Trip to Moose Country

Linda and I wanted  to see some Moose, so on Friday, August 12th, we packed up the jeep and  headed North on I95.  Moosehead Lake and Baxter State Park are supposed to be the prime areas for seeing these huge creatures so I made reservations in  Millinocket, Maine, the gateway to Baxter State Park and the "Golden Road".  Millinocket is a former mill town in Penobscot County, Maine.  The Golden Road is part of a 3,000-mile network of private roads built and operated by the Great Northern Paper Co.  The crown jewel of that network is the Golden Road, a 97-mile wilderness highway that runs from the giant mill at Millinocket west to St. Zacharie, Quebec, at the Canadian border.    

We arrived in Millinocket early in the afternoon, too early to check in at the Motel, so we got some lunch at Ruthie's steakhouse.  After lunch, we got our room at the motel and then decided to checkout the Golden Road.

The sign indicates that, "This part of the Golden Road closed to the public for your safety".  I was hesitant to enter the road but I saw a highway worker and asked him about the sign.  He said the paper company put the sign there because of liability issues and it was understood that we could travel on the road "at our own risk".
So off we went. 

The Golden Road.

Our proof that we were indeed on the Golden Road.

We drove down old logging roads...no moose.  We looked in ponds...no moose.
We traveled the road and side roads looking for these elusive creatures, but alas, we failed in our mission.  It started getting dark, so  we headed back to town to get some dinner and turn-in for the night.
We met some of the locals in the restaurant and we asked them for their best advice on seeing a moose.  Of course they told us we were in the right area and we should be able to spot one as the sun was going down or early in the morning about sunrise.  So, based on this information, and in our desperation to see a moose, we got up at 4 a.m. Saturday morning and started down the Golden Road again.

We drove and drove, and looked and looked, but did not see ANY moose.
At about the 30 mile mark the asphalt, such as it was, ended and the dirt and gravel began. At about the 45 mile mark we came to the turn off to Greenville, which is the gateway to Moosehead Lake.  The sign said it was 43 miles to Greenville, through the mountains and on another forest road maintained by the paper companies.

I have to tell you that before I decided to travel the Golden Road,  I did a little research and was quite concerned.  I even posted on the local jeep club bulletin board to find out about this road.  There were plenty of horror stories but as I quickly found out, driving this road was a piece of cake compared to some of the roads Al, John and I have been on in Arizona and Colorado!

 This road was pretty much the same as the Golden Road, not bad at all. 

As you can see, the scenery was about the same on the Plum Road (actually named Silas Hill on the map) as on the Golden Road.
Since we got up so early, we did not eat breakfast so we thought we would stop and eat when we got to Kokadjo but it was just a spot in the road and no restaurant that I could see.
So we drove on into Greenville and had a nice big breakfast at a restaurant on Moosehead Lake.

A picture of Moosehead Lake from the restaurant window.

We decided since we were in Greenville, supposedly another prime spot for spotting moose, we would drive some of the back roads to see if we could indeed spot a moose.

A private camp on public land?  Are you kidding me??
Needless to say, we did not see any moose in this area either.  We had about decided to give up and start the 200 mile drive back to South Portland, but I found another logging company road which would take us East over the mountain to the town of Brownville Junction.  We would begin our journey home from there.

After traveling up this road for about ten miles, I came to this sign and building.  Since the road is owned by the paper company, we had to stop and pay a fee and sign a waiver  to continue on the road.  The fee, $10.00 per person, was well worth it even though the scenery was just like what we had been experiencing the last day and a half.  Damn it!  We wanted to see some moose and if it meant paying $20.00 to do that then it would be worth it.

See, the roads all look the same.  Gravel and lots of trees!

And streams.

And lakes.

 These are a few of the trees that have been harvested, waiting to be stripped and hauled to the mill.



But the kicker was when we got to the end of the paper company road.

This is what remains of The Katahdin Iron Works.  The iron works was in full operation in the late 1800's and all that remains now is a portion of the blast furnace and a coke oven.  See this site for a little more information about the iron works. http://catalog.themainehighlands.com/cart/product/8202/Katahdin_Iron_Works/.  As Linda said as we were leaving the area, "Al would love this place and we would still be here hours from now discussing  and looking at every detail of these artifacts"!  And I, of course, had to agree because Al thrives on this history stuff!
Unfortunately, we started the long trip back to South Portland, disappointed and tired.  Not a moose to be seen.  Bah!  Humbug!
Now, here is the kicker.  When I got home and rested up a little, I Googled, "Best time to see a moose in Maine"  Anybody want to guess when are the best months???  I can definitely tell you IT IS NOT AUGUST!!!