Guess I better catch the blog up-to-date. This has been an interesting few days or so. We are most definitely NOT off the grid - WAY too many people for that BUT Verizon thinks we are in Canada so we haven't had cell or Internet since my last post. We are near Calais, Maine, USA which is just across the St. Croix River from St. Stephen, New Brunswick, Canada. The last update I managed to post brought the blog up-to-date with the last day we were near Baxter State Park. That last day Trox rode his bike into the park and I paddled the kayak into the park. It is a beautiful park and we would have loved to been able to go in with Merlin for a few nights but no such luck.
Once we left Baxter we headed back east (or down east as it is known here) to the coast. Our first stop was at Island Falls where we spent a night at Birch Point on Pleasant Lake. We didn't get to paddle since Pleasant Lake wasn't so Pleasant. Too much chop. From there we got up the next morning and headed further east then turned south. We stayed on East Grand Lake at a campground called Greenland Cove. We did get to paddle there. East Grand Lake is a huge lake and is actually part of a major complex of lakes.
Friday found us heading further south on Highway 1. We stopped at Baskahegan Lake for lunch where we met a man and his grandson. They were just coming in from fishing and gave us four perch! Grandpa even cleaned them!!!! That was our dinner that night and was it good! That and mashed potatoes. Our stop for the night was a small lake but a huge campground. The campground had WAY too many people. The lake, Keene's Lake, was a fun paddle at about 2.5 miles around. We rented a kayak and Trox and I paddled it together Friday evening. Then on Saturday we got up and did some exploring of the area. We went to the St. Croix Island International Historic Site and Cobscook State Park then to a place known as the Reversing Falls Park. The area is known for dramatic tide changes. It was impressive. Then we went back to the campground. We met some nice people there and most of them were from New Brunswick Canada. On Sunday morning we got up and headed towards Eastport and another state park - Shackford Head where we did a nice hike around the head. We ended the day back at the Reversing Falls Park where we spent the night with no one else around. It is surrounded by a nature conservancy area and has lots of birds.
Today I have been following the tide as it changes and Trox has been birding.
21 August 2013 - Cobscook Bay State Park
We ended up spending two wonderful nights at Reversing Falls and yesterday we went to Quoddy State Park and Lubec Maine. Lubec is the eastern most town in the US and Quoddy has a light house. It is located on the eastern most piece of land in the US. We had a nice hike and then spent the night at Cobscook State Park.
I feel that this travelogue has contained lots of "and thens" but that is what this trip has been and continues to be! And then we did this and then we did that and then we got to see and then we could hear and OH MY! We have experienced and tried so many new things and seen so many new sights this trip that it has been a wonderful time. We have seen birds we didn't even know existed and seen others up close like never before and others in more numbers than ever before; we both learned to kayak; we got to see a 25 foot tide come in and out; and so on. I hope you have enjoyed this blog. I know some of the pictures are not the best quality but I have posted them so that Trox and I won't forget! I have tried to group the following pictures by date taken. Thanks for reading!
14 August 2013
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| Baxter State Park Downy Woodpecker |
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| Baxter State Park South Branch Ponds view from campground |
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| Baxter State Park American Redstart Warbler - male |
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| Baxter State Park Red Breasted Nuthatch |
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| Baxter State Park has campsites on Grand Lake Matagamon only accessible by boat |
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| Grand Lake Matagamon was too big to paddle the perimeter so I paddled around a few of the islands | |
16 August 2013
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| Baskahegan Lake Monarch Butterfly Not submitted for positive id yet | |
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| East Grand Lake I paddled through there |
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| East Grand Lake When I got back the ducks came to greet me | |
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| Keene's Lake Trox and I went out together |
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| Keene's Lake Spotted this beaver lodge but no beavers |
17 August 2013
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| Keene's Lake ride to Nash Lake Not identified yet but pretty |
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| Keene's Lake ride to Nash Lake Not identified yet but pretty | |
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| St. Croix Island International Park Spotted Sandpiper | |
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| Reversing Falls LOTS of Cormorants We have seen lots of these before but never so many in one place |
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| St. Croix Island International Park Wandering around the displays |
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| St. Croix Island International Park |
18 August 2013
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| Atlantic Salmon Fish Farm Shackford State Park |
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| Shackford State Park Great Blue Heron |
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| Shackford State Park Another Warbler pending id |
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| Shackford State Park Believe it or not there is a bird in this picture Some kind of warbler |
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| Shackford State Park Warbler silhouette Right - baby begging to be fed Left - caterpillar in mouth | |
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| Shackford State Park And once again a warbler waiting to be identified |
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| Reversing Falls Swallowtail of some kind Not submitted for id yet | |
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| Reversing Falls Cormorants waiting to feed in whirlpools caused by incoming tide |
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| Reversing Falls Common Eider | |
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| Shackford State Park Civil War Ship Memorial |
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| Reversing Falls Sunset on 1st night |
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| Reversing Falls Our campsite |
19 August 2013
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| Reversing Falls Black and White Warbler |
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| Reversing Falls Harbor Seals "Sea Dogs" feeding in the whirlpools | |
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| Reversing Falls Black and Yellow Garden Spider aka Writing Spider or Corn Spider She was huge and had a large cache |
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| Reversing Falls Coming in with the tide |
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| Reversing Falls Sunset 2nd night |
20 August 2013
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| Dennysville - Bald Eagle We spotted this guy while we were searching for a laundromat | |
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| Quoddy State Park Light house and keeper's home | |
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| Quoddy State Park Eastern most point in US |
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| Quoddy State Park Black Guillemot pair Part of Alcids Family Come to land only to nest Uncommon and local along rocky shore lines Use their wings to fly underwater | |
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| Quoddy State Park Rugged coast line Near Green Point |
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