Maine

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We arrived in Portland on a Wednesday, and the weather was very nice with highs in the 80’s for our drive to Rangeley, ME, and the Saddleback Inn. Unfortunately, on Thursday, the cold temperatures started, and the rains came in earnest, preventing us from doing any serious hiking. From then on, it seems like it rained every other day, and the temp did not get above 60 degrees for the rest of the trip. On Thursday it rained all day so didn't get to do the planned hike to Saddleback Mt. We did drive to a state park along the lake as well as to the trail head for the hike to Saddleback Mt, but it would have been a very wet slog to the top without much chance of any views with the foggy weather. We ended up getting our miles in by walking around the downtown area of Rangeley with our umbrellas.

Rangeley is actually right on the 45th parallel, North, which is generally accepted to be halfway between the equator and the north pole. A bit of research reveals that halfway is actually 10 miles north of the 45th parallel because Earth is an oblate spheroid; that is, it bulges at the equator and is flattened at the poles (so Wikipedia says).

On Friday, it didn’t rain, but the morning was overcast, and the cold wind was blowing. However, we did manage to hike the AT near Saddleback Mountain to a couple of spots called Piazza Rock and the Caves before traveling on to the area for our New Hampshire hikes. This hike was about 5 miles RT through a forest of really pretty autumn foliage. After finishing this hike, I wanted to try to hike a bit in the Grafton Notch state park area so we drove an hour and a half to that area where we tried to hike on the AT as it passes through the park. The cold wind blowing there was pretty brutal, but we managed a couple more miles on the AT in Maine before continuing to our motel in Fairlee, VT., another 2+ hours away.

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Photos

Rangeley Lake
Taken from the Loon Lodge deck.

Loon Lodge
Where we enjoyed a couple of beverages while relaxing on their deck.

Rangeley Lake
Sunset over Rangeley Lake from Loon Lodge.

Rangeley's claim to fame
Rangeley is right on the 45th parallel - Which should be halfway between the North Pole and the Equator - but isn't quite.

Autumn in Rangeley
Color in downtown Rangeley, Maine

Autumn Color
At Rangeley Lake State Park

Misty Rain
Nice color on a dreary day at the AT trailhead.

Color on the AT in Maine
The AT trail to Piazza Rock and the Caves

Piazza Rock
Along the AT on the trail to Saddleback Mt. this huge jutting rock is called the Piazza. Too wet for us to climb but pretty impressive from below.

Piazza Rock
Another of the rock.

The Caves
Another neat spot along the AT, the Caves area is a large boulder field with the tumbled boulders forming lots of caves underneath them

The Caves
More of the boulder field at the Caves.

Color on the AT in Maine
More color on the trail