Majestic Maine Mountains

July 2023

As a preparation for hopefully upcoming Tour du Mont Blanc (about a year from now) we are dedicating our vacations to some training doing hikes in the mountain areas. Read more

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Traveler Majestic Maine Mountains
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- Jul 8, 2023, 10:47am
- ☁️ 75 °F
- Altitude: 105 ft
- United States Maine Town of Kennebunk Bartlett Mills Punky Swamp 43.411667, -70.55833343°24’42” N 70°33’30” W
Day 1
1st stop
July 8, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 75 °F
This was our 1st stop after we left the house and made a fast pit-stop at Wawa's.
Took us about 4.5 hours and we are roughly 9-10 miles into the State of Maine and we are about 1/2 way to our destinationRead more
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Traveler Majestic Maine Mountains
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- Jul 8, 2023, 2:57pm
- ⛅ 82 °F
- Altitude: 748 ft
- United States Maine Town of Island Falls Walker Settlement 46.028333, -68.2146°1’42” N 68°12’36” W
Day 1
VacationLand Estates
July 8, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 82 °F
So this is our hangout for this upcoming week. We are on the outskirts of Island Falls (pop. All of 600) 😁
Surprisingly, I made it here in 8hrs 40mins incl. the break
Interesting setup with these cabin-style buildings
Surrounded by beautiful. Maine nature, can't wait to exploreRead more
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Traveler Majestic Maine Mountains
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- Jul 8, 2023, 3:01pm
- ⛅ 82 °F
- Altitude: 748 ft
- United States Maine Town of Island Falls Walker Settlement 46.028333, -68.2146°1’42” N 68°12’36” W
Day 1
Cabin 61
July 8, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 82 °F
And that is our "cabin". Very clean, plenty of space even has a loft
Huge communal deck in the back overlooking golf course geen.
Pretty decent digs! [Jeanine]
7/8/23Reply
Traveler Nice cabin! Looks very comfortable. The deck view is beautiful!
7/9/23Reply
Traveler Nice cabin!
7/11/23Reply
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Traveler Majestic Maine Mountains
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- Jul 8, 2023, 7:51pm
- ⛅ 75 °F
- Altitude: 748 ft
- United States Maine Town of Island Falls Walker Settlement 46.028333, -68.2146°1’42” N 68°12’36” W
Day 1
End of the day
July 8, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 75 °F
..and do after getting ourselves situated, going to the local grocery store, which is absolutely a Typical County Store, getting provisions and grabbing fast dinner, we are retiring for the night leaving you with gorgeous mountain sunset
P.S. this also gave me a chance to test out my birthday present from Barry and Jo, namely a card reader, and I am happy to say that it works.
These sunset photos are taken with my 35mm camera and I don't have to wait until I get home to post them anymore 😁Read more
Beautiful sunset. Wish I was there. [Jeanine]
7/8/23Reply
Traveler Drive up. There is an extra bedroom 😄
7/8/23Reply
Traveler Beautiful! Glad you are testing your new "toy". 😊
7/9/23Reply
Traveler Thanks
7/9/23Reply
Traveler These are beautiful photos!!!
7/11/23Reply
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- Jul 9, 2023, 8:14am
- ☁️ 72 °F
- Altitude: 558 ft
- United States Maine Island Falls Robinson Mountain 46.025, -68.2446°1’30” N 68°14’24” W
Day 2
Robinson Mountain
July 9, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 72 °F
Robinson Mountain is a peak not far from our cabin in and has an elevation of 1,020 feet. Robinson Mountain is named after Maj. George Robinson, a former resident in Island Falls. Robinson served with 8th ME VI and perhaps best remembered for interfering with Lewis Paine (Powell) - co-conspirator of John Wilkes Booth - during the latter's attempt at assassinating Secretary of State William Steward on April 14, 1865. (Robinson was a Sgt. then)
In any case, a new trail was just opened, and we decided to take advantage ...

Parking area and small commemorative rock overlooking Upper Mattawamkeag Lake.

BTW, Robinson Mountain is the one straight ahead from our patio on last night's sunset photosRead more
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Traveler Majestic Maine Mountains
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- Jul 9, 2023, 8:30am
- ☁️ 72 °F
- Altitude: 548 ft
- United States Maine Island Falls Robinson Mountain 46.02, -68.24333346°1’12” N 68°14’36” W
Day 2
Trail
July 9, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 72 °F
So the trailhead proved to be somewhat elusive, but in the end, we found a service road that eventually got us on it.
The ATVs use the trail as well, so there are plenty of mud spots...
Of course, we got eaten alive by the army of mosquitoes (later on that 🙄).
Meanwhile, some views while on the trail incl. a beautiful flower and a multicolored field of them.Read more
Traveler The views are wonderful!!
7/11/23Reply
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Traveler Majestic Maine Mountains
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- Jul 9, 2023, 9:57am
- ☁️ 73 °F
- Altitude: 1,004 ft
- United States Maine Island Falls Robinson Mountain 46.026667, -68.25166746°1’36” N 68°15’6” W
Day 2
The summit
July 9, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 73 °F
We made it to the summit and marveled at views again.
We spent some time on this little opening, had some lunch, and rested. Mosquitoes were still relentless, though...
So we traversed the other side of the trail loop, which wound up taking us down to what most likely IS that elusive trailhead, and we got to our car after perhaps. 5 mile 😊
Slightly less than 5 miles total(trail proper), it was a good short start (hopefully we'll do better in upcoming days if the weather behaves)

These shots include Pastor Mandy's Serene Video of the day (seems they exist outside The Camino... who knew...😇) and views of Majestic Katahdin Mountain - the tallest mountain of The State of Maine and the Northern Terminus of AT.

Needless to say we rode into town, hit the County Store ang got mosquitoes repellent 👍Read more
Traveler Are they bigger than NJ mosquitoes? 😳 Happy Birthday! Views are beautiful.
7/9/23Reply
Traveler No they are not but I believe they are more...bloodthirsty 🙄
7/9/23Reply
Traveler Beautiful!
7/11/23Reply
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Traveler Majestic Maine Mountains
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- Jul 9, 2023, 7:09pm
- ☁️ 77 °F
- Altitude: 748 ft
- United States Maine Town of Island Falls Walker Settlement 46.028333, -68.2146°1’42” N 68°12’36” W
Day 2
Cheese and Wine
July 9, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 77 °F
..so this was a major bummer.
As many of you know, today is Laurie's birthday, and I was all set to take her out to a nice dinner.
I forgot where we are!!!
Not only does one have to go completely crazy to even remotely find anything "nice" by our standards (remember- pop. 600, right, so 2 restaurants and nice is still the same as regular, namely burgers and pizza...else you have to drive somewhere fir 2 hours)...but since it's Sunday, they close by 5 pm!!!! 😡
Yup!
So.... we contented with one of our "in"-dinners and joined other vacationers for complimentary cheese and wine event in the evening 😀
I end this day with a shot of communal deck resplendent in swimwear and a partial view of Mt. Chase, which is to the right of Robinson Mountain, and also is seen from said deck.Read more
Traveler Sorry about your dinner plans. ☹️ But wine and cheese is good! 😃 Beautiful sunset.
7/9/23Reply
Traveler Yes, we've learned to live with "what it is". We probably will try for that dinner tomorrow night
7/9/23Reply
Traveler Making the best of what is possible always seems to be a good idea to me.
7/11/23Reply
Traveler 👍
7/11/23Reply
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Traveler Majestic Maine Mountains
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- Jul 10, 2023, 8:57am
- ☁️ 72 °F
- Altitude: 699 ft
- United States Maine Penobscot County Shin Falls 46.141667, -68.61546°8’30” N 68°36’54” W
Day 3
Shin Falls
July 10, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 72 °F
Today we squeezed in 2 relatively sort hikes.
The partial problem is that, although there are abundance of places, it takes forever to get to them. This one, Shin Falls, was about 35 minutes drive - one of the shorter ones.
Also called Shin Brooks Falls, they consist of Upper and Lower FallsRead more
Traveler Laurie looks like she is having fun -- Allan, maybe not so much
7/11/23Reply
Traveler Was bit too humid for me...plus I was still struggling with selfies
7/11/23Reply
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Traveler Majestic Maine Mountains
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- Jul 10, 2023, 9:21am
- ☁️ 73 °F
- Altitude: 689 ft
- United States Maine Penobscot County Shin Falls 46.138333, -68.61333346°8’18” N 68°36’48” W
Day 3
Maybe... and a little later
July 10, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 73 °F
The trail unfortunately turned out not well marked at all. We completely missed the turn, therefore never making it to the loop and the Lower Falls.
Perhaps it was for the best - many reviews mention that descending is somewhat treacherous even as the trail rated as Easy/Moderate.
We mainly are focusing on getting back in shape and for Laurie to get used to walk with a 20L backpack.
...so we came to the end of the path we were on and hit these little rapids.
Moving a little bit to the right, we could see the plunge of the falls... but that was it 😒
Nature is still beautiful, though 😍

When we made it back to the car, we also walked the service road, pretty much flat and open canopy. The mosquitoes were very happy to see us. Even as we liberally sprayed ourselves with repellant, they never completely left us (but the assault was not as brutal as yesterday).
IMHO, these suckers (pun intended) are fully u-t-d on their vaccines and are not afraid of the repellent 😁🥲Read more
Traveler It seems serene to me :) And Laurie looks so beautiful!!
7/11/23Reply
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