Maine - Day 15 - north to Katahdin

Pine Grove Campground, Medway
Wednesday, 15 August 2018

today's route

I went from the edge of the coast up maybe about half the state - 128 miles.

Not long after I left the campground, I passed the Haystack School of Art.  I've heard of it but didn't really know anything about it, and in case you're interested I've put a link here haystack/mission-history/ to explain - if you're into the arts, it's pretty interesting.  And Lord knows all of Deer Isle is picturesque.

I drove back up through Bucksport, following Rt. 15 the whole way to Bangor.  In Bucksport we stopped at a little municipal waterfront park I'd heard about from a young woman in the grocery store the other day.  There was a walkway along the river and various memorials here and there and a superb view of Ft. Knox, which I didn't know about when I was in town before.

Ft. Knox is straight ahead and that incredible bridge is almost out of sight to the left around the headland.  I think if you can blow it up you might be able to see this place that defended against the British.  I'm sorry I can't seem to figure out how to take a photo that shows what my eyes see - the fort looked much bigger to me than it does here.

As you can see, there were some very low-lying clouds, and it was that way all the way from the coast almost to the mountains.  In fact, I have so far seen zero mountains, despite the fact that Mt. Katahdin is the highest point in Maine at 5,267'.  That's almost a mile.  But the folks here at the campground - which is only about 20 miles away - tell me I'll be able to see it fine when the clouds burn off, which we think will happen tomorrow.

The mountain is in Baxter State Park, and I've been told RVs aren't allowed in there.  I'll drive up anyway since it's not far - I'm confident there'll be somewhere to turn around if that's true.