I had read that the boat trip to Monhegan Island was a must. We waited for perfect weather and today was the day. Not a cloud in the sky and not too hot. I was a bit worried that it would be crowded on a Saturday but the boat was only about 1/3 full.
The island is about 1 square mile in area and is home to about 70 people in summer and 30 in winter. They are mostly artists and people that want to escape the rush of life on the mainland. There are no paved roads and only a few vehicles. There are 12 miles of hiking trails.
The island is center bottom in the map below. It’s about a 25 km trip and takes 90 minutes.
We really had to weave our way out of he harbour through all the mooring buoys and especially all the lobster pot buoys.
A bald eagle atop the tree with her nest and a young one below in the next tree.
Of course we passed by one new lighthouse and some ones we had seen before.
Our target off in the distance.
I was amazed at how many lobster pots are deployed. There were everywhere. All the way to the island we had to weave our way through them.
As I said the boat was not TOO full. Everyone wanted on the top deck because of the great weather.
Getting close to the island harbour. Notice the lighthouse up on the hill in the center of the picture below. We will hike by it.
The little island that protected the harbour had a huge house on the far side with the long walkway up from the water.
There were goats wandering all over it. We had no idea what this strange structure was.
We arrived at about 11 and the boat leaves at 2:45. The trails map gives recommended hikes for those of us staying only a short time. We decided to go up to the lighthouse and then cross the island on the Whitehead trail.
Lots of interesting houses.
There are a lot of detail work in the siding of this one.
Up to the highest point and the view back towards the harbour.
The big building is an inn. There are also a number of houses that can be rented for mini escapes from the world.
After the lighthouse the trail got a lot narrower and muddier.
We passed by the generating station for the island. It is a big diesel generator in a building off by itself. I was told the residents pay about 74 cents a kilowatt hour. I think we pay around 10 at home. There were a lot of solar panel installations and huge propane tanks.
Great views when we reached the other side. It is about 160 feet straight down to the water where I am standing.
It was a great lunch spot. Jennie stayed back from the edge.
We had noticed people down on the lower rocks. There is a trail that runs along the edge and then another that cuts back to the village farther up the coast.
So down we went.
Lots more scrambling around the rocks to get close to the surf.
We had had lunch at the edge of the top of the headland in the background.
We stood for a bit.
And then sat down because we were going to be here a while.
We dragged ourselves away and went farther down the coast to find the trail back.
Once we did find the trail, it climbed up to the top of another headland called Burnt Head before heading back. The view was much more obstructed here.
Back to “civilization”.
And our reward. As the guy was dishing out our bowl of ice cream (it is in Jennie’s hand) he just about finished the box. There wasn’t enough for another serving so he asked if we “wanted to clean out the box”. No problem although we did get a lot of comments from people going by.
Walking back through the very pretty village.
While I waited for Jennie in one of the stores, this little girl played with the giant rubber dusky outside.
We got back to the dock at about 2:30.
We sat in the very front on the way back. Even though the waves were big and rolling the boat had a stabilizing system and Jennie didn’t feel sick at all.
Between the shore and the island there is really nothing to look at. The trip back seemed to take a very long time.
Back at the RV we crashed pretty hard into a nap. Even though we had not walked very far, the sun and the wind got to us.
The park is much more full for the weekend.
Even though I was pretty tired, it was a nice clear night and we haven’t had many of them so it was time to set up the telescope.
While I was waiting for it to get dark I took this quick shot of the moon.
There are no big cities around and no bright lights in the campground. The moon was quite bright but even so I saw a lot of things.
Saturn, Mercury, Venus, lots of satellites, a meteor, a smudge of a galaxy, some double stars, a bunch of globular clusters and even a hint of the Milky Way. There were also some fireflies in the field behind us. A great day and a nice evening.
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