New England Fall Road Trip (Part 4 - Maine)

In October 2021 we set off on a two week road trip through New York and New England to view and photograph the famous fall foliage.

In this final entry of our New England Fall Photo Journal, we make our way through the remote state of Maine.

Part 4: Maine

When you think of visiting the ocean, you probably think of sandy beaches, sunshine, and tempting waters. Much like the Pacific Northwest, Maine is much the opposite. We frequently visit Florida and Southern California so we had a deep desire to experience a part of the ocean where the rocky cliffs meet the shoreline. We were blown away. 

First, let me take a small step back because, although it is our favorite to talk about, the ocean wasn’t our first stop. 

On the same day that we explored New Hampshire, we had crossed over to Maine for yet another hike. We found the location for a gorge and flume deep in another blog article when researching for the trip. 

Speaking of research, we felt we could have put a little more time in researching the gas situation. We knew Maine is a very remote state. To put it in perspective, Maine is the most sparsely populated state east of the Mississippi River. Ninety percent of its land is forested. This was the first time we’ve ever questioned if we’d be able to find gas before we ran out. Luckily we didn’t find ourselves in this situation but boy did we cut it close.

We made it to our first stop. After walking on the trail for some time, we realized we were heading off course due to following an inaccurate map. After turning around a few different times, and almost calling it quits, we were able to find what we were looking for. Like most places, we took our time taking pictures before making our way back to the truck.

We had a few more saved locations before we’d get to the coast of Maine.

A wire bridge:

And a waterfall:

We were getting our last glimpse of vibrant fall color as we made our way to moose country.

We were certain we would see moose being in the place that has the highest moose population of the lower 48. Once arriving in the Maine Highland region, we stopped for lunch at a lakefront restaurant where we sat on the deck, ate a delicious meal, watched the seaplanes, and talked about our plans for moose sighting. 

We did our research. We knew to be out at dusk and dawn, to find the bogs, and to wait. Our first attempt that evening was unsuccessful. We spent hours driving in and out of the backcountry of Maine, waiting and listening but the most we saw were tracks. 

We did run into a few locals who gave us advice. To remind you, we were visiting in October. We learned that during this time moose are entering the rut and beginning to move away from the marshes and bogs and into new growth prior to winter. We were also accompanied by dozens of bird hunters. The same roads we were driving were crawling with truckloads of orange vests and as you can imagine, moose tend to want to stay away from this type of noise.

Nonetheless, the next morning we went back to where we saw the tracks in an attempt to spot the moose that had been in the area. We swear we heard them, but the only wildlife to be found were birds. So, we moved on. 

Our first stop on the coast was this lighthouse. One thing this area is famous for is being the easternmost point of the United States. Having just been at the southernmost point down in the Florida Keys a few months prior (blog article coming soon), we found this fascinating. 

This same day, we continued down the coast of Maine. We were able to stretch our legs after a few hours of driving with a coastal hike. The views did not disappoint and this hike made number two of our top three hikes from this trip.

After getting our first real taste of the Maine coastline, we were itching to continue on and get to what we were most excited about for this entire trip: Acadia National Park. 

Up to this point, we had chosen to primitive camp each night as this is our most common form of camping when on the road. However, these last two nights we chose a campground.

Our main reason for choosing a campground was that we were excited for this National Park and we wanted enjoy this time. Had we chosen to primitive camp, we would have had to drive in and out of the park as primitive camping inside a National Park is prohibited. The second reason being that we simply wanted to slow down and eliminate any stress for the last leg of this trip. The $30 campsites were worth not having the stress that comes with extra driving and having to find a campsite each night. 

We don’t regret this decision at all. 

Both mornings we woke before the sun and had a few hours to ourselves before the town started flooding with people. It's hard to describe the feeling that the crisp morning air, calm water, sun-kissed harbor, and quiet streets gives but it was one that we absorbed as best we could.

We had spent the previous 10 days seeing everything we had set out to see, hitting hike after hike, photographing countless waterfalls, and so much more, but if you were to ask what we remember the most, it would be these two days where time seemingly stopped.

We spent a day exploring Bar Harbor, taking in all the sounds, smells, and feelings. We spent half a day in the town park absorbing everything and getting a bit of work done. We hardly slow down this much when on a trip so this was certainly an exception, but one we would do over and over again. 

We can’t forget the clam chowder and lobster roll. This was a must on Seth’s must-do list for this trip. Taylor was less than excited. We walked over to a nice spot on the water and took in the view. After a bit of convincing she did eat it… and admitted that it was not that bad. 

As the sun headed for the horizon, we set out on what would be our favorite hike from the past two weeks. What luck we had to end on such a good note. This trail is pretty short, clocking in at 1.5 mi with 508 ft of elevation gain. Those 508 ft however, are gained mostly by climbing ladders embedded in the cliff face.

The view at the top was the best way to take in the park. We haven’t come close to doing every hike at Acadia National Park, but this one will be hard to beat. 

As we approach the end of retelling this experience, we get the same feeling we had when on the road. We had seen so much, put in many miles (in the car and on foot), and immediately felt the desire to return. As we wrap up here, all we can think about is the next time we will find ourselves in the northeast region of the United States. 

We prepared to head out early the next morning, hitting a sunrise location on our way out of town. 

As we made our way south in the direction of home, we stopped at one last lighthouse mid-day just to see it. 

It was bittersweet knowing that this was our last stop. We spent the next 15 hours in the car mostly silent, taking in all that we had seen over the past two weeks (we say that now but in the moment the silence most likely stemmed from exhaustion). 

We hope you enjoyed tagging along through our journey through New England. We hope these entries give you the same desire to visit this region of the country or if you’ve been, a chance to relive your own memories. 

Let us know down below what you found to be the most interesting! 

That’s it for now!

Catch ya next time.

Taylor and Seth

Hi, we’re Seth and Taylor and we love sharing all things related to outdoor adventure!

We love anything that gets us outside — hiking, biking, backpack, road tripping, and so much more! We love sharing our adventures and hope it helps YOU get out to see more.

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