Monday, October 16, 2006

Maine Foliage - Various

Saturday I decided to try to find some more foliage before the end of the season. I heard that it was along the coast, so I decided I'd head up 1 and see where it brought me. I drove all the way up to Camden and then decided to give up. There wasn't much foliage along 1 and I wasn't very interested in dealing with traffic, so I decided to head back and take a few side streets that seemed promising. Somewhere between Camden and Rockport I believe, I decided to take a side road. (This is where google maps satellite comes in handy!) I ended up driving by Goose River Golf Club, and heading into a pretty elite neighborhood. Though in a way I found it rude, I took pictures leading down a few driveways anyway. They had wonderful views to the ocean.



Then I headed back to 1 and eventually made it to 1A. I stopped in the Newcastle area and took a few more pictures.



After stopping, I decided to head down a back road all the way to Boothbay Harbor. It was a long drive, and I actually spotted some nice foliage. I noticed a Preserve but kept going to Boothbay hoping the foliage would get better. Also along the way, I stopped by a cemetery along the River Rd to take a picture.



After driving all the way to Boothbay Harbor, I realized the foliage was actually better in the area I'd just been. I decided to head back to the Preserve I'd passed on the River Rd. I believe it was called "Dodge Point Public Reserved Land".


Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Grafton Notch State Park & Evans Notch

On Sunday the 8th, I decided to head up a little north where the foliage was good. I was thinking about going to Rangeley, but decided to stop when I noticed the colors were fading, and I didn't want to continue up too much further. I decided to stop by Grafton Notch though, since I'd never been. I went to Moose Cave, but wasn't too impressed. Then I stopped by a waterfall called "Mother Walker Falls". Most people pass this by because there isn't much of a view to see it. In order to get a good view, you have to cross a stream by stepping over some rocks. Not something that many people dare to do, or know to do for that matter. I was looking around trying to figure out where the trail was, and couldn't find it. Then I noticed some people on the other side of the stream, and they came over on rocks, so I thought, why not? I'm glad I did, it was very peaceful over there, and not many tourists!



On my way out, I stopped by "Screw Auger Falls". I took a few pictures of the foliage because some of the trees were pretty bright. Then I went in to take a look at the Falls. I couldn't get a good angle, so I decided to do some rock climbing. In the second picture you'll see where I ended up. The waterfall was very well protected, and unless I wanted to get wet (not with all those tourists around to watch haha), I decided I'd better not bother. I took a picture looking in toward the waterfall though. The 3rd picture is a more top down view of the falls. The picture didn't come out well at all, but I thought I'd share what the actual falls looked like since I'm writing about it. The next picture is a view heading to the falls from the top, and the very last picture is leaving Grafton Notch State Park.



Next I decided to head down to Evans Notch since it wasn't too much out of my way, and I could use it to loop around back to Portland anyway. It was gorgeous at Evans Notch, most likely peak foliage.