skierinvermont Posted September 3, 2011 Share Posted September 3, 2011 Three friends and I recently kayaked the northern portion of the Maine Island Trail from Rockland (mid-coast) to Cutler (far northeast coast). I found it to be one of the wildest most beautiful places I have ever been. Amazing scenery, lots of wildlife, huge tides, 1000s of tiny islands, completely uninhabited sections, cool crisp ocean air, dense fog.. too much to describe. We were planning on going to Lubec (the northeast tip of Maine) but after a couple hours of kayaking 8' waves alongside 100' cliffs we stopped at the last possible harbor of Cutler. Couldn't possibly take pictures of all of it but here is some: Sunset at our 2nd campsite in Winter Harbor, Vinalhaven. 3rd campsite on a sand bar a mile north of Isle au Haut. You can see pretty much the whole island in this picture. Sunset at the 3rd campsite. Making dinner on the rocks on a small island just north of Swans Island (day 4). Camping in a meadow on a small island near Cranberry Island just south of Mount Desert Island and Acadia National Park. Rainbow at campsite on a small meadow covered island. This is my favorite place we stayed. Medium sized island covered in blueberries and peat bogs. 100' cliffs at the west end of the island where photo was taken. Me on the cliffs. Kayaking in fog by compass.. no land in sight! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spiffybeth Posted September 3, 2011 Share Posted September 3, 2011 really beautiful! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nzucker Posted September 3, 2011 Share Posted September 3, 2011 Wow, those islands are beautiful...the meadows probably explode with blueberries and flowers in the spring. I haven't been to the Maine coast in a long, long time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eyewall Posted September 3, 2011 Share Posted September 3, 2011 Truly awesome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parsley Posted September 3, 2011 Share Posted September 3, 2011 Beautiful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bowtie` Posted September 4, 2011 Share Posted September 4, 2011 Nice images. Gorgeous area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quakertown needs snow Posted September 5, 2011 Share Posted September 5, 2011 awesome! thanks for sharing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitemountainhiker Posted September 5, 2011 Share Posted September 5, 2011 Wow, that sunset shot is spectacular. It looks like a nice place to visit, maybe I will someday. Thanks for posting these! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tamarack Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 Beautiful pics! And the scenery gets even better east of Cutler harbor. My favorite spot (visited from landward) is a pocket "beach" surrounded by 100'+ cliffs, about a mile east of Black Point Cove. (Beach is in quotes due to its consisting of "Cutler sand", well rounded stones 2-5" across. Anything smaller gets swept away.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skierinvermont Posted September 6, 2011 Author Share Posted September 6, 2011 Beautiful pics! And the scenery gets even better east of Cutler harbor. My favorite spot (visited from landward) is a pocket "beach" surrounded by 100'+ cliffs, about a mile east of Black Point Cove. (Beach is in quotes due to its consisting of "Cutler sand", well rounded stones 2-5" across. Anything smaller gets swept away.) Yes the last several miles before entering the harbor of Cutler was very different from anything preceding.. very unique and harsh. Cutler didn't really have the cliffs but the 2-3 miles before the harbor was solid 50-100' cliffs with 8' waves and a 3kt current running along them. I imagine it's pretty similar if you keep going? We stopped because I've heard there are only 2 more coves (Bailey's and Moose) that it is possible to land at between there and Quoddy Head and we were terrified by the first 2 mile stretch. I've got a couple pics from our campsite 2 miles south of Cutler that sound similar to the sort of pocket "beach you are describing.. here's one, the waves were a lot bigger when we woke up the next morning. This was the only place we that we could land at in that 3 mile stretch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tamarack Posted September 7, 2011 Share Posted September 7, 2011 Yes the last several miles before entering the harbor of Cutler was very different from anything preceding.. very unique and harsh. Cutler didn't really have the cliffs but the 2-3 miles before the harbor was solid 50-100' cliffs with 8' waves and a 3kt current running along them. I imagine it's pretty similar if you keep going? We stopped because I've heard there are only 2 more coves (Bailey's and Moose) that it is possible to land at between there and Quoddy Head and we were terrified by the first 2 mile stretch. I've got a couple pics from our campsite 2 miles south of Cutler that sound similar to the sort of pocket "beach you are describing.. here's one, the waves were a lot bigger when we woke up the next morning. This was the only place we that we could land at in that 3 mile stretch. Classic Cutler sand on that beach, but the one farther east has near-vertical walls on three sides, a much more closed-in effect than the pic seems to portray. (I've only seen that coastline from overland access - usually much less adrenaline that way, though on my one visit to the "deep pocket", I took an alternate route up a seemingly-solid cliff that turned out to be crumbly dirt-rock, leaving me hanging on by the grass as I scrambled up. Dumb! At least when the yellowjacket nailed me 5 minutes later, I knew an epi-pen would be superfluous. I'm not allergic, anyway - not yet, at least.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skierinvermont Posted September 7, 2011 Author Share Posted September 7, 2011 Classic Cutler sand on that beach, but the one farther east has near-vertical walls on three sides, a much more closed-in effect than the pic seems to portray. (I've only seen that coastline from overland access - usually much less adrenaline that way, though on my one visit to the "deep pocket", I took an alternate route up a seemingly-solid cliff that turned out to be crumbly dirt-rock, leaving me hanging on by the grass as I scrambled up. Dumb! At least when the yellowjacket nailed me 5 minutes later, I knew an epi-pen would be superfluous. I'm not allergic, anyway - not yet, at least.) That sounds really cool, I looked up the spot on google. I was disappointed to not get to see that last section but we were on a schedule and didn't have time to wait for the waves to slack off. I wonder do you think one could land at the spot you are describing? Would be good to know for future reference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tamarack Posted September 7, 2011 Share Posted September 7, 2011 That sounds really cool, I looked up the spot on google. I was disappointed to not get to see that last section but we were on a schedule and didn't have time to wait for the waves to slack off. I wonder do you think one could land at the spot you are describing? Would be good to know for future reference. The entrance is a bit narrow, maybe 100' wide, and thus would be uber-hairy in a big sea, but the beach itself is just fine. I've only seen it at mid-tide, so I don't know if the entrance has any teeth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allenson Posted September 22, 2011 Share Posted September 22, 2011 Great shots man and looks like a fun trip. I know those waters fairly well and that dense fog sure can make navigating tricky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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