Maine - Day 16 - Katahdin south

Paul Bunyan Campground, Bangor
Thursday, 16 August 2018

today's route

I don't know why sometimes this same photo comes out clear and others comes out fuzzy.  Today's a fuzzy.

Turns out Baxter State Park doesn't have a gate at the entrance as I expected, so nobody stopped me driving in, despite the warning signs on the road up to the park that there's a vehicle size limit that I don't fit in.  I wouldn't have bothered - knowing I didn't belong - but I kept hoping all the way up the road that I'd get a better view of the mountain than I had along the road.  False hope.  These are the best I could get.

that's it, through the utility wires

This is actually what I saw glimpses of as I was driving down the road but couldn't possibly have stopped where I was to take a photo.

Mt. Katahdin is the high point on the right

Disappointing about the photo and the not so good view, but I can say I saw where the Appalachian Trail begins (or ends, depending on your point of view).  It's the highest point east of the Rockies, I think.

I had hoped to take a road other than the interstate south but spent so much time trying to find this surprisingly shy mountain I decided to get going.  I was aiming at 2 museums in the general Bangor area.

The first was the Penobscot Indian Museum in Old Town (that's the name of the town).  The directions both on their website and on Google were abysmal and I wandered around Old Town a lot more than you'd think you could, considering its size before stumbling on it.  And it was closed, though their website promised it was open on Thursdays (that's the only day they promised).  So a second disappointment and by then it was nearly 2:00.  You'd be surprised how much time it can take to wander around looking for mountains and museums.

I decided I just couldn't aim for the other one - the Maine Logging Museum between Bradley and Orono down 4 miles of gravel road near a place called Chemo Pond (does that sound creepy or what?).  I figured the way the day was going, I'd get all the way down this gravel road only to find the museum was closed up tight and I wouldn't get to see it either.  So I went on into Bangor.

I'd also hoped to stop on the way into town at New Hope Cemetery, which sounded like it had some interesting graves and memorials, but once again I'd be having to do some serious maneuvering, what with the Penobscot River running between the cemetery and where my campground was on the other side of town (I'd need a bridge, which are apparently not all that common - which I guess makes sense because it's a pretty big river).

I'm just beginning to learn where my limits are and when to take a hint about the kind of day I'm getting.

I stayed at this campground the last time I was in Bangor and appreciated the reduced rate they gave me for my AAA membership and the fairly well-run park, so came back for a second go-round.