Who lives in Maine... (1 Viewer)

[Jay H]

Just wondering if somebody who lives in Maine can either email me or post here or PM me. I and a friend are going to be biking to Maine from NJ. I want to go to Baxter S.P. and summit Katahdin and my friend has lots of relatives in Maine and typically goes to Orient, ME, which is right next door to Canada (a little south of Houlton on the Chiputneticook Lake) so we'll be taking the Adv. Cycling route from NJ to around Bath but then we'll be deviating from it and heading north to Augusta and through Bangor. The Adv-cycling route goes to Acadia so it basically hugs the coast but since my friend has friends around Augusta and Bangor, we were going to crash at their place for a night. However, was just wondering if somebody who is very familiar with the backroads of Maine, (we have a state map which lists state/county/interstates) but if somebody who might be knowledgeable of places around/between Bath, Augusta, Bangor, could chime in, perhaps I can bounce some route ideas off ya.

I am familiar with cycling on county roads and know that some roads are definitely better than others and I have requested some free biking info from the Maine DOT so that should be arriving someday but if anybody here is from Bangor or Bath or in the area, that would be great.

Thanks in advance and if you see two loaded cyclists slowing plodding up the NE, wave! I'll be on my commuter bike, a '95 Marin Team: Here I am on Lake Champlain with another HTF member, Andrej Dolenc (not pictured Hi Andrej!):



Except I'll have a front rack and front panniers on my Maine trip since I'll be camping.

Jay

 

[Jay H]

Anybody? Nobody from Maine into Home Theaters?

Jay

 

[DonRoeber]

I really want to move to Maine, if that counts?

 

[Jay H]

Do you move real fast? I just got a great package from the Maine DOT.. (Wow, they are fast!!) and it includes a Bike Map listing traffic densities and shoulder width of the ENTIRE state!!!! Woohoo, it's great and exactly what I need...

I wish we had something like that in NJ, we only have a few counties (Morris county comes to mind) that does stuff like that and a guy that has a website here:

www.njbikemap.com

but he's just a advid cyclist, wish the state would publish something similar..

Jay

 

[Jay H]

**oops double post*** Got some kind of database error the first time so I thought my first reply didn't go through.

Jay

 

[Matt Stryker]

Gregg Loewen is/was if I recall correctly. You might email him.

 

[Bill Griffith]

I lived in Maine for 7 years (5 years College and 2 years High School)

How are you planning on getting to Augusta? Baxter State Park (Katahdin) and Acadia (Cadilac mountain).

Bar Harbor is an interesting tourist attraction. You can even take a ride on the Blue Nose Ferry to Halifax (I think) and Bike around up there for a bit if you want.

 

[Jay H]

Thanks guys, I think I am set though.. I received a GREAT bicycle map from the Maine DOT that lists shoulder widths and traffic densities of the entire state's network of county and state roads.

Bill, I am getting to Maine from NJ via NY to New Paltz, cross the Hudson at Poughkeepsie, into CT and into Mass. Go roughly east towards Boston, then shoot NE to NH and enter Maine in Kittery, hugging the coast, sometimes along State 1 and county roads, crossing I-95 in Kennebunk to head inland to Rt 35 by Sebago Lake...

But I'd get to Augusta via Rt 27 by Wiscasset. Then my friend has a friend in Augusta. The next day, we'd go to Bangor via 202 and stay there at another friend's place. Then from there, make our way to Orient and base camp there. I'll probably UPS my hiking gear there and pick it up before biking to Millanocket and eventually Baxter. My friend went to college there (Orono) and he's familiar with alot of the cycling up in Maine but it's been awhile since he's been biking there. He has relatives in Orient, ME (by the Canadian border, south of Houlton).

Jay

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Bar Harbor is an interesting tourist attraction. You can even take a ride on the Blue Nose Ferry to Halifax (I think) and Bike around up there for a bit if you want.

Actually, the ferry is called "The Cat" and runs between Bar Harbor and the southern-most city in Novia Scotia, not Halifax (sorry, but I cannot remember the city name). Halifax is several hours drive north along the eastern coast of the province. We took the ferry and then drove to Cape Bretton in the northern-most section of Novia Scotia a couple of years ago. The ferry ride was about 3 hours, I think.

 

[Dave Morton]

I love the Bar Harbor area.

We took "the Cat" to Nova Scotia. It would have been a nice ride but, at that time, the weather was terrible and many were getting sea sick.

Aside from that, if it were a nice day, the ride would have been great. They have a casino on board too.

Definitely, ride the carriage trails in acadia.

 

[Jay H]

Been to Acadia but not on or with my bike. I did some hiking on the nature trails around there and around Joshua Pond (or is that a lake?). Drove up Cadillac cause I was with my parents.

We're not going to Acadia cause we had a change of plans. I've decided to summit Katahdin so we'll be biking to Baxter from our base camp in Orient and spending a day before and after the bike. My friend who is a bit older than I (in age, not in spirit) is not as much a hiker as I am so we'll most likely do separate things then and perhaps meet up to go back...

The carriage roads in Acadia must be nice and I've seen the Cat from the island before, it would make a great bike trip to take the ferry to Nova Scotia during the fall.

Jay

 

[Andrej Dolenc]

Sounds like a sweet trip. When you guys taking off?

Andrej

 

[Bill Griffith]

What happened to the Blue Nose? Never even heard of the Cat.

 

[Jay H]

Dates aren't set in stone, I'd like to know ASAP cause I have to make reservations in Baxter for sure..

My friend is divorced and July is his month without custody so we're thinking the very end of june to early July but again, it's not fixed yet.

Jay

 

[Jay H]

Well, I just received my confirmation with reservations at Roaring Brook campsite on July 7th/8th. Leanto#8, if you're in the neighborhood, stop by and say "hello" Leaving after work on June 27th going to Orient and then a day of rest, then headed to Baxter on the 7th. If anybody even wants to join me on the hike, looks like I'll have a spot in the leanto open.

Jay