Maine

Since we were in Quebec City, France and I decided to spend our honeymoon in Maine since neither one of us had been and it wasn't too far of a drive away. Maine is a gorgeous state and definitely worth a visit if you've never been. It has a beautiful rugged coast line, green mountains, delicious lobster, and some of the densest forests I've had the privilege of wandering in. Most people in the States would say it's sparsely populated, but after having lived in the bush in Northern Alberta, it seems plenty well populated to me.

From Quebec City we headed to Bar Harbor which is located on Mt. Desert Island just off the coast of Maine. It's where Maine's famous Acadia National Park is located and we decided to spend a few days exploring the area. Bar Harbor is a cute, fun little tourist town that reminded me a bit of Estes Park in Colorado but smaller. It rained pretty heavy the first night we arrived, and the next morning we went for a run along side the ocean with gorgeous mist that surrounded the nearby islands. The weather cleared around 11am or so and we decided to grab some lobster before heading into Acadia National Park for the day.

I bless this holy lobster.



We went for a quick hike up to an area called Eagle's Cap that overlooked part of Acadia and then went for another hike around Sand Beach, the only beach on Mt. Desert Island. The rest of the coast line is rock.



Looking back at the beach.



France and the beautiful Maine coastline.



Cadillac Mountain is the tallest peak in the Park. From there we could look down on to Bar Harbor where we were staying. Gorgeous!



The two of us on top of Cadillac.



The next day we headed for Sergeant Mountain which is the second highest peak on Mt. Desert Island. None of these guys are big, but you get beautiful views. Along the way we had to hike up 2 other peaks to get to Sergeant. Here we are on peak numero 1, which I can't remember the name of. I know, when have I ever forgotten the name of a mountain?!






On peak numero dos. Guardsman Peak.



On top of Sergeant Mountain...



With beautiful views out to the Atlantic.



France at sunset in Bar Harbor.



The next day we went kayaking on a gorgeous lake called Long Pond. I let France do all the work, like a good husband, while I took pictures. She looks strong enough to handle it.



That afternoon, we left Bar Harbor and headed to northern Maine to Baxter State Park so we could climb Mt. Katahdin, the tallest mountain in Maine at 5268ft/1606m on my birthday. We climbed Katahdin via the Abol trail which is a Class 4 scramble that gains about 4000' vertical feet and is around 7.5 miles round trip. It felt so good to be back on a real mountain. Here France emerges from the dense Maine forest.



About half way up it started to get pretty foggy and then started to drizzle/mist on us a little.



But that didn't stop the smiles!



Although it had been socked in for most of the climb, the clouds cleared and the sun came out for us for about 10-15 minutes while we were on the summit. France on top of Maine.



Joshua on top of Katahdin.



On the descent overlooking the Maine highlands.