I remember hearing someone talk about Gulf Hagas in the past and thought nothing of it, and then my company’s health department hosted a hike through Gulf Hagas two weeks ago and again thought nothing of it. Last week a co-worker talked about it so I decided to look into it further. They call it “The Grand Canyon of Maine” which like anyone else that has not hiked the Gulf Hagas trail, I pictured the Grand Canyon in my mind and thought, “Yea right”. I checked MaineFoliage.com and saw that the leaf colors were moderate in the area so I talked to Robin about it and we made a date to hike all 8 miles of it (4 miles up and then 4 miles back). We both did not know what to expect other than that there are waterfalls and high ledge walls.

The weather was in the mid-sixties with clear blue skies with no breeze. Upon arriving at 10AM we paid and registered to get in; there were a lot more people hiking that day than I would have expected- I would say in total we saw about 40 people. Once we parked in Pleasant River Parking, I put my boots (not real hiking boots) on, got the Lowepro camera bags out, helped Robin put her backpack on and we headed towards the Pleasant River crossing which was about a mile out. When we arrived at the River there were a group of high school kids there crossing the ice cold, ankle deep, water. While watching them cross we changed out of our boots and into our sandals- another reason why I love my new Keen sandals, as they are so versatile for things like this. For me, the water was not very cold until the half way point of the river which by estimate was roughly 50′ wide; once we reached the middle of the river it felt like small tacks poking at my skin.

After crossing the river we put out boots back on and made our 1 mile hike to Screw Auger Falls (Map Point 3) which requires a slight deviation off trail to fully view the falls. We climbed down about 10′ overt ledge and roots until we reached the plateau of ledge that stands 8′ feet above the basin of the waterfalls. In the summer it is probably the safest area to swim if you desire. We made our way to the lower Screw Auger falls which is much larger than the upper. The viewpoint requires you to climb down 40 or so feet of steep terrain that consists of mangled roots and dirt until you reach the bottom or top of the canyon’s ledge. From there it felt like I was viewing a scene from Lord of the Rings (Rivendell); the waterfall dips down – I’d estimate around 20′- into a pool of water surrounded by trees that hung over portions of the water. Several areas from where we stood, led to an abrupt and deep canyon 80′ down. Any attempt by me at photographing the depth of this was difficult; I’m not sure if it’s the lenses that I have or if it’s my technique, but it is definitely something you should witness for yourself. After looking around and taking photos for 30 minutes or so we left and continued onwards making our way over the at-the-time smooth, root and ledge free trails. We reached the Hancock lookout, which is basically ledge that provides a narrow view of the gorge; this is where the ledge (I believe it’s ledge as I have not been able to verify if it is another mineral/strata) walls rise to their 2-300′ heights. We continued on up an incline and then all of the sudden the path stopped; we continued on as the map said a trail was there until we came to a very steep stairway of roots. Being adventurous I climbed down to an area that leveled off for about 3 feet and then a sheer drop to the bottom of the canyon. We decided to head back to the main trail, as there clearly was no discernible path for us to take.

(more…)

During the first week of September mom stayed with Robin and I for half a week and the other half with her parent’s in Dexter. I took 5 days off, two Fridays, a Thursday and Monday. We tried to get out and enjoy the end of Summer’s weather which mostly was in the cool 70’s, by walking on the Orono campus trails of which Robin used to run on during her college years.

One day the three of us wanted to kayak so we loaded my kayak and our landlord’s tandem (two-seater) kayak on the car and drove down to Sedgeunkedunk Stream; Robin in front and mom in the back of the tandem and myself in my kayak. The weather was excellent that day with temperatures around 75 and a slight sporadic breeze. We made our way around way the first two bends in the stream that consisted mostly of thick difficult to traverse Water mill-foil; after that the water cleared up in the middle so that you could see down 4′ to the murky bottom. Robin called me over as she had spotted a young Painted Turtle basking in the sun while in the midst of algae- I was unable to capture it. Shortly after, I spotted another young Painted Turtle, but again was unsuccessful. We continued on, looking for any signs of wildlife and taking in the sun. We came across, what Robin and I had thought had passed for the year, a nice patch of Lilly Flowers. Later on, I spotted a female duck with two young offspring swimming behind her. At the half-way point, Mom spotted another turtle basking in the same manor as the previous two; I slowly paddled up to the turtle, it was a large male Painted Turtle- the second largest I have caught. Once I was next to the turtle in the water, it had submersed itself but I had reached down quickly to grab a hold of its shell. It’s carapace was in the process of shedding due to growth. I placed the turtle into my storage unit and we continued on our journey. Nearing the end of the stream a Great Blue Heron had swooped up in front of the tandem out of the cattail bushes and landed 15′ to the other side where I was able to snap a photo of it. We turned around shortly after; nearing our the last stretch, where I spotted a very young Painted Turtle, it must have been a year old- it was so light that it was sitting on top of a thick growth of algae which made it very easy for me to capture. We headed onwards where the same Heron was spotted earlier had relocated in hunt for fish. I was able to get a few shots of of the Heron up close and in the unsuccessful pursuit of fish. Once on land we stopped at a near by vacant house and took photos of the turtles to compare their size.

(more…)

We headed Down East to Winter Harbor for their 45th annual Lobster Festival; it was my first visit however since Winter Harbor is close to Prospect Harbor where Robin grew up she has been many times as well as ran in the race they have.

We arrived mid-morning and the streets were busy; stands everywhere selling different nick-knacks, etc. There were many different stands, a few which gave me an idea to possibly sell photos at events like this next year. We came across a tree that had been carved and painted to resemble a lobster claw, I thought that they did a great job. We met up with Robin’s mother and walked around for awhile until we decided to head to Schoodic Byway to look around and take photos. There’s an area that I know of that overlooks the ocean, the view can be seen while standing on a ledge of about 50 or so feet up. It has different holes that the Ocean as worn away at. It’s a beautiful area that not a lot of people know about and great for watching sunsets. This visit was more about exploring the surrounding area’s trails the lined the edge of the cliff rather than sitting at the edge together and watching the Ocean. We stopped at several other areas along the byway, one being a rocky shoreline that faced the East. We spent some time there looking for Crabs, Sandollars, Starfish and taking photos of the area.

Later on we drove to Corea and found a nice little scenic harbor view in which we took a few different photos. On the dock fisherman left their traps; we looked through them all to see if anything was left behind. We found a couple of Starfish that were alive at the time of the trap being in the water however when the traps were taken out and placed in the boat the Starfish limbs had dropped over the cages’ bars and hardened due to death. We looked around a bit, enjoyed the scenery and then headed home for the evening; I really enjoy finding areas like this that we can explore together and have a good time.

I have climbed Borestone Mountain many times, with my family, friends, etc and thought that it would be nice for Robin and I to climb together; I wanted to hike it during peak foliage this year but we will be on our honeymoon during that time so I decided to hike it today after church. We took the new scenic route vs. the 1 mile road you normally would walk on. Along the way we spotted Horse Chestnuts beside pine cones on a bed of moss. The trail consisted mostly of light elevation, tree root steps, etc. The weather was in the high 70’s with mostly clear skies. We were not able to spot any wild animals up to this point but we did spot our Sigg Bottles taking a rest.

We arrived at the half-way point where the hike actually becomes a hike; there’s a Warden’s cabin along with an informational booth near the edge of a pond. Every time that I’ve visit, I’ve always been amazed how a pond can exist on an edge of a mountain. Robin spotted a Chipmunk eating on a moss covered ledge; it was a little shy as it kept turning from my camera. Whilst standing and waiting for the chipmunk to turn a Red-breasted Nuthatch landed on a Pine tree. Robin asked if there were any turtles or frogs in the pond, as she asked I noticed a large Bull Frog resting in the water.

The hike because more interesting as the slop was roughly at a 70-80’ angle consisting of exposed ledge & roots; it’s amazing to see such large trees grasping onto ledge as an anchor to reach the sunlight. At one point there’s an area that you can climb the face of the ledge safely without gear which Robin and I did. As we ascended to the top the wind become very strong, once atop if you were not careful it would blow you over; unfortunately due to the wind I was not able to take many good photos. I was able to capture a few panoramic shots however. To my surprise we found blueberries bushels on the side of the ledge, Robin handed me a sandwich bag and I climbed down the side of a drop off onto a plateau and picked berries; as we progressed westerly we found more bushels and were able to fill the bag (roughly a quart). We plan on making a Blueberry pie, one of my favorites next to Raspberry. Our Sigg bottles very brave to pose for a couple of photos.