I have to admit that my “main” interest in Maine lies along the coast, but its inland mountains and lakes present much beauty and interest as well. The lakes can be huge such as Lakes Millinoket, Moosehead and Rangeley. Many “lakes” are called ponds, which lead me to Googling the difference between a lake and a pond. A pond isn’t as deep as a lake with the floor of a pond still affected by sunlight, where the deepest parts of the lake are not.

August 23 – 26, 2021: In August we took a few days to see the fairly recently minted Katahdin Water and Wood National Monument (KWWNM) and Baxter State Park. Baxter State Park is home to Mt Katahdin, the tallest mountain east of the Mississippi at 5200′ and the starting (or ending) point of the Apalachian Trail.

KWWNM is where the Burt’s Bees founder, Roxanne Quimby, began purchasing large tracks of land on the eastern edge of Baxter State Park and donated them to the National Park service in 2016 for the 100 Anniversary of the National Park System. The idea is that the Quimby family will continue to purchase tracts of land to fill out the current 3 large groups of KWWNM and hopefully, this land will become a National Park. There is much controversy with this plan, which is quite the norm for the creation of any National Parks and Monuments. Interestingly enough, Roxanne lives only about 10 miles from us and has been a force to be reckoned with over the years with her ability to purchase land to do with what as she sees fit. Seems like a similar story to Ted Turner buying up huge tracts of land in the Paradise Valley in SW Montana south of Livingston, MT.

October 2 – 4, 2021: We visited Moosehead Lake and the Rangeley Lakes from Skowhegan, ME the beginning of October in search of peak colors in the mountains. The colors seem to change more slowly than I expected, but I am basing my experiences off of the quick color change of the aspens in Colorado. While colors are muted, the area was beautiful, even with the slight rain and clouds moving in and out.