Medway Maine

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After our 5 nights at the Skowhegan Elks Lodge, the next stop in our tour of Maine would bring us to the town of Medway. You’ve likely never heard of this place - we previously hadn’t. But we were looking for a location further north in the state to see some of the areas well away from the coast of Maine. There are some towns further north and east like Caribou Maine, but when we were looking for things to do in the area, we weren’t finding lots of interesting spots that far north. We settled on Medway since there seemed to be a lot of hiking in the area and it is easily accessible via Interstate 95.

It is only 115 miles to Katahdin Shadows Campground from the Elks Lodge. We had reserved a site here for a week back in the middle of August. We happened to be coming in on a Saturday afternoon and the place was actually quite busy. It looks like many of the campers are here for the season and this day was their end of the season party.

The following day we head out to do some sightseeing. We needed to stop to find a geocache in one of the northernmost counties in the state. Driving up Interstate 95 was quite unusual. We have traveled on many sections of this road along the east coast and have always found the traffic to be a bit overwhelming. Up here in northern Maine, traffic was not an issue at all. There is a scenic overlook on the northbound side of the expressway and we decided to stop to check it out. It was well worth the stop. The view is of Mount Katahdin - about 25 miles to the northwest. This is a rather famous mountain since it is the end (or beginning) of the Appalachian Trail. It is located in Baxter State Park which we will visit later in our stop in the area. The low hanging clouds didn’t give us a clear view of the mountain but it is still very beautiful.

Mount Katahdin Shrouded in Clouds

Still a Pretty View from Scenic Overlook on I-95

Our real destination for the day was in the small town of Patten to see their Lumbermen’s Museum. We had seen some information about this place and it seemed to be right up our alley in terms of things we enjoy seeing. Plus the temporary visitor center for the nearby Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument happens to be in the museum. We hadn’t been finding much information about this particular National Monument so it would be handy to ask some questions and possibly get some suggestions and maps.

Patten Lumbermen's Museum

The ranger on duty was a wealth of knowledge. We explained how long we are in the area and the type of things we enjoy seeing. Our timing was fortuitous. The main thing to do was to drive the Katahdin Loop Road. This 17 mile loop has a few short hikes and scenic overlooks along the way. The problem was, they were closing a section of the road tomorrow for construction and the alternative route was not nearly as scenic. He marked up a map and we plan on heading there after touring the museum.

Bear Greeter

There is a $12 per person entrance fee for the museum, but we found it to be well worth the price. We started out by watching a a 30 minute documentary titled “From Stump to Ship”. Shot on 16mm black and white film in 1930 by the owner of the Machias Lumber Company. It shows how the trees are logged in the winter with hand tools and horses. In the spring the logs are pushed into the rivers and are driven to mills downstream. It was fascinating to watch the workers running across the top of the floating logs in order to release a logjam. In the mills, the logs are cut into lumber and loaded on to ships to be sent to large cities like New York. It was an extremely entertaining movie and we actually learned quite a bit about how the lumber industry used to work in the state a century ago.

We head out behind the reception center to explore the 7 or 8 buildings scattered around the grounds of the museum. There are an amazing number of displays and dioramas explaining various aspects of the lumber industry. Some things seem to be a bit outside the immediate scope of timber harvest - like dental tools used for horses!

Museum Grounds

Blacksmith Shop

Horse Dental Tools

Some of the buildings had huge collections of axes, hand saw and old chain saws. I swear some of the stuff looked like it should have been thrown out by an old lumberjack but instead had been donated to the museum.

Chris Relaxes

Horse Treadmill

Coopers Tools

Pick an Axe, Any Axe

Old Chain Saw

There was some larger equipment sitting around the grounds including a couple of old boats that used to be part of the log drives. The Kennebec Tug Boat was actually open for visitors. A set of stairs have been built up to the deck and visitors can walk around and even enter the cabin. This boat looked like it could use a fair amount of work to restore it to its glory days.

Boat Used for Log Drives

Tractor and Snowplow

Kennebec Tug Boat

Upper Deck

At the Helm

One of the newer buildings had some more recent equipment or old equipment that has been restored and they now need to keep them out of the elements. I was really interested with the skidder. I’ve seen a few of these out in the woods during a hike but had never had a chance to crawl around one.

Skidder

View from Inside

Small Dozer

There were a couple of buildings that represented what a loggers camp might have looked like. The one from “modern” times was actually quite nice and I could imaging staying here during the timber season. The older one was from 1820 and  did not look to be a very comfortable place to stay.

Decent Accommodations

1820 Camp

A Bit More Rustic

Chain Collection

I also found the tool shed to be rather fun to explore. There were all sorts of hand tools and the majority of them actually had a label describing what we were looking at. There was a pair of river driver boots with dozens of small nails in the heel and sole to provide traction on the floating logs.

Lumbermen Tools

Pine Cone Chart

River Driver Boots

More Lumberjack Tools

Across the street from the main museum building is a steam powered log hauler. This must be a prized possession of the place since it has its own, fairly new building to keep it out of the elements. We ended up spending 2 hours exploring before we head back to the car for lunch.

Steam Powered Log Hauler

Our original plan had been to explore Katahdin Woods and Waters NM on another day trip from camp. But with the newfound information about the main road closing tomorrow for an extended time, we decided to head there and at least explore little bit. This park turns out to be a big place - 87,500 acres - and is quite remote. There are both a northern and southern entrance to the park but they are not connected by road. We are shooting for the southern entrance since the main loop road is in that half of the park. It is just over of 12 miles of minor roads and a stop for a geocache to get to the bridge over the Penobscot River and the beginning of the park.

Bridge Over Penobscot River

We stop at the bridge and take a look around before continuing. The ranger had warned us about one of the adjacent property owners putting up a sign that was worded in such a way that many visitors think crossing the bridge is onto private property and they turn around. Since we knew where we were headed was federal land, we ignored the sign and continued on.

At River's Edge

The road through the park was generally nice gravel and wide enough for oncoming vehicles to get by if there were any. We probably only saw three other cars and no logging trucks. Our first stop was at the Lynx Pond Viewing Area just over 5 miles from the bridge. We were really hoping that we might get a glimpse of a moose. With all the time we have spent this year between Vermont, New Hampshire and now Maine, we really had expected to see at least one moose but even being quiet walking up to the observation deck, we had no luck. It is a peaceful place to take in the views.

Lynx Pond Viewing Platform

Lynx Pond

No Moose in Sight

In another 4.5 miles, we arrive at the Katahdin Loop Road Overlook. It was clear that they were getting ready for the upcoming road work. A large excavator was sitting in the parking lot. We are now only about 9 miles from Mount Katahdin but the clouds are still hanging onto the peak and not giving us a great view.

Scenic Excavator Spot

Still Clouds Over Mount Katahdin

From here the road heads generally north. It was clear that this section of the road was the area in need of work. The woods have grown in on each side of the road to leave just a narrow tunnel-like path. This was one area where oncoming traffic would have been an issue. In another 5.5 miles, the loop road hangs a right but another road seems to continue on to the north as well. We stop to check it out and discover this is a trail known as the IAT - International Appalachian Trail. I suppose if you’re hardcore enough to through hike the AT, you might be inclined to continue through the rest of Maine and into Canada for an additional 1580 miles! Since sunset is in less than 3 hours, we decide to drive on.

Entering Overgrown Part of Loop Road

Looking Up the IAT

A little over 4 miles from the IAT, we catch the glimpse of a faint trail and sign - Moose Pond. This sounded promising so we find a place to pull over on the side of the road and head in. Alas, we snuck up on the pond but did not find any moose even though it did look like a good place for one to be.

False Advertising at Moose Pond

In less than a mile from Moose Pond, the loop portion of the road ends and we take a left to start the journey out of the parking area. We have one more place that the ranger had suggested. Deasey Pond Trail isn’t a long hike but it is longer than the other stops we have made here today. It is around 4:30, so we still have some daylight left to get in the 1.3 mile round trip walk and drive out of the parking area before dark.

Start of Trail to Deasey Pond

It was a pleasant walk in the woods but does have some elevation change to deal with. Deasey Pond was another pretty place that would have been an ideal spot for a moose or two but they seem to be avoiding us.

Viewing Deck at Deasey Pond

Deasey Pond

Nice Stairs in Woods

On the way out of the park, we see the sign for the visitor center which is being built. Pictures I found online make it look like a very impressive building. Too bad our timing wasn’t great for us to be able to see it in person.

Sign for Visitor Center Under Construction

Scenic Spot Along Drive

They Could Use a Fancier Entrance Sign

We still had some daylight left, so we headed back to Medway via a more scenic route. We first stop at a place called the Penobscot River Trail. This is actually our plan for tomorrow and since we were driving right by the entrance, we figured we would take a quick look. Next stop was at the Grindstone Falls Picnic Area on Maine Route 11. This was a nice place for a picnic but we didn’t have any more food with us. While we were checking out the falls, a guy on a motorcycle pulled in to use the facilities. I noticed he had a pizza box strapped to the back rack on his bike and was tempted to grab a slice but decided to just head back to camp for dinner. This was a full and fun day.

Grindstone Falls

The next morning we head back north to the town of Grindstone with our mountain bikes to try out the Penobscot River Trails. We had read about the trails here and they sounded pretty nice. We pulled into the parking lot and were the only people there. In one corner of the lot was a couple dozen bicycles which we initially concluded were here with some sort of group riding the trails. We head over to the large signs with a detailed map and the rules of the trails. One of the unusual claims is that you will never be more than 1.25 miles from the nearest toilet!

Entrance Sign

Trail Map and Rules

The map showed that there was a visitor center just off the parking lot, so we go there to get a sense of what else we should know about the place. The building looked to be quite new and very nice. We enter and find the inside to be inside to be very nice. There were several tables with stools in the main room with beautiful tongue and groove boards on the walls and vaulted ceiling. There was nobody in here either and it also didn’t appear that there was some sort of visitor center desk and we just happened to be there on a Monday morning and nobody was working. But as we looked around at some of the information inside the building we discovered that all those bikes in the parking lot were not from some school group that was meeting elsewhere before their ride. These bikes were actually loaner bikes. They have bikes and helmets and it is small donation - no set fee or check in or check out.

Visitor Center

Interior of Visitor Center

Between the beautiful building and loaner bikes (as well as loaner cross country skis and snowshoes during the winter), we knew this wasn’t your typical county or town park. It turns out that some wealthy family spent nearly 5 million dollars to create the 20 or so miles of trails on the property as well as build the visitor center and several warming huts and of course the vault toilets along the way.

The main trail forms a 16 mile loop from south to north. As cyclists, we are expected to head north in a clockwise direction, first following the trail as is winds along the Penobscot River and then comes back on a service road on the east side of the property. Every mile or two, there is an east-west “link” trail that can be used to cut over to this service road if you don’t feel like biking the full loop. We checked out the nearby kayak launching deck before we started out on our bike ride.

Kayak Launch

The trail here is amazing. In some ways it reminded me of the carriage roads in Acadia National Park along the coast of Maine with the exception that the bridges here, while very robust looking, are not quite as fancy as those on the Carriage roads that Rockefeller built. One thing that became clear early on was this trail is not a rail trail but a dedicated recreational path designed to follow many of the curves of the river as well as the undulations up and down among for a more vigorous ride than many rail trails. We had many places where the view of the river and the surrounding woods was very beautiful and we would stop for a break and to enjoy.

Beautiful Trail

Penobscot River

Chris Takes a Break

Each of the “link” trails looked to be equally nice but since we only looked up them and didn’t take them, we are only guessing they are constructed to the same standard. Just beyond the 4th link, we stopped at a picnic table to enjoy our PB&J sandwiches. We knew that the second half of the trail would take us up the hill to the east and onto Tote Road and we figured we would be losing our river views.

At Link 1 Intersection

At Water Level

Make a Friend at Lunch Stop

At the 8.5 mile mark, the trail turns and starts up a pretty steep hill which proves to be a little bit of a challenge.

Last River View

Bright Flower

Sign at Northern End of Loop

As we continue up the hill and come around a bend in the trail, we see a very pretty warming hut. We head into this one and find a beautiful post and beam building with walls of windows and an incredible view.

Long Meadow Warming Hut

Impressive Woodworking

What we had neglected to do on our slow ascent to the building was to stop and look back to the west, behind us. There is Mount Katahdin about 15 miles away and the skies today were mostly clear so we had an unobstructed view. It also turns out that we are less than a mile from the road we had driven into the national monument yesterday and there appeared to be a road that we could have easily biked to get there.

Mount Katahdin

Warming Hut Setting

Next to the warming hut was a side trail that looked to be in decent enough shape to ride on. From our map it looked like it might only add an additional mile to our ride before returning to intersect Tote Road again. This required us to do a little bit more climb but once we get to the top of the hill, we will end up with a 6 to 7 mile stretch of mostly downhill riding. It wasn’t until we were heading down towards the parking lot that we saw the first person out on the trails besides us. The ride on the road was not as scenic as the ride along river but it was still nice. In fact this might be one of the better bike rides we have taken. If we lived up here, I could see us coming here frequently to get a good bike ride in. And even returning for cross country skiing or snowshoeing.

On the Long Meadow Hill Trail

Back on Tote Road

Mostly Downhill from Here

Part of our mission from our campground in Medway is to find geocaches in some of the surrounding counties we have not visited yet. One such location, Piscataquis county, is southwest of camp. We looked to see if there was something else interesting to see or do in that area but were coming up empty. We did see that in that general direction was a geocache that sounded interesting and hasn’t been found in over 2 years. We decide to head to the first cache we could find in the county we needed and then turn around and go for the hike to the lonely cache on Ragged Mountain.

I’ve mentioned before that geocaching often takes us to places we would have never visited if it weren’t for some box hidden in the woods. Today's journey definitely falls into that category. The hike to Ragged Mountain (near Millinocket Maine) is not in AllTrails or any other of the apps or websites we use to help map out a hike. And the summit of the mountain is several miles west of the nearest paved road. But the person that hid this cache did a great job providing waypoints for each turn and where to park for the hike. As we turn off of Maine Route 11 onto Lincoln Ridge Road, there is a sign explaining the rules. The land is owned by some forest management company and the gist of the sign is that lumber trucks have the right of way.

It is a little over 4 miles from pavement to the trailhead with several turns identified. The dirt road started out quite wide and smooth. If a lumber truck came by, the worse that would happen would be getting dusted pretty good. After each turn, we progressed onto less major roads and rougher conditions. Halfway up, I decided to raise the air suspension on the Jeep a notch to give me another inch or so in ground clearance. The road eventually got so minor and rutted that I knew there was no chance of seeing a logging  truck although an ATV wouldn’t have surprised us. We arrive at the posted coordinates for parking and spot a faint trail. I try to park the Jeep to be out of the way in case there are other idiots out here today!

Parking Spot at Start of Hike

Road at Parking Spot

The “trail” starts out pretty well defined and we proceed up the mountain. Fortunately I had carefully looked at the satellite imagery on Google Earth and had created an anticipated route since it was definitely not just a straight line to the summit. With this track loaded onto my Garmin handheld, we were able to easily pick between the options when the trail seemed to have a split. The very last portion of the hike was very steep and quite rocky but we made it up the 1.25 miles and ~650 feet of elevation.

Reasonable Trail Conditions

Final Push to Summit

There is an old fire tower on one side of the summit. The enclosure has long since fallen off and there are only a couple of the guy wires remaining holding the thing in place. This is definitely not a fire tower I feel like climbing. The views from here are pretty nice as well. Mount Katahdin is roughly 23 miles due north from here.

Old Fire Tower Still Standing

Say Cheese!

View of Mount Katahdin

The peak is fairly broad and wooded so there is another viewpoint to the west worth wandering over to. Besides finding the geocache, we discovered something a bit unusual. There is an old rotary phone mounted on some plywood hanging on a tree. A sign explained that this is “The Telephone of the Wind”.   It’s a means to leave a message for a lost loved one.

Telephone of the Wind

Westerly View

Looks Like a Moose Should Be Down There

It was pretty easy to follow our track back down. We did stop to look for the remains of the old watchman’s camp that the cache owner had provided a waypoint for. We searched around but really didn’t find anything interesting. Back at the car, we pulled out our lunch and enjoyed the seclusion before heading back down the roads.

Hiking Back Down

On the Drive Out

The route back to civilization would have been to take a right onto Lincoln Ridge Road and retrace our drive but we saw there was a geocache about 3 miles in the other direction. Since this road was wide and smooth gravel, we decide to head out for the cache and to explore some more. It also looked like there might be a way to get onto a road that follows along the south end of South Twin Lake which might get us back a different route.

Gravel Pit

Covered Water Station

I was worried that there would be a gate between the road we were on and the one we wanted, but it turned out to be an acceptable route and there were quite a few homes along the 4 miles of Turkey Tail Road. I’m not sure it ended up being faster than driving on the more substantial Lincoln Ridge Road but there were some decent stops with views along the way.

View from Turkey Tail Road

Nice Home on the Lake