2019 Big Truck Trip to Maine, Day 5

August 6, 2019

Freeport, ME

Wolfe's Neck Oceanfront Campground

Site 424

Day 5 started with a somewhat early rise for me, as I was instructed to go away and give them a 'relax' morning. I took this opportunity to sneak out and ride some local mountain bike trails. If you aren't familiar with the MTB Project app, you need to get it. It works so well for finding trails all over the country, reading reviews, seeing elevation maps, trail ratings, etc. I found a grouping of trails at Bradbury Mountain State Park, which was only 20 minutes from our campground.

I really didn't know what to expect, but my previous experience with Maine trails (circa 2012) had left me feeling like this.

This time, I was better prepared and at least understood that Maine trails are a mixture of tree roots, granite, and then all of the rest of the tree roots. I also knew that at least one section of this trail was built by the IMBA so I figured that wouldn't suck. As it turns out, I was correct. If you don't give a rat's ass about mountain biking, I suggest skipping ahead to the next section. Otherwise, you're in for a treat.

Trailhead - somewhat nondescript, very basic map, not a ton of info but the trail descriptions (tight, twisty singletrack) had my attention.

About here, I realized this wasn't just your local run of the mill trail. The far section was about 3-4 feet off the ground, which doesn't seem that high until you're riding 3-4 feet off the ground.

Mostly because this can happen very quickly. Luckily this wasn't me, but he reacted about the same way I would have.

When I got to 'The Batcave', things got a bit out of hand, in a good way.

Right after the cave there is some pretty technical climbing, tight turns, and tree roots the entire way. I'm proud to say that I cleaned the entire thing, but I did bounce off a tree or two to keep myself upright. Whoever built this thing has some serious self-loathing issues. Next up was the Fox Loop trail, which I was excited about until I reached this.

That's my tire in the bottom of the pic. It's 4.7" wide. Not sure how wide the actual bridge was, but it seemed like 4.8" when I was going across it. Probably not the wisest decision. From that point the trail became more fun, challenging, and actually allowed you to carry some speed. I had been out there for over an hour, and when I checked the Garmin it was showing that I had barely ridden 5 miles.

The last pic shows the 'O trail'. If you're having trouble seeing where the trail is, so was I. This part was not enjoyable, it was more of a test to see how much of a glutton for punishment you are. It reminded me very much of Your Mom - not your actual Mom, but the trail in Marquette named as such, just without the elevation.

At this point I was running out of time and had about enough of the 'O trail' so I wrapped it up and headed for the Jeep. All told, about 10.5 miles and at least 7 of it was quite pucker-worthy, requiring full concentration and a few internal dialogue moments of "just send it before reason kicks in." OK, biking digression over, back to the trip.

As I got back to the campground, we all agreed that we would pile into the Jeep and head toward BoothBay, not exactly sure what that was going to entail. We just knew that it looked cool on the map, we had gotten a recommendation from Dave in our shop to check it out, so that was enough.

One thing we had forgotten about the previous trip to Maine is how you need to sever any correlation between distance on a map and time it takes to get there. On the map it was roughly 40 miles, it took nearly an hour and a half to get there. When we rolled into Boothbay, things were really looking up. We passed a local brewery/distillery, so we thought we'd check it out. Turns out they only served pizza, which we had the previous 2 days, and we were in the mood for seafood. Strike one.

Next up was a little roadside seafood shack with mermaid murals on the side. What better place for Jordan to try some fish than this?  We parked, got in line, sent Jordan to secure the last quaint little umbrella table for our freshly made fish & chips lunch. That's when the guy inside peered around the 5 people in front of us in line and yelled "Yeah, we're all out. Sorry." My stare must have given away the fact that if I had a soul, he would have just removed it with that statement. Strike two.

At this point we had enough of Boothbay and decided to head to Boothbay Harbor, which seemed to offer quite a few more dining options. It did, and we ended up here.

Other than lamenting that I had worn my sweet hat (Outdoor Research Seattle Sombrero, if you too like to stay dry, be afforded ample sun protection, and apparently alienate all females within sight), Kimberly and Jordan were definitely down with this choice and with the harbor area in general. We watched local boaters ferrying tourists out to their rented boats, saw local fishermen doing local fishermen things, and wandered the footbridge amongst the tourists and wondered how many little Ulysses (Ulysses's, Ulysseses, Ulyssi??) were being reared in this village.

We did a little more wandering, stopped in a few shops, and then Jordan found rocks to climb on. 

I will say that Boothbay Harbor is cool, very much worth the visit. The scenery is amazing and the waterfront, although very much a tourist trap, maintains enough local character mixed in with all the Tom Brady novelty t shirts to make it enjoyable. Since we were so close, we decided to head down to Southport Island and go to the southern tip (Newagen) as I thought I spied a public access dock amid the super fancy cottages surrounding the shore.

Jackpot.

This hang ten shaka brah pose was completely unprompted, as this was a floating dock that she immediately imagined as a surfboard. This kid has been killing me all trip long, she is like a wind-up toy filled with sarcasm, joy, and a love for messing with Sasquatch.

We had just about had our fill of this tranquil setting and were heading back, but we were still curious about the Wolfe's Neck State Park that was just across the bay from our campground. We decided we would mix in a little sunset hike to round out the day.

I would highly recommend checking this place out if you are in the area. Very well maintained, incredible views, picnic spots everywhere, and a very secluded feel. We did the outer loop of White Pines to Casco Bay to Harraseeket and it was a little under 3 miles. Rather than having me try to describe it, just check these out.

We had timed this almost perfectly (we hadn't really, we just got lucky with how the day worked out) for a view of the sunset from the western edge of the peninsula.

We then had to pause to observe a very solemn moment. Jordan saw this giant rock and had a serious case of the sads when she realized she couldn't get to it.

If you are following along at home, you realize this was a pretty full day of activities. It was at this point when we were faced with yet another few hundred roots that Jordan declared herself 'out of fuel.'

We finished the final few tenths of a mile, hopped in the Jeep and headed for the campsite. Of course, as we passed the farm portion of the campground Jordan needed to stop and say goodnight to the animals.

It was basically this Mark Wahlberg skit from SNL, 

as we listened to her say goodnight to the ducks, the goats, the cows, the pigs (including Mr. Poopers), the other goats, and the mangy barn cat (with one torn off ear) that had to have been a Pet Sematary stunt double.

With that, it was finally time to call it a night, this was a full day in and around Freeport. There is so much more to see and do here, but we gave it a good run.

Day 6 brings the ultimate goal of the trip, Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park.