Reid State Park - a Wonderful Nearby Gem

Today's post is of another wonderful nearby destination from the marina. This time it was a short drive to Reid State Park. 

Before I begin with today's pictures and description, I will answer the question that many of you may be asking - why have we seemingly not been on the move from the marina?  Well, the reasons are several. 

The main reason is that for us now "fair weather sailors" the evenings are still chilly and being at the dock with the built in electric heaters on thermostats is just too cozy to pass up. Also, there are still chores to be done. This morning was continuing to wax the topsides of the boat, a job I really dislike because it is very difficult to work alongside the cabin on the boat with the narrow walkway and the lifelines that get in the way - oh, well a good reason to spread out the chore over several days. Also, we have found a very nice place in Brunswick to play pickleball. So being at the dock this time of year is more like being in a summer cottage. And we are finding wonderful things to do right in our own "backyard." So with that as a great lead in - on to Reid State Park.

From the map below, you can see it is only about 5 miles from the marina. It is located on the SE end of the Georgetown peninsula. There are very few beaches north of Portland and this area that extends west to Popham Beach is a wonderful oddity along the rugged Maine coast.

The wonderful thing about this time of year is that there is no entrance fee - saved 18 dollars!!! 

The other thing about today was that the wind was in an offshore direction. This meant that the breeze, though strong, was short sleeve warm. It was one of the reasons for taking our walk today. Had the same wind been coming in from the ocean it would have been a very different temperature and certainly we would have had far more clothes to break the bite of the wind.

This is the east end of the park, looking east to the south end of Southport Island. If you look closely you can see the Cuckolds Lighthouse just to the right of center. One would round it and then head north to reach Boothbay Harbor. While still important today, back when travel by sea for passengers was a major happening, this and other lighthouses were key to a safe journey - think no Google Maps with navigation that will tell you to the minute when you will arrive - and where you are along the route. PS I first traveled in our boats using only the long used compass, charts and a watch - and the lighthouses were really my friend.

Looking westerly from the same point

We drove around to the beach parking lot and headed to the beach. 

This is a saltwater pond behind the sand dunes of the beach,

Looking west

At the west end of the beach here - that is Sequin Island in the distance over the point. Sorry if I sound redundant, but the walk was so full of beautiful sights that it was nearly overwhelming.

Looking back to the east along the beach.

Heading to walk back along the beach

Look at the pile of trees and the like. Can you say "driftwood?"

The tide is receding and the sand at the water's edge is hard packed and saturated with water.

This produces really neat water sculpture from the water leaving the sand for the retreating wave line

On the way down I noticed this beautiful freshwater pond along the main road. I stopped as I had noticed there was a really large beaver hutch that begged to have its picture taken - which I did and took some of the beautiful pond.

The unexpected find was that a trail seems to head off in a circle around the pond - added to the list to check out - more places we didn't know existed so close by!!!!

And this is on the turn off to Reid State Park. It has been freshly painted and is amazingly detailed - It would be even more impressive if the shot was more straight on to the rock face.

And you can see from the picture from back at Robinhood, that the tide is indeed low - never get tired of the scene changes caused by the tides. That is one of the marvelous things that makes the Maine Coast an amazing place to see and boat.

From the deck of Perelandra, a shot of the beautiful sunset.

So you can see it is time to say ......

Good Night and May God Bless

New Blog Email Feed and New Hiking trail - Beal Island

NEW EMAIL SERVICE STARTS TODAY

Today I imported all the followers by email into the new email service. 

The service is "follow.it"  I have left the old service in place for a few posts to be sure everyone is aware of the switch. Thus you should receive two emails of each post for a short time. If you didn't receive one from the follow.it service, please check you spam folder.

And now on to today's post.

As you recall, there is a new motor on the dinghy. I went for some more ride time today to continue the break-in process. I rode a short distance up the river from the marina to Beal Island. It is owned by the Appalachian Mountain Club - go figure - no mountains here! But nonetheless, the island has a camping area on the south end of the island and in summer, one can see many beached kayaks of campers.

I have never stopped here before, even though it is only about 1.5 miles away as you can see below.

 

Here is the trail map posted on a tree. I had planned to just stop for a short while and look over the camping area. I didn't know that there were trails on the island. Second new hiking spot this year!!

 

Here is my landing spot. It is quite a lovely view - but note the position of the dinghy - that will become important as you read the remainder of the post. OK - question to my learned friends. Why would that become important?

Not sure what the table below is for - to hang stuff to dry?

And the AMC logo

This is looking south. The marina is to the right just before the land you can see here.

Notice that we are far enough away from open ocean to have cedar trees growing among the spruce trees.

And this is beginning up the east side of the island.

I have now reached the north end and this is White Point. The red buoy marks the narrow spot in the river known as lower hell's gate.

If you look closely you can see the race of the current going south - hint, this is a clue to my question above.

As you can see here from the stone wall, there was once a farm on the island. And the next photo shows a cellar hole.

Back at the south end campsite

And here is what I found when I returned to the dinghy. First off, I knew the tide was going out, but "the island is not so long and I will only be gone a short while." Ooops. It was about a mile long and the trail, with twists and turns and stops to admire, took about an hour and twenty minutes.

No problem, I can just drag it on the beach. Not!!. The beach was quite rocky (no J&J not like the dog)  - not sand. The new motor is quite heavy and the boat is no lightweight. I think I could have done it but one pull and the scrapping sounds convinced me to:

A. Find another means for launching, B. Wait about 11 hours for the tide to return, or C Wait for some kayakers. As option B and C seemed less than appealing, I voted for option A.

And here is the solution. The first photo shows using one log roller.

This was less than optimum so I searched and found some nice cut cedar logs. This did the trick.

Success!!!!

And as a reward for my ingenuity, I was treated to a beautiful full moon rising.

You are free to ask what this photo is about.

Well here is the answer. A large osprey has decided that this is a fine perch from which to scan the waters.  Look closely and you will see a second osprey approaching to challenge for the perch.

 

And as you can see, it is time to say................
 

Good Night and May God Bless