Mount Kineo, Maine
Where the heck is Moosehead Lake?!
I think the greatest thing about living in New England is that you are surrounded by so many beautiful places. Some of them hidden away, preserved in their natural beauty. Moosehead Lake is one of those places. Located in Northern Maine, about a 5 hour drive from where I live sits the beautiful Mount Kineo.
This amazing mountain sits peacefully on a private island. Visitors are allowed here and can enjoy the amazing golf course with stunning views of the mountain. The only access to the island is by a small ferry boat. Once you arrive on the island, the best way to get around is of course by golf cart. There is an amazing mountain bike path and hiking paths that wrap around the island. This is the perfect place to get away, relax, and totally reset and re-center your mind.
I was lucky enough to get to spend some time on the private side of the island. One of my closest friends, Liz, her family has a house on the island. A beautiful piece of land totally private with 180 views of the lake. The house was built by her step-father and is your classic, cozy log cabin in the woods. Ritz and I got to spend a few days up there in early September. I would say the best time to visit, the weather was PERFECT! Anyone who knows me, knows that I get hot very easily and a log cabin with almost no air circulation in the middle of summer sounds like torture to me. Although, in September it was 70 and there was a lake breeze. This is my kind of vacation!
The handmade dock led out to the lake which lucky for us allowed the dogs and I to walk through the rocks. This became one of my favorite activities this weekend. Each morning, I would let the dogs out and sit out on the dock. The dogs loved being able to explore, lucky for Ritz the water was so low he could explore more. He isn’t exactly a “water guy” !
This trip was one of my favorite trips I took in 2021. One of my favorite parts of any trip is always the journey. As I said before, this amazing lake is about 5 hours from where I live. This kind of drive ahead of me I like to split it up. So, Thursday night I took the 2.5 hour drive to Liz’s house in South Maine. After having a quick dinner at our favorite spot, Gritty’s Tavern, that ended the first leg of the trip. The easy part really because Friday morning came the long haul. Bright and early at 5am Liz and I started the 3 hour trek to Moosehead Lake. The first few hours were easy, then the dogs started to get anxious. Every hour we would pull over and have a small break. It does make the trip longer but everyone appreciates the time to walk around and stretch. After we arrived at the lake we had to take the ferry, easy right? Well, the best case scenario is you take the ferry once. Which means we have to take all our bags, the dogs, and all the groceries we bought all in one trip. We were going to make that happen no matter how difficult. So one bag per person, one dog per person and both of us helping with the cooler. If you had seen us hauling all of that and handling our crazy dogs on leashes you would’ve thought we were crazy, but it was a success! We made it happen! Finally arriving we had one last hurdle, getting the dogs, the cooler, our bags and ourselves on one golf cart to the car. This is where the drama was.
@ rocks w/dog
One trip wasn’t going to work. Even if we wanted a one trip wonder that would’ve been more difficult so we split it up. Liz took the cooler and all the bags while I stayed back with the dogs. We honestly made a good choice. Liz was able to get to the house, open it up, drop the bags off, put the food into the fridge, and then get back to pick up the dogs and I. That’s when vacation started!!
I was determined to fit as much as I could into this quick trip. We drove the golf cart around the whole island at least 35 times. We got to see some truly incredibly built houses. There were tons of options for beaches, each with its own unique view. This was all on the first day!
One thing I would say, always bring proper shoes when planning a hike. Trust me, the space you think your boots will take in your bag is worth it! Unfortunately, I did not and only brought my Teva’s as a “hiking shoe”. I think under the right circumstances this would’ve been doable. The circumstances were not right here. I thought it would be an easy built out path to the top. This was a cliff side padded down by other hikers, completely straight up. We were in complete darkness and I was unfamiliar with the path. We made the only choice possible. Skip the hike. Which turned out to be amazing because we saw the most beautiful sunrise I have ever seen. This sunrise was the absolute highlight of the trip. The morning was so quiet. The peace I felt watching the sun rise over the ridge was indescribable. It felt like everything in the universe came together perfectly and I was exactly where I needed to be at that moment.
If you ever get the chance to visit this breathtaking gem hidden away in Northern Maine, TAKE IT!!
