Easternmost Town in USA

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We have been in Maine just over six weeks and have a month before we have another reservation for a campsite down near Savannah Georgia. Our plan is to use the month of October to play it by ear and head south as need be, based on weather and campground availability. Many of them close after Columbus Day which is a reasonably good estimate of when the weather turns for the worse. Schoodic Woods was to have been as Far East as we came, but now that we can look at the 10 day weather forecast, we don’t see anything that looks bad on the horizon. The town of Lubec Maine is the easternmost town in the USA. We call Sunset Point RV Park, which happens to be the easternmost campground in the USA, to check on availability for a week. “Come on down, we have room.” They don’t even ask for a deposit. 

It’s only about 75 miles mostly along US 1. There were a few construction areas along the way, including the dreaded “pavement ends” sign. On a rainy day, diving on a dirt road is a great way to get a dirty rig. We were getting low on groceries which wasn’t going to be a problem when we expected to be heading west, but the IGA in Lubec is probably going to be a small one. I had scoped out a Hannaford Grocery store in Machias along the way and the aerial view looked like the parking may be large enough for us. We stop and even though it was somewhat crowded in the parking lot, I was able to navigate into a safe parking spot and Chris headed in to restock the shelves.

Nobody was in the campground office when we arrived, but a note for us identified which site was ours and we surveyed the situation. Being the easternmost town, we were initially confused why the place would be called Sunset Point. Shouldn’t it be called sunrise point? Well the campground is situated on a small peninsula that sticks out into Johnson Bay and many of the sites face west. The utilities are configured for rigs to back in, but most motorhomes are pulled in in order to have the front window overlooking the bay. Our power cord and water hose reach without problem so we pull in. On a side note, it took three sunsets before the weather cleared enough to enjoy the sunset view.

Less than 2 miles east is the bridge onto Campobello Island. This was a destination recommended by some other campers in Trenton, but was a further drive than we like for day trips when we were in Schoodic Woods. But now that we are this close, it’s a must see. It is actually part of Canada - New Brunswick to be specific. But it can only be accessed by land from Lubec. Crossing over also takes us into the Atlantic time zone which must be accounted for when doing tours and such on the island.

Only the geekiest of history buffs would likely know that Campobello Island is where Franklin Delano Roosevelt would vacation and owned a summer cottage. That portion of the island has now been turned into an international park administered by both countries. There is no toll to go across the bridge but you will need your passport to get there and back. There is a visitor center shortly after passing through customs. It isn’t associated with Roosevelt Park, so they have all sorts of information for Campobello Island as well as much of eastern Maine. The woman we chatted with enjoys hiking so she was able to give us her honest opinion of what’s good and what’s so-so.

Our next destination is the visitor center at Roosevelt Park. They offer several free tours and activities throughout the day. We pick up tickets for the 1:30 FUN tour which sounded fun. But first we sat and watched the information video. This was definitely helpful since it explains all about how the Roosevelts came to be here. It was here on the island that FDR first experienced the symptoms of polio. After the video, we head over for a tour of the Roosevelt cottage. Obviously the Roosevelt’s have a very different idea of what constitutes a cottage. This place is huge. We had just missed the tour of the inside, but since we came in with 2 other couples, they squeezed an additional tour in between the scheduled ones. There were more servant’s quarters than most homes have normal bedrooms. The Roosevelts knew how to live. 

Roosevelt Campobello Visitor Center

FDR's Old Canoe

Roosevelt Cottage

Old Dock at Cottage

Living Room

Great Views

Old Stove

Home Schooling Area

Boy's Bedroom

We had time after the tour to eat our lunch before our FUN tour was to take place. In this case, FUN stands for Fantastic, Unbelievable and Not-ordinary. Our tour leader was definitely an entertaining guy. If I believe his name tag, he was in charge of the facility here. He would walk us around the grounds and use his iPad to show us short little slide shows that explain some quirky thing about the Roosevelts or the cottages. For instance, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt aren’t just husband and wife, but fifth cousins once removed. (Don’t ask me exactly what this means but it’s probably much less scandalous than it sounds) We got to go into one of the other cottages that is maintained by the park and he took us behind the ropes that visitors aren’t to go past. It was an interesting tour and would have been fun even if it wasn’t free. They also have “tea with Eleanor” sessions but we never signed up for one of these.

Piano Playing on FUN Tour

Huge Oval Window

Now that we had our culture in for the day, we needed to experience the outdoors. Down the dirt road across from the visitor center is Raccoon Beach. It was close to low tide and we could hear and see the seals laying on one of the exposed rocks just offshore. From the parking area, a trail heads south high up above the shoreline overlooking the ocean. Much of the walk is in wet areas with cut logs making a walkway. Thankfully they had asphalt shingles over most of the logs otherwise the footing was very treacherous. Along the way, I spotted a bald eagle fly overhead and managed to get one good shot of it before it flew out of sight. The original plan was to have gone all the way to Liberty Point. But after we realized how challenging the walk was (especially since we had left our hiking sticks in the car), we only made it to Ragged Point about 1.5 miles out and half a dozen geocaches. The walk back was slow going but once in the car, we didn’t have a long drive and the border crossing went fine.

Bald Eagle Soars Past

Rocky Coast of Campobello

More Coastal Views

Bay Where Seals Were

"Sunsweep" Monument Hidden Along Coast

Mushroom

Armed with the info from the first visitor center on the island, the next day we headed to Western Head Preserve near the town of Cutler about 20 miles from Lubec. We got the last parking spot in the small lot and headed out on the hike. The area is definitely a fishing and lobster area. Many boats and not a one of them looks like a pleasure craft. The sign at the trailhead warned about hunting on the preserve and wearing blaze orange. We had kind of forgotten about this aspect of hiking and will need to pull out our gear for future hikes. Partway into the hike, we hit the split in the trail. Being a loop, it doesn’t matter too much. We headed right and went around in a counterclockwise direction. In hindsight, we would likely pick the other direction to make the steeper section be an uphill climb but either direction will work. Even on a cloudy day, the views were nice along the coast. The wind however was quite strong and made it seem much colder than it actually was. It was a nice hike and worth the trip to do it.

Fishing Boats and Town of Cutler

Small Home on Island

Western Head Trail

Mossy Forest

Mushroom

Rocky Coast on Windy Day

Mushrooms with a View

Trail Through Dead Trees

Colorful Ferns

Contrasting Rocks

Another Wet Area to Cross

Mushroom

The following day took us back to Campobello Island. We had a very specific goal in mind - East Quoddy Lighthouse (or Head Harbour Lightstation). This lighthouse can be visited but only during the two hours on either side of low tide. We had picked this day based on both the weather and the time of low tide. Low tide would be at 2 PM eastern time, so we figure if we get there around lunchtime, we should be good to go. We headed over early to get in a few hikes during the morning. The first stop was back at the Roosevelt International Park. There is a hike from the parking lot to Friar’s Head. It’s less than a mile each way and was a pleasant walk. There are an abundance of apple trees along the way and it seemed as if they had a bumper crop of apples based on the layer of them on the ground with many more still on the trees. We tried to walk along the beach to actually see the rock outcropping at the tip of Friar’s Head, but it is only accessible during low tide. So instead, we hike up to the observation deck on top of Friar’s Head. Out in the bay are large floating net structures that are used to “farm” salmon. The ones closer to the shore were not in use as determined by the lack of a net over the top. When actually in use, a net covers the top to prevent birds from having a feeding frenzy. 

Looking Across at Eastport Maine

Salmon Farming

Salmon Farming Nets

The next stop along the way was at Eagle Hill Bog. We have definitely been seeing lots of bogs in Downeast Maine, so it shouldn’t be too surprising that Campobello Island has them as well. There is a nice boardwalk through the bog and then a walk in the woods to an observation deck overlooking the bog. It was a pretty stop but we needed to continue to the northern tip of the island to get to the lighthouse. There is a large gravel parking lot with a restroom and a few picnic tables. We sit and have our lunch before heading to the lighthouse. A few people show up while we are eating but many just pose for a picture on the hill with the lighthouse in the background about 1000 feet behind them.

Boardwalk at Eagle Hill Bog

View from Observation Deck at Eagle Hill Bog

There is a small shack at the entrance path to the lighthouse. If there is a person sitting there, you are charged $5 per person to walk out to the lighthouse. If nobody is there, you’re in the clear to go out for free. We paid the price but it is well worth the cost. The guy tells us how long we have before needing to come back, but since we came 90 minutes before low tide, we could stay out there a few hours. The path to the lighthouse isn’t for the faint of heart. Given Chris’ fear of heights and ladders, I had shown her a video somebody posted of what was involved and she agreed she could handle it. 

The lighthouse is situated on a small island, separated from the main island by two even smaller islands. After a short walk on a path, past the large signs indicating the danger involved in going to the lighthouse, we are presented with the first set of twenty or so steps down. No big deal other than the railing is rather rusty. After walking through the seaweed covered rocks and a gravel bar, we head up about 40 steps to the first island. Getting to the next island is easy since there is a nice bridge across. A geocache on this island was found quickly since nobody was around to see us searching.

Warning Sign!

First Stairs Down

Gravel Bar over to Island #1

Stairs Up to Island #1

Bridge Between Islands #1 and #2

View of Lighthouse from Island #2

We still need to get down from this island. This is where the last set of “stairs” are. Being closer to vertical, it might be better to call them a ladder. It doesn’t help that this ladder is tilted in a left/right manner making all the treads sloped a bit. The whole thing felt stable and Chris took her time and safely made it to the last gravel bar over to the island with the lighthouse. The couple that was ahead of us had already started their journey back which meant we had the place to ourselves for 20 minutes or more before others started to work their way across. We checked out the lighthouse from all different angles. It wasn’t possible to enter the building but it was still a great spot to explore.

Chris Slowly Heads Down Last Ladder

Getting Closer to Island #3 and Lighthouse

Perched on a Rock

Our Selfie Pose

There are a couple benches on the eastern side that allow you to sit and watch the ocean. It’s not the right time of year to see whales but there were a lot of birds (gulls and cormorants) sitting on the rocks just offshore exposed by the low tide. We spent over an hour just enjoying the scenery with only a few others showing up. By the time we started to head back which would have been close to the official low tide time, there were dozens of people heading over. I suspect most visitors think they need to go over right at low tide so the crowds are bigger then. If you get a chance to check it out, I recommend you go 90 minutes before low tide to improve your odds of smaller crowds. Of course we were there in early October, all bets are off if you go during peak tourist season.

Others Heading to Lighthouse as We Return

Chris Makes It Up Sloped Stairs

I got out the long telephoto lens and took some pictures from the main island. While checking out another set of salmon farming pens, we saw some porpoises swimming nearby probably wishing they could get to all those fish. We still had some daylight left so we went after a few geocaches on our drive back. One brought us down a trail to a small cove that had a nice distance view of the lighthouse plus a wrecked boat that had seen better days.

Porpoise Passing By

Close-up of Salmon Net

Bridge and Lighthouse

Distance View of Lighthouse

Needs TLC

The next stop was at Head Harbor Wharf. Being late afternoon, we hoped for the place to be deserted and we could find the geocache in peace. What we found was anything but peaceful. There were lots of cars and trucks with trailers and probably a couple dozen people all out on the one pier. But even with that many people, the real commotion came from the couple hundred gulls all around the pier. As we approached, we saw why. A boat had just come in and was offloading their catch. The pier is 15 feet above the boat and a one foot diameter plastic pipe was in the hold of the boat and the fish were being vacuumed out and up to a hopper that could be directed into large plastic bins. It was odd to see all these fish falling into the bin. As one bin filled, a forklift would remove it and place it off to the side and an empty would be pushed in place. At no point was the flow of fish interrupted. Hundreds would fall to the ground during the changeover. The birds were constantly looking for an opening to sneak in and snatch a meal.

Lots of Boats at Head Harbour Wharf

Red Reflection

Scene From Hitchcock's "The Birds" ???

Flying Fish

As one of the guys was walking by us, I showed my ignorance and asked what kind of fish we were looking at. He told us they are herring and they will be used as bait for the lobster traps. Each of the plastic bins full of herring had a cover over them but since the covers were not all well seated, the gulls would sit on top of a bin and simply pull a fish out and swallow it whole. I saw one gull eat three in rapid succession before flying off. I now understand how these birds get to be so large - they are well fed. As the boat emptied, a worker grabbed a shovel and started to clean up the large pile of fish on the ground. I suspect the gulls would have been willing to help with the cleanup efforts. We never did look for the geocache since we found something much more interesting in the process.

Gulls Go in to Clean Up

There is another nice lighthouse in the area. Quoddy Head State Park juts out on a peninsula a bit further east than the town of Lubec making it the easternmost point in the USA. The West Quoddy Head light is situated on the tip of the peninsula. We came here on a nice Saturday so the fact that it was somewhat busy shouldn’t have been too surprising. We walked around the outside of the lighthouse before heading in to check out the small museum. It’s a nice place but I think the East Quoddy Head light was slightly nicer possible because visiting it requires a bit more planning and effort. 

West Quoddy Head Lighthouse

Easternmost Point in the USA, West Quoddy Head Lubec Maine

Side View

In Tower's Shadow

From the Shore

There are a few trails in the park and we felt the need to at least check some of them out. We initially headed down the trail along the southern shore. Then we headed inland a bit to check out the Bog Trail. We really enjoyed this part of the walk. A short boardwalk winds through the bog giving plenty of opportunity to see the various plants. Many of them were donning their fall colors. The pitcher plant, which is kind of fascinating simply because it is carnivorous, was a reddish maroon and quite striking. 

Boardwalk on Bog Trail

Pitcher Plant

Rather than continuing on the loop to the west, we headed back to the lighthouse to try the Coast Guard Trail just to the north. It’s about a one mile loop with a couple spots overlooking the ocean and the Lubec Channel. We ended up spending a good portion of the afternoon exploring the park and enjoyed it very much. On our short drive back to town, Chris remembered the local brewery was open and was serving food. The Lubec Brewing Company has short hours of operation at least in the off season. We got there right about 5 o’clock and found it crowded with people already. We found a couple stools at the bar and ordered beers and put in our order for pizza. The menu here is very limited but pizza sounded good. By the time our food arrived, it was standing room only. Talking with the locals, it sounds like this is one of the few places to go plus there was a band playing later. We hadn’t even finished our food when we overheard the waitress say that all the pizza is gone and not to accept new requests. Glad we got here early. We ended up have a couple more beers and enjoying the music and conversations with the locals.

Interesting Clouds

View Along Coast Guard Trail

The next day we headed back to Campobello Island for the third time. Our destination this time was Herring Cove Provincial Park. I had scoped out the hiking trails and had a 6 to 7 mile loop picked out. Chris suggested we break it into two shorter loops so we didn’t need to carry lunch with us. After going through the border crossing again, we first stop at Mulholland Point Lighthouse. This’s just across the water from downtown Lubec. It was built in the 1880’s but decommissioned in 1963 after the bridge from Lubec was constructed. From here you get a good view of the bridge and Lubec. The tide was going out and we still find it fascinating just how fast the water flows during the tide changes in this part of the world. We are near the southern end of the Bay of Fundy which is known for its huge tidal changes. We will need to come back up and do the Canadian Maritimes in the future to experience the tidal bore in Moncton New Brunswick. 

Bridge Between Campobello and Lubec

Old Pier?

Mulholland Point Lighthouse

Looking Across to Downtown Lubec

Next we head back to Roosevelt International Park. We knew we could walk across Highway 774 and pick up the start of one of our loops, but were weren’t 100% sure where we needed to go. We ended up going past the Wells-Shober Cottage which is where “Tea with Eleanor” takes place. It’s a very nice building and we find our desired trail just a couple hundred feet beyond it. The trails in Herring Cove are marked reasonably well and were in nice shape. It’s another of those extremely mossy areas that is interesting to wander through. Our “shorter” loop on the western side of the park was 3.1 miles given we needed to walk to and from the parking area. A bit longer than planned but quite nice nonetheless plus we had this whole side of the park to ourselves. 

Wells-Shober Cottage

Mossy Logs

Serene Pond

Trees Growing on Roof

Moss Lined Trails

Colorful Mushrooms

After lunch, we drove to the parking lot on the eastern side of the park next to Herring Cove proper. We head south along the trail next to Lake Glensevern - a lake created by a barrier beach along this part of the Bay of Fundy. We did a short detour off the planned loop to check out Gibraltar Rock. It is a huge glacial erratic dropped here during the last great ice age. It was the feature of an EarthCache so we had taken the time to estimate its dimensions- 18 feet tall, 30 feet wide and 9 feet deep and probably weighs in at 400 tons! We have seen big erratics before but possibly this is the biggest we’ve come across.

Chris Poses with Gibraltar Rock

Back on the intended loop, we eventually hit a short section of the trail we had hiked earlier this morning before heading back east towards the campground. The sites here looked to be large enough to fit our motorhome in and the place was fairly empty although we were there on the final camping day of the season. This second half was a 3.5 mile loop making for a long but enjoyable hiking day.

Herring Cove

Seals at Low Tide in Bay at Campsite

For our last day in the area, we planned something quite different from the usual. We would head around Cobscook Bay towards the town of Pembroke and then down to a place called Reversing Falls Park. The park itself is rather nondescript but what occurs here twice a day is somewhat unique. The tides in this area are on the order of 20 feet or more. To the east of the park is Cobscook Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. To the west is Dennys Bay which is completely surrounded by land. South of the park is a 750 foot wide channel that happens to have a bunch of large rocks near the middle. As the tide comes in or out most of the water passes through this channel and makes for a waterfall effect as it passes over the rocks. A Google Earth snapshot shows the location as the tide is coming in based on the white water flowing westward. 

Google Earth View of Reversing Falls

From the descriptions we read, it sounds like things get interesting about 2 hours before high tide, so we pack a lunch and plan our day to check it out. It’s an out of the way location so it takes some time to get there. We arrived just over two hours before high tide. We walk around the shoreline and pick out a spot to spend our time. At first glance, one would assume we are simply on the bank of some river and we can see and hear the water flowing over rocks midstream and along the shore. I brought along a couple digital cameras and a GoPro with small tripod. I looked along the shore and picked a rock that is sticking a few feet above the current water level. The camera is set to take a picture every 1/2 second and produce a time lapse video. CLICK ON VIDEO BELOW.

Since we know we are going to be here for several hours, we had brought along our chairs to at least be comfortable. As the tide got higher, the rocks in the middle of the channel are covered and there is less visible turbulence on the surface even though the speed of the water passing by is rather remarkable. I’m starting to question whether the GoPro location was set high enough. With 30 minutes or so to go before high tide is reached, the tripod’s legs are just about to get wet and I can just barely reach it without getting wet feet. I spot another rock that is a couple feet higher and hope that is good enough. 

"Falls" as Tide Comes In

Flow Along Shore

GoPro About to Be Swallowed by Tide

Fall Colors

When it’s 10 minutes or so before high tide, the sound of the flowing water is reduced to near silence. This is quite remarkable since an hour earlier it sounded like a raging river flowing to the right. At high tide, the place is practically silent and the debris that was floating by now is simply meandering around aimlessly on what now looks like a serene lake on a still day. For those looking to time this event, check the tide tables for Eastport Maine and add one hour to determine high tide at this spot. 

Calm Waters at High Tide

Beautiful Views at Reversing Falls

Calm Reflection

Falls Reverse as Tide Heads Out

Every now and then we would see seals, bald eagles or crabs while we were sitting and watching the event. As the tide started to go out, the debris now started to flow to the left. Slowly at first but it didn’t take long to gain significant velocity. Once the water level dropped enough, the rocks in the channel were visible again but the white water was on the opposite side from before. Early on, we saw a seal that appeared to be body surfing in the rapids by the rocks. The angle of the shoreline at our spot was such that as the tide was coming in, there was a large amount of turbulence. But as the tide went out, all that seemed to happen was the water receded from the shore without much flow near us. We stuck around until 2 hours after high tide and although it would have been interesting to see what happens at low tide and beyond, we were finding it difficult to sit still for so long. We found lots to see and do here around Lubec. 

Cormorant? Flies By

Bald Eagle Swoops By

Seal Peaks at Us

Sunset at Sunset Point

Sunset and Low Tide