Allagash Brewing Company
I left Massachusetts Saturday afternoon and started my week with a stop at Allagash Brewery in Portland, ME. I'm a big fan of craft beer, and Allagash has long been my favorite brewery. Allagash does free tours and beer tastings each day (more info can be found here). The brewery always has their House beer on tap along with three other rotating taps. That weekend they were serving Interlude, Saison, and Odyssey. I can honestly say that I have never had an Allagash beer that I did not like, and I could not pick a favorite for this trip. I ended up leaving with a limited release Midnight Bret and a 750ml of Interlude and Odyssey. I'm not ashamed to say that these were Christmas presents to myself.Another thing I love about Allagash is that the people that work at the brewery are always very welcoming and have a passion for craft beer. It's not just a job for them, and they are always willing to answer questions, make recommendations, and share stories about working at Allagash. I had the good fortune to stop by on a day that they were not very busy and had time to chat. I met Ben, a tour guide at the brewery, and Josh, a brewer that worked at Dogfish Head Brewery before coming to Allagash Brewing Company five years ago. It turned out Ben had worked for quite a time with the hut system in the White Mountains. That sparked a good conversation about hiking in general, the lodge that he worked at for a time in Greenville, ME, and then the discovery that we had a common connection in the Shin Pond area. It's funny how Maine is such a large state, but so small when you think about how everyone seems to know everyone. Josh had grown up in Massachusetts not too far from where I now live. We swapped some stories about hiking, and then talked about the limited release beers that Allagash has available only at the brewery. There will be one coming out soon that Josh created the recipe for - I intend to keep my eye out for that one. It's not often you can have a beer and say you know the brewer that created it. Or at least it's not often that I can say that.
My experience at Allagash Brewing Company started my week off in the way I always expect my time in Maine to go. Allagash Brewing Company the place is amazing, but it's made all the more special by the welcoming people that make you feel right at home.
Union/Camden/Lincolnville
The first few days of my trip were spent in Union, ME with a very good friend of mine, Dan. Union is a place where I always feel like time slows almost to a stand still. It's such a glaring difference in the pace of everything when compared to Massachusetts. Of course that can be due to the fact I don't need to go to work when I am there, but I think it has more to do with the people. Nothing is rushed, and it's so easy to just take time to enjoy a sunset from a random field, enjoy a morning sleeping in, and just actually relax and recharge.
While in Union, I made a few side trips over to Camden and Lincolnville. Sunday morning breakfast was at Marriner's Restaurant in Camden, ME. The restaurant is not very big, but they had a great spread for breakfast. I had buttermilk pancakes, bacon, eggs, toast, coffee - all with this view from my seat:
As I sat there, I listened to all that was going on around me - the locals were going about their Sunday getting breakfast with their families. Everything from the view to the slower pace to something as small as the accent of the locals just made me breathe easier and feel so much at home. I had plans to hike up to Ocean Lookout in Camden Hills State Park that morning, but I spent a little extra time just enjoying the atmosphere at Marriner's before going on my way armed with a full belly and a thermos full of coffee.
Camden Hills State Park
A funny realization I came to as I pulled into the parking lot at Camden Hills State Park was that I have never hiked at the park during any season other than winter. It had been over a year since I had hiked in this park, so I knew I needed to spend a morning taking in the views from Ocean Lookout. Ocean Lookout is not a very long hike (about 1.4 miles), but it offers views that stretch for miles down the coastline on a clear day. My intent was to hike there, snap some photos, enjoy my coffee, and then visit with some friends in Lincolnville Beach....instead I kept going to the summit of Mt. Megunticook and then sat on the ledge at Ocean Lookout for almost an hour just having coffee and taking it all in.
There is not much snow right now on the coast of Maine, so I did not need snowshoes for the hike. I was happy, however, that my friend Ted Coffin has hammered it into my head to carry extra gear and be prepared. When I got further up on the trail, there was a fair amount of ice to be dealt with. Now I could have picked my way around the edges of the trail if I needed to, but thanks to Ted - I just threw on my micro-spikes and kept on going. Here's a photo of just one of the places they came in handy:
When I came out at Ocean Lookout, there was actually a college student from Ohio up there already. He was the only hiker I ran into that day, and he very obviously did not know Ted Coffin. Terrence, as he introduced himself, was hiking in sneakers with no winter coat, just wind pants and a sweater, and no winter hat. He decided he wanted to continue on with me to the summit, and I just shook my head. I am used to hiking alone, and the only time I like hiking in groups is when it's with people like my TSP friends - people that love the woods and mountains and have a passion for it. Having a chatty college kid tag along was not what I had in mind for my day on Mt. Megunticook, but that's where I found myself so I made the most of it. It was a struggle....not to laugh out loud as he slipped all over the place and landed on his butt more than a few times. It made for slow going, but the summit was only 0.4 miles on from Ocean Lookout. We hit the summit, snapped a few photos, and then headed back. I had hoped that he would continue on when I stopped for coffee at Ocean Lookout, but no such luck. I think he was nervous about heading back down the icy trail by himself.
I found a good spot on the ledge and made myself comfortable. Sitting there with my thermos of coffee and looking down the coast, I started to think about this last year. I have seen and done so much in this year - between moving, starting a new job, traveling all over the country, joining up with The Summit Project, taking part in GORUCK events, and meeting some pretty amazing people along the way. A view like this clears your head and really makes you think. I need more views like this:
Before too long, I caught sight of Terrence shivering and felt a little bad for him. We started down the trail, and he began to ask me all kinds of questions - How long have you been hiking? How do you know what to pack? Where did you get your spikes? .... in between slipping and falling all over the place. So much for my quiet day in the woods... I should have just given him Ted's email address - but hopefully next time when he comes hiking in Maine, he will be a little more prepared than he was this time.
From Camden Hills State Park, I made my way to Lincolnville Beach to visit with some family friends. Don and Debbie may as well be a part of my family, and I look forward to seeing them every time I am in the area. We caught up on recent happenings, watched the Patriots eke out a win against the Jets, and shared some local coffee porter from Andrew's Brewing Company. If you are ever in Lincolnville, check out Andrew's. I have never been to the actual brewery, but the coffee porter is worth it all on it's own. If you travel through the area and don't try it, you are seriously missing out.
One more night in Union, and then I was set to make the trek up to Patten, ME for the holidays. But that wouldn't be without several stops along the way.
Maiden's Cliff - Lincolnville, ME
Maiden's Cliff is a short hike that can be found just off Rte. 52 near the boat landing for Lake Megunticook. The cliff gets it's name from the tragic loss of a young girl named Elenora French in 1864. According to her older sister's accounting of events, the wind blew Elenora's hat off. While Elenora was able to retrieve it, just as she was putting the hat back on, another gust of wind came up and caused her to fall from the cliff to the ground 300ft below. While she was still alive when they climbed down to her, she died due to internal injuries the next day. A large white cross was erected on top of the cliff in her memory. For various reasons, it has had to be replaced many times over the years. The current cross was installed in 1992 and is reinforced with steel cables set into the cliff:
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| Cross in December 2014 |
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| Monument in Elenora's memory |
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| Megunticook Lake from Maiden's Cliff |
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| Maiden's Cliff Cross, Megunticook Lake, and the Atlantic in the distance |
From Maiden's Cliff there is a "Scenic Trail" that can be taken which loops around about 0.3 miles to reconnect with the main trail. Given that I didn't have to be in Bangor until later in the day, I decided to explore. I was not disappointed. There were views of Megunticook, and then when the trail crossed back into the woods, there was even a small set of waterfalls along the trail. Scenic was a fitting name for this trail.
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| Icy waterfall off Scenic Trail |
Matagamon - First Lake and Baxter State Park
On Monday night I had told my dad that I wanted to snowshoe in and hike Horse Mountain at the North Entrance to Baxter State Park. I said this thinking that the road was plowed to the Matagamon boat landing....and was wrong - it was plowed to just after the Matagamon Store. That turned it into a roughly 9 mile snowshoe/hike rather than a 5 mile snowshoe/hike in a remote area, alone, with no cell reception. Needless to say - I still went snowshoeing, but I did the smart thing and changed my destination plans. The hike from the Matagamon Store to the Baxter State Park Gate was about 2 miles, and there was not a soul around. There is nothing to compare to being by yourself in the Northern Maine Woods in the winter - it's so quiet and peaceful like something from times gone by. The trees were all weighed down from the snow and ice, and it looked like something from a Christmas card.
My trip took me through the Northern Entrance to Baxter State Park, and even though I was not hiking it - I could see Horse Mountain clearly from there. The wind whipping across the lake when I reached Matagamon's public boat landing was enough to make me know I had made the right choice when shortening my hike. I ended up making my way to the First Lake Campsite. This meant snowshoeing just over 2 miles on the park road where a snowsled or two had already packed the trail and then trekking the 0.5 miles through the woods (where no one has been since October).
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| Baxter State Park line |
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| Grand Lake Matagamon from the boat landing |
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| First Lake trailhead |
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| Looking back at my trail |
There wasn't any great summit view that was waiting for me at the end of my hike, it as really just a campsite on a point at First Lake. A picnic table, some benches, and a view of a frozen lake was all that waited for me. But through all my my hike out, I was reminded of a quote by Ursula K Leguin, "It is good to have an end to journey towards, but it's the journey that matters in the end." That's how I felt about this time in the woods. It was more about the cold air in my lungs, the sound of the wind through the trees, and the burning in my legs as I hit mile 5. I swear that if someone came across me in the woods on a day like that, they would think I was a madwoman. When I am in the woods, I cannot stop smiling and something as small as spotting a chickadee following me through the woods can make me laugh. As with Maiden's Cliff, the trip back to my Jeep seemed to take far less time than the trip to First Lake. I was even a little sad to see my Jeep because it meant heading back into town. Back to "civilization" to do all the work that comes with a holiday - cooking/baking, wrapping, decorating. As much as I love Christmas, I love the woods all the more.
And now here we are at Christmas Eve. The tree is up, there are baked goods all stacked in the kitchen, my brother and his girlfriend are on their way up from Augusta, and my uncle and cousins are coming for dinner tomorrow. There won't be much time spent in the woods in the next few days, but I'm looking forward to seeing family and catching up. Here's wishing everyone out there a Merry Christmas! If you celebrate another holiday then I hope you enjoy that, too :)
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