Toe Cozy
New member
- Joined
- Sep 1, 2004
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On Oct. 12th Laura Z and her husband, Bob, told me about the Bold Coast Trail in Cutler, ME. I had never heard of it before. I had to go. Now. Before I go back to w$rk.
On Oct. 21- I left my house heading toward Maine. I stopped in Portland, ate pizza and went to Portland head light with Spongebob. That was a good reminder of why I was doing this trip alone! I spent that night with Laura Z and Bob at their very cool new eco-friendlier house in Belfast. Thanks guys!
Oct. 22- Drove up Rte 1. stopping at Schoodic Point and playing on the rocks and summoning the waves for a long time. Schoodic Point is one of my top five favorite places. I continued on to Lubec, ME where the wind was gusting to about 55 mph, boats were tossing violently in the harbor taking on water and I was cozy and happy drinking beers and eating the best burger of my life at Cohill's Inn right at the bottom of Main St. One of the owner's shared some local Dulce (seaweed) with me and I spent the evening shooting the breeze with a small collection of colorful locals. The wind was howling and it was bitterly cold out. I get very cold, very fast and started to get nervous about my solo overnight right on the coast the next day.
Oct. 23- Overnight, my cell phone intermittently and unbeknownst to me picked up the signal from across the water in Canada, which is on Atlantic time and I lost an hour of my life in a very confusing sort of way. I recovered the hour as I drove toward West Quoddy Head Light for a short visit. I got to the Cutler Wildlife Management area and started my hike in on the Inland trail. Lovely mossy forest, bog bridges, easy footing and barely any elevation gain. I was worried that the wind would stay strong and make it a very, very uncomfortable night. I had never done an overnight alone and I'll admit I was nervous. I have an active imagination and it can get ugly sometimes!
There are 3 small, primitive tent sites about a quarter mile apart. Awesome! Fantastic! A new entry on my top 5 list of all time favorite places. The wind disappeared, I lounged in the sun, I read T.S. Eliot out loud to the ocean and saw no people until almost at my car the next day. I saw two sets of three dolphins swim past, several harbor seals huffing around in the water and two eagles. I watched the sun set, saw the Milky Way reflected in the ocean, the moon rise at 3am and the most gorgeous sunrise kept me company during breakfast. It was the most awesome night I spent outdoors so far. I stayed warm and toasty all night with all my layers and down.
Oct. 24- Hiked out via the coastal trail the next day in solitude, taking in all the fantastic views along the way. Never was so sad to see my car. A most memorable first solo overnight.
I continued up the coast and crossed into Canada to Fundy National Park. I stayed two nights in Alma, NB at the Falcon Ridge Inn. Great views, kind of a sterile atmosphere to the place though.
Oct. 25-Checked out Hopewell Rocks, Cape Enrage (where a random old man gave me a really big hug, which was nice, as I hadn't had a proper hug in a couple days) and some very short walks in Fundy National Park. Most services shut down after Thanksgiving. Cool, I'm still in luck. Wrong...they, of course, meant Canadian Thanksgiving which is the 2nd Monday in Oct. I think. So, Alma was pretty quiet. The park was odd because I couldn't find trail information anywhere other than in the really lousy tourist brochure map. No descriptions, lengths, etc. Maybe in season you can get that kind of info from the park rangers. And although you can use the park off-season the rangers aren't there to answer questions. All the walks I did were highly "maintained". There were more stairs than the Porter Square T-Station!
Oct. 26- I left a day earlier than planned. There's nothing wrong with the area really, but there was just something about it that didn't inspire me. I felt the same way about Hood River, OR. I don't know why, just didn't like it. It's like the rocks, the soil, the water just don't click with me...it's weird. So, I left, stopping off again at Schoodic Point (in a wicked rain/wind event which was awesome) on the way to my Mother-in-law's for a free overnight.
Oct. 27th Hung out with Spogebob again for a walk around Wolf Neck Park in Freeport and then lunch at Gritty's Pub. This was a good way to end my trip because it reminded me (again) why I did this trip solo!
Check this out for the visual trip report.
Thanks for reading!
On Oct. 21- I left my house heading toward Maine. I stopped in Portland, ate pizza and went to Portland head light with Spongebob. That was a good reminder of why I was doing this trip alone! I spent that night with Laura Z and Bob at their very cool new eco-friendlier house in Belfast. Thanks guys!
Oct. 22- Drove up Rte 1. stopping at Schoodic Point and playing on the rocks and summoning the waves for a long time. Schoodic Point is one of my top five favorite places. I continued on to Lubec, ME where the wind was gusting to about 55 mph, boats were tossing violently in the harbor taking on water and I was cozy and happy drinking beers and eating the best burger of my life at Cohill's Inn right at the bottom of Main St. One of the owner's shared some local Dulce (seaweed) with me and I spent the evening shooting the breeze with a small collection of colorful locals. The wind was howling and it was bitterly cold out. I get very cold, very fast and started to get nervous about my solo overnight right on the coast the next day.
Oct. 23- Overnight, my cell phone intermittently and unbeknownst to me picked up the signal from across the water in Canada, which is on Atlantic time and I lost an hour of my life in a very confusing sort of way. I recovered the hour as I drove toward West Quoddy Head Light for a short visit. I got to the Cutler Wildlife Management area and started my hike in on the Inland trail. Lovely mossy forest, bog bridges, easy footing and barely any elevation gain. I was worried that the wind would stay strong and make it a very, very uncomfortable night. I had never done an overnight alone and I'll admit I was nervous. I have an active imagination and it can get ugly sometimes!
There are 3 small, primitive tent sites about a quarter mile apart. Awesome! Fantastic! A new entry on my top 5 list of all time favorite places. The wind disappeared, I lounged in the sun, I read T.S. Eliot out loud to the ocean and saw no people until almost at my car the next day. I saw two sets of three dolphins swim past, several harbor seals huffing around in the water and two eagles. I watched the sun set, saw the Milky Way reflected in the ocean, the moon rise at 3am and the most gorgeous sunrise kept me company during breakfast. It was the most awesome night I spent outdoors so far. I stayed warm and toasty all night with all my layers and down.
Oct. 24- Hiked out via the coastal trail the next day in solitude, taking in all the fantastic views along the way. Never was so sad to see my car. A most memorable first solo overnight.
I continued up the coast and crossed into Canada to Fundy National Park. I stayed two nights in Alma, NB at the Falcon Ridge Inn. Great views, kind of a sterile atmosphere to the place though.
Oct. 25-Checked out Hopewell Rocks, Cape Enrage (where a random old man gave me a really big hug, which was nice, as I hadn't had a proper hug in a couple days) and some very short walks in Fundy National Park. Most services shut down after Thanksgiving. Cool, I'm still in luck. Wrong...they, of course, meant Canadian Thanksgiving which is the 2nd Monday in Oct. I think. So, Alma was pretty quiet. The park was odd because I couldn't find trail information anywhere other than in the really lousy tourist brochure map. No descriptions, lengths, etc. Maybe in season you can get that kind of info from the park rangers. And although you can use the park off-season the rangers aren't there to answer questions. All the walks I did were highly "maintained". There were more stairs than the Porter Square T-Station!
Oct. 26- I left a day earlier than planned. There's nothing wrong with the area really, but there was just something about it that didn't inspire me. I felt the same way about Hood River, OR. I don't know why, just didn't like it. It's like the rocks, the soil, the water just don't click with me...it's weird. So, I left, stopping off again at Schoodic Point (in a wicked rain/wind event which was awesome) on the way to my Mother-in-law's for a free overnight.
Oct. 27th Hung out with Spogebob again for a walk around Wolf Neck Park in Freeport and then lunch at Gritty's Pub. This was a good way to end my trip because it reminded me (again) why I did this trip solo!
Check this out for the visual trip report.
Thanks for reading!
