"The wildest part of Acadia National Park"
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| Isle au Haut, Maine |
If you've been keeping up with the last couple of posts, this is the wildest portion of Acadia National Park. Mt Desert Island is rugged, but a veritable jungle of tourists at times. The mainland portion of Acadia NP, the Schoodic Peninsula, is a pleasant hiking place with a tenth of the visitors. However, Isle au Haut (the island) is perhaps the best part of the park because its also an adventure simply to get there!
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| Map of Isle au Haut (copyright USNPS) |
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| Hiking trails on Isle Au Haut |
There are 18 miles of hiking trails along the island. Acadia National Park owns most of the island, but the town is worth seeing as well. If you take the mail boat, you will be dropped of in the town. The town is quaint, but bare on tourist services. It has an inn and a general store, but you should pack as if you are going on a wilderness backpacking trip. Once you've seen the town, which should take about 5 minutes, head south on the main road to the National Park visitor center (unmanned).
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| The "visitor center" |
From the visitor center/ranger station, you can start hiking the island on Duck Harbor Trail or continue on the Robinson Point Lighthouse via lighthouse road. The lighthouse itself is closed the the public. The duck harbor trail will connect the hiker to the couple of trails that roam about the island. Duck Harbor is the single campsite on the island and is the perfect, quiet, wilderness campsite. Again, there are bathrooms and potable water, but nothing else. However, staying here has its advantages- a determined hiker can hike every trails in the course of a weekend. The NPS has a detailed and free hiking map.
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| Kayaking Isle au Haut, Robinson Point ahead! |
How I ended up discovering Isle au Haut is kind of an interesting story. One of the greatest adventures I've ever been on was kayaking 100 miles of the famous Maine Island Trail through Penobscot Bay. On one particular day, I kayaked through dense fog and ended up in Stonington. From here, I resupplied, and headed south towards the island. It felt as if I was kayaking through the Caribbean. There were tall ships, fishing and lobster boats everywhere, and enough islands to provide a lifetime of new adventures. It was difficult to navigate through the thicker sections of fog, but it added to the adventure of getting down to the island. I finally arrived and discovered this distinct section of Acadia NP. The fact that a simple mail boat was Isle au Haut's only connection to the outside world gave the island an authentic rustic aura.
While I don't remember the exact distance from Stonington to Isle au Haut, I do remember it took me roughly half a day. As you can tell from the map, there are literally hundreds of islands off the coast of Maine and each is different. Some are house-sized, others have several cities. Kayaking to Isle au Haut is just one of many kayaking expeditions that one can embark upon in Maine.
Kayaking to Isle au Haut and other places on the coast of Maine requires impeccable ocean navigation skills and kayaking skill. Weather is unpredictable and distances between islands varies greatly.
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| A wild Maine adventure! |
Read. Plan. Get Out There!
Hi Joe thank you for your blog. I'm heading to camp @ duck harbor for 3 nights in the middle of July. I'm also going to be taking 2 13 yr old boys. I'm a Colorado boy so I have heaps of wilderness experience but not much with the ocean. We're taking the ferry to the island and I plan on renting kayaks & bringing them along. Any suggestions would be greatgreatly appreciated! Thank you in advance. Dan
ReplyDeleteHello Dan, thank you for your kind words. Glad to hear you're headed to my favorite place on the Maine Coast. The Stonington Archipelago really is the most beautiful and underrated place in Maine. Stonington itself is perhaps the most genuine lobstertown left in the state too.
DeleteIsle au Haut is pretty amazing but it is very isolated. I can't recall getting much cell reception anywhere nearby. Definitely invest in a quality marine radio good to at least 5 miles off shore. It will give you the NOAA weather reports too.
In July, I've had days of amazing weather where I covered 25 miles with little effort and I've had days of erratic currents/weather and fog. I'd be prepared for both. Generally the currents and winds/current blow pretty predictably from the southwest- hence the term "downeast Maine"- when you're traveling in a northeasterly direction, you're going down with the current and winds. Not sure how much paddling you're planning on doing but keep it in mind if you're going more than a few hundred yards offshore.
Isle au Haut's Duck Harbor and generally most of the western side is pretty protected but it's very exposed on the southern and eastern shores- I'd go really early in the morning if you plan on checking those places out. Afternoon currents and weather tend to be wilder.
You've probably already got the kayak rentals figured out but I rented kayaks for years from Duck Trap Kayak near Camden which is on the way from Portland- http://www.ducktrapkayak.com/ The guy running it is awesome and he rents quality Wilderness Systems expedition grade kayaks for pretty cheap. I rented from him for about 4 years until I finally saved up enough to buy one from him.
Hope that helps! Leave me a reply if you need more specific information or shot me an email at adventurecontact@gmail.com. Have an awesome trip! I'm jealous!
-Joe
Hi Joe thank you for your blog. I'm heading to camp @ duck harbor for 3 nights in the middle of July. I'm also going to be taking 2 13 yr old boys. I'm a Colorado boy so I have heaps of wilderness experience but not much with the ocean. We're taking the ferry to the island and I plan on renting kayaks & bringing them along. Any suggestions would be greatgreatly appreciated! Thank you in advance. Dan
ReplyDeleteThank you so much Joe! Very cool of you & I really appreciate your help!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much Joe! Very cool of you & I really appreciate your help!
ReplyDelete