The alarm goes off. 5am. Too early! Do we really have to get up at the break of the dawn? I crawl out of my sleeping bag and open the zipper door of the tent. It is still dark outside, but far in the east, there is a red line behind the trees. As I walk to the cliffs the line grows brighter and wider. I stand on the top of the hill looking down to the treetops and the seashore that weaves beneath me. Last night I sat on this cliff admiring the full moon. Cold blue light lit the nature and built a silver bridge on the ocean. Now the sunrise burns the sky colouring it red purple and yellow. The sun climbs higher. The colours start to fade. It’s time to curl back to my sleeping bag.
New England has great hiking and camping areas. My friend and I packed our car and drove up to Maine to enjoy the nature after we got enough of the city- and home-life. The coastal route in Maine is a nice scenic one and there are wonderful towns on the way. Portland was quite a charming, easy going city worth checking out. However, there was an even lovelier town on our way: Camden. Such a cute small town! Small harbour, grassy areas for picnic, beautiful library (I have to say that libraries are great: they offer a shelter if it is raining, usually they have free wifi, as well as toilets and books and newspapers you can read!). The wild camping site where we watched the sunrise is located just outside Camden. A short hike up the hill from the trailhead leads to a beautiful area. Unfortunately, we had to share it with some other campers, including an obnoxious group of teenage girls.
Following few nights we spent in Acadia, which is a national park. There we had to pay for camping, but annoyingly the showers were not included in the price ($30/night). However, the trails were good for short hikes. Most of the trails are just a few miles long, but it is easy to combine different trails as the trails intersect creating networks in the park. That way it is possible to walk longer hikes and try out different type of trails in one day. My favourites were the hikes where we had to climb the cliffs using iron rungs attached to the rock.
Even further to the north from Acadia, just a leap from the Canadian border, lies Cutler Coast Public Lands. That protected area has few miles of hiking trails along the Bold Coast. Steep dark cliffs hover above the waves and the wind blows from the ocean. The forest is left as it is; fallen trees are everywhere. The fact that nature was few weeks behind created the feeling that we had travelled backwards in time. Although the forest is in the middle of nowhere, there were people out there. We ran into a couple with two huge dogs, two families and Tony the party of 12 (as they called themselves in the guestbook). It was much busier than I anticipated. Still, Worth the drive!
Near Here Way Away 