Augusta Maine

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The next stop in our tour of Maine was the state capitol - Augusta. The plan was to stay at the Elks Lodge just on the north side of town. There are 8 spots for RVs and there is electric, water and a dump station available. From what we know based on other traveling Elks, all the electric outlets are on a single pole at one end of the camping area, so realistically only the first 2 or 3 rigs will be able to actually connect. We knew the dump station is not near the camping area and from pictures others had posted, it appears to be on the front side of the lodge and may be difficult to actually get a rig close enough to be used especially if there were any vehicles parked in the handicap spots.

Since we were coming off of 5 nights at Old Town and wanted to stay in Augusta for 4 more nights, we really needed to dump before we parked our rig. We found a Dysart’s Truck stop just beyond Bangor right off I-95. It was very convenient and they only charge $5 to dump. This was a safer option than relying on getting in the dump at the Elks Lodge. We were also able to fill up our fresh tank at Old Town before leaving so we don’t need to see if the truck stop has potable water.

We arrive at Augusta and see a couple other rigs already parked in the first 2 spots. We pull into the third one and pull out all of our heavy duty extension cords. We have no trouble reaching the power outlets and with help from the woman parked in spot one, she explained how the breaker box and outlets are not properly labeled so we were able to have 30 amp power. The camping area is situated a few hundred feet north of the main lodge building so we are away from the traffic of what turns out to be a very busy lodge. It is a pretty setting and should work out well for our home base for a few nights.

Augusta Elks Lodge

The next morning, we head into downtown Augusta to tour the Maine state house. They offer guided tours between 9AM and Noon but only on weekdays so we only had this day available to us. We got through security without an issue and looked around the lobby while we waited for the tour to start. We ended up only have a few others show up so we should get a lot of attention from the tour guide. There was an art display in the lobby that was very unusual. The eight by twelve foot piece depicts the artist’s grandparents but the how it was created was the unique part of the piece. At first it looked like it was made of walnuts dyed to produce shades of grey and they were all strung together - over 7000 of them! But I learned from the description, these “beads” are not walnuts but instead they were made from recycled newsprint from the ruins of a local paper mill.

Maine State House

Artwork from a Distance

Close-up View of Beads from Old Newsprint

Like most of the tour guides we have had over the years, this guy was full of all sorts of facts and figures. Originally built in 1832, it had undergone several renovations and additions over the years to accommodate the growing size of the state government. 

Historic Flags

Moth Collection

Detailed Floor Tiles

The dome is quite impressive - 185 feet high. During one of the renovations, the old copper roof of the dome was in poor condition to keep out the Maine elements so it was replaced. The old copper roof was salvaged and turned into various works of art that are displayed around the building.

Dome

Right Below Dome

Art Made from Old Copper Roofing

More Copper Art

We made our way into the house chambers and got some more history about Maine and its government. Since they were not in session, it was pretty quiet but still neat to see. The senate chamber were similar although a bit smaller but with nicer chairs!

Maine House of Representative Chamber

Maine's State Seal

Maine Senate Chamber

One end of the building has a balcony that overlooks Capitol Park where we will head after the tour is over. The old mail station probably is no longer in use but very cool looking. The tour lasted over an hour and we really enjoyed it.

Overlooking Capitol Park

Old Mail Station

Outside, we had an Adventure Lab to tour us around some of the memorials and monuments on the grounds around the state house. It was an overcast and cool morning but we still enjoyed exploring.

Another View of State House

View From Capitol Park

It was close to lunchtime so we headed back to the car and drove a short distance to the other side of the Kennebec River. Our goal was to explore the Viles Arboretum. We ate lunch first then headed out to walk some of the 5 miles of trails that wander through the two hundred plus acre property.

Viles Arboretum

Metal Sculpture

It looks to be a very nice place and the trails were in great shape. We might not be visiting at the best time of years to see flowers but it is still a pretty place and there are a few geocaches hidden here to occupy our time as well. One of the sculptures was unusual in that it actually moves and given the size of this stone, it was a bit unexpected. The 4 foot diameter stone disk, is several inches thick and was mounted to the fixed portion with a rotating baseplate. I suspect that it used to be better balanced and spun more easily but with a lot of effort, I was able to get it to move.

Walkway Over Wet Area in Arboretum

Spinning Stone Disk

As we made our way around the perimeter of the arboretum, we spotted a honey bee area. There were a dozen or more boxes. We also spotted a healthy looking chestnut tree with its nuts nearly fully developed. We don’t see these very often and it is likely the staff has been trying to get some hybrids that can handle the chestnut blight.

Honey Bees

More Stone Art

Chestnuts

We headed back to the rig at the Elks Lodge and that evening I looked out and spotted a large group of wild turkeys out wandering the field just a hundred feet from our rig. I counted nearly 2 dozen before they disappeared into the adjacent woods.

Gobble Gobble

Lots of Turkeys at Elks Lodge

We were looking to get in some more serious hiking or biking in the area. We knew there is a bike path along the Kennebec River out of downtown Augusta. It sounded like it would be a pretty ride, however we suspected it might be a rather crowded place especially since it was the weekend and the weather was nice.

Another goal was to complete finding a geocache in every county in the state of Maine. We had done 15 of 16 and the remaining one was about 15 miles west of camp. While looking for things to do in that direction, we came upon the Mount Pisgah Conservation Area near the town of Winthrop. The park has several miles of trails, a fire tower that is open to the public and over a dozen geocaches hidden along the trail. We figured this would be a more remote and scenic place and since we would be heading down the I-95 corridor over the next several weeks, there would be fewer and fewer remote hikes to even consider. We arrive to find several other cars in the parking lot at the trailhead, so we weren’t the only ones with this idea.

Starting Up Trail at Mt Pisgah

Downy Woodpecker at Work

The main loop trail is listed as 2.4 miles and 505 feet of elevation gain. We arbitrarily pick the loop in the counterclockwise direction and head off. With this many geocaches to find, we know the hike will take us a bit longer than a normal hike will take. It’s a pretty area and the trails are in great shape. We only ran into one group of hikers on the way up to the fire tower.

Trail in Woods

As we got closer to the tower, we could hear people likely at the tower but we had more geocaches hidden further north. Our maps didn’t show a trail in that direction however if we simply didn’t turn toward the tower, we saw there was a decent trail heading where we needed to go. I suspect that this section of trail is used much less often and likely only by other geocachers but that was fine with us. Going this route did add more than 3 miles to the hike but it was a pleasant one so we didn’t mind.

Uphill Section

After finding the caches along the northern part of the park, we worked our way back to the main trail and had to backtrack to get up to the fire tower itself.

Fire Tower

We sat near the base of the tower and had lunch while another couple climbed the tower. From the looks of things, this one seems pretty stable and it wasn’t a windy day. Chris actually went up to the first level of the stairs before deciding that was a good enough view for her.

Chris Stops Here

I proceeded to the top and found the platform is accessible but doesn’t have any railing along the open edge of the floor which is a bit unnerving.

Entering the Platform

Don't Fall Through the Hole!

The views from up here are pretty good. Some of the maple trees were already starting to turn red - a sure sign of winter approaching. I didn’t have any signs up there to help identify what lake or mountains I was seeing. One other interesting thing about this fire tower was the graffiti. Graffiti on a fire tower isn’t that unusual and is to be expected. However someone had left some special markers that were nearly fluorescent so the writing was much more vibrant that is typical.

A Hint at Fall Colors

Distant Pond

The hike back down to the car was easy enough. When it was all done we had completed a 5 mile hike with nearly 1200 feet of elevation gain. A bit longer than we expected when we started the hike but it was a beautiful area and worth the extra effort to find 13 of the 14 geocaches we looked for. Before driving back to camp, we headed a bit further west to cross over into Androscoggin county to complete all 16 Maine counties. This is only our 4th state to find caches in all counties - Ohio, Arizona, Vermont and now Maine.

Stepping Stones

We still had one day left in Augusta but we decide to take it easy and watch some football before heading on to our next destination. We are planning to go to a camping area at the fairgrounds in Topsham Maine further down the coast.