July 9-10, 2022 Maine Lakes And Mountains Region

One of the very best things about this campground in Bethel is the variety of options there are for morning walks. On Saturday, I chose to walk west toward the airport. There is a paved walking path that crosses beneath the highway and winds around to the small airport and then through woods to a pollinator garden. It was a lovely walk.

We went to the Bethel Farmers Market and collected some zucchini and squash and heirloom tomatoes.

We spent the morning packing the Jeep for a potential overnight in the wilderness of Maine. We were going to take a scenic road and see if along the way, we might find a place to camp in the tent.

We stopped at Coos Canyon to explore.

We stopped at Height of Land to admire the view.

The Appalachian Trail crosses the highway here. We saw lots of hikers with loaded packs.

We found a logging road and found a place to camp for the evening. It was incredibly quiet. There was occasional birdsong and we heard a woodpecker in the distance. The wind rustled the trees…but it was otherwise silent! We spent a relaxing evening by the fire. We watched for bear and moose with bear spray close by…no visitors.

On Sunday morning, we decided to continue our drive through the Maine Lakes and Mountains Region. We stopped along the Rangeley Lakes National Scenic Byway.

Maine blueberries…not ripe yet!

We spent lots of time traveling on logging roads and roads that were barely roads, looking for another camping spot. We were thwarted at every dead end…but we did see lots of beautiful and remote wilderness.

Moose tracks…but no moose!

We did find a nice private campground with large sites by a river…we will write more about that on Tuesday because we intend to go back there tomorrow night and stay.

We got back to the RV in midafternoon. We rested and then I walked and Tim did his workout. We decided this evening to walk on Hastings Island. The campground has a suspension bridge that is 50 feet above the Androscoggin River to its own private island.

The trail is a one mile loop around the perimeter of the island. It started off okay and then we were more than halfway and there was a tree to climb under and then at points the grasses were as tall as I and the trail was nearly impassable….but we trudged through. Another downed tree took us way off course and again we waded through giant weeds…it was a little creepy! Finally we made our way back to the bridge and home! What an adventure! I thought this might be a good place for my morning walk tomorrow…but I will NOT be going back!

Yesterday, we found the Good Foods Store. We bought dark chocolate almonds and maple flovored yogurt and both were delicious. Today I went back and bought white lasagna for our dinner. It tasted homemade and was so yummy with chicken and prosciutto and spinach and red peppers in a savory sauce and topped with cheese. A perfect meal.