Carrie Barton: Mt. Kineo

On the road again... On the way to Mt. Kineo, where a boat shuttle and hike await.

Pretty scenery along the way...

A nice covered bridge (much prettier, in my opinion, than other, more famous covered bridges - like we saw later in Iowa!).

The famous, mythical moose of Maine!! When Bill and I explored Maine before, this was the ONLY moose we saw!!! Very disappointing!

Greenville, a town on the south end of Moosehead Lake, a humoungous and gorgeous body of water in northern Maine. We stayed at a weird little B&B near here that other time. And we ate at the Black Frog. Nice little town.

Farther up the western shore, in Rockwood, I found the dock where I would catch the Mt. Kineo shuttle to the trailhead.

Mt. Kineo! This was a small island/peninsula that had a couple fairly steep trails up to a lookout tower on top. The little yellowish area at the bottom is close to where the boat let us out and picked us up. The trail goes along the base to the left and then heads up through the forest and then over the rock.

And as you can see, it was another yucky day in Paradise!

Fellow hikers waiting for the shuttle - and wondering if we'd missed it or something, when finally, we spot it heading towards us - hurray!

I think the trail goes up just to the right of the yellowish area.

The trail along the bottom.

These folks were really sweet. Apparently, the two women had come to this place annually, as kids visiting family. The super cute little girl was deaf but had received a coclear implant and was learning to hear/speak.

A view on the way up.

Looking down on the trail at the base - you can see a couple people heading back for the boat.

You can see the lower trail from here also.

What a view, what a place!

oops, someone catches me in the scene!

The view (looking basically north) from the top of the tower.

Looking down the stairs/platforms of the tower.

More lake view, looking east +/-

Looking NE towards Katahdin (which I think is hiding behind those other peaks).

The trail at the top - the easy part!

Simply gorgeous. From the gals I hiked with, I learned that there used to be a grand palace, called the Kineo House or Kineo Hotel, down on this spit of land. I read that it went from a small tavern to a 300-room chateau with a dining room that could accommodate 400! Over the years, it appears that this place burned down, was rebuilt, and then torn down. Sadly, it is now no more. There is still a golf course though - thus the shuttle service.

After my hike, I drove back to Greenville and explored the southern end of the lake, hoping for moose sightings. The only moose I saw was dead. But then I saw a guy with a tripod and huge camera set-up on the side of the road, waiting... Hmm... Yep, time to pull over and invade this guy's turf - as politely as possible, of course! Fortunately, he was very nice and explained to me that someone else had told him there was a salt lick or something that attracted moose almost invariably and nightly. So I set up alongside him, and we waited. And, right on cue, enter Bullwinkle, stage left!