue mussles and yellow barnacles.
We also walked to the other end of the island to check out the WWII era fortifications, including the tower. The kids had a great time checking out the view, but they were much less interesting in exploring the old battery. A few of us stayed back to spend some time there while the rest returned to the boat for lunch. Though they aren’t huge, there is quite a bit to see in the dark tunnels, assuming you bring a light.
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Well, here we are on the third and final set of sunset photos from our summer trip to Mere Point. The first photo is from an evening we spent at the end of the point with some family, a rare treat this summer. As you can see, the horizon had some thick clouds, but we were still treated to some excellent color, and the ocean delivered some great foreground scenery as well.
After that evening, the weather finally decided to mess with my routine. We ran into a string of dreary days that left us inside more often. I got some chances to get out and take some photos, but none of them would really be called a “sunset”.
Once the weather started to clear up though, it really came through with a couple of incredible evenings. This first evening came after a full day of thick fog. Most of the islands were completely invisible. Just before sunset it cleared up though, and I had the end of the point all to myself. I quite liked this view of the kayakers returning from their foggy paddle. Shortly after this was taken they called me over to confirm where they were, as apparently the fog had confused them. Fortunately, they had navigated correctly and were headed for the boat ramp just a few minutes paddle away.
The next day unfolded along similar lines, though it didn’t look as promising. The fog was just starting to clear as the sun was going down, so I decided to get out for a short boat ride. Fortunately I grabbed the camera, because I ended up floating into the middle of the sunset itself. The thin clouds and fog were all around me lighting up everything in vivid pinks, oranges, and yellows. Up above, the blue sky was showing through. The sun lit up the clouds all around me in amazing ways. I had a ton of fun taking the photos, at least until my camera battery died.
I’ve thrown a few more shots in here as well. All of these were at least taken around sunset, though some are not quite on theme. Still, I thought they were worth sharing.
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With this week’s sunset photos I really aimed to branch out and get to some different parts of the point. The first photo is actually right near where last week’s were taken, but I thought a different angle served this one well. The sunset produced a beautiful orange glow, but there were simply not enough clouds to really make is spectacular. As a result, I stayed focused on the rocks and waves.
The next evening was another middling sunset. The colors never really came through the way I wanted them to, and the clouds that did light up were off in a strange direction. I did my best to take them in from a new angle, this time a little further down the east side of the point.
Given my results on the east side, I decided to try finding a spot on the west side. This little cove created some great lines in the image, and I was able to incorporate some of the boats moored just offshore. The water was calm and quiet this evening, enough so that I could see it slowly drain as the sun went down.
I have to admit, this one is a bit of a lie. Though this sunset was the next chronological entry, it is not actually at Mere Point! On this evening I decided to make a sunset crossing out to Sister Island to see the sunset from there. I ended up perched on top of a large rock at the south end of the island where I took in this view. I don’t think the photo really does it justice. On the other hand, maybe I was just mixing up the adventure with the beauty of it and it did not look as good as it felt in the moment. Shortly after the sun dipped down I raced back across the bay and made it home just before it got completely dark.
After the adventure the previous night, I returned to something a little more tame. Though it didn’t take much to earn the view, this sunset really turned out to be a beauty. As the sun faded behind the horizon the colors just kept getting better. This photo was probably taken 20 minutes after the sun set, but I just couldn’t help but sit by the water and take it in. Hope you enjoy it too!
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