The Road to Fort Kent

Allison and I are now at the Four Seasons Inn in Soldier Pond, Maine (the town is actually Wallagrass), where we arrived last night after driving up from Falmouth.  The drive was beautiful; we took a "back way" through the center of Aroostook County, rather than the more common Route 1 along the Canadian border north of Houlton.  Later this morning we will do some snowshoeing at the Maine Winter Sports Center's biathlon facility in Fort Kent, then we plan to do a meandering tour through Madawaska and Caribou before heading to Presque Isle.

For the ride up we had a beautiful clear day but it was very cold.  There were nice views of Katahdin from the highway north of Millinocket.  As we headed further north and it got later in the day, the temperature started to dip.  It went negative just north of Patten and continued dropping all the way to Soldier Pond.  We passed through small towns like Masardis and Ashland, stopping to photograph a colorful sunset over Portage Lake, then continuing on through Eagle Lake.  The temperature dropped steadily, finally reaching -8 before we arrived at our destination.

After unloading our car and relaxing for a while at the inn, we headed into Fort Kent to get some dinner and see the town.  Fort Kent is on the south side of the St. John River; Canada is on the north side.  The border station is at the bridge over the river.  Just south of town is the campus of the University of Maine at Fort Kent, and the Maine Winter Sports Center is just south of the campus.

There aren't too many restaurants in Fort Kent, but we visited two of the local hot spots: the Mill Bridge, and the Swamp Buck.  Our innkeeper had advised us that the Mill Bridge is a bit fancier (it's all relative), while the Swamp Buck is more of a sports bar atmosphere.  We had some pizza at the Mill Bridge, and an after dinner drink at the Swamp Buck which was lively with a distinct deer hunting theme complete with trophy mounts, etc. (watch for pictures in a follow-up post).

This morning it is not as cold as we expected.  When I went out around 8 this morning the temperature was -2, quite a bit warmer than had been forecast.  I put a drop light and blanket in the engine compartment of Allison's Mercedes last night, but it was probably unnecessary.

Now we will get suited up for some snowshoeing, then head over to the Maine Winter Sports Center.  We'll probably do a short tour of some of the major trails, then head back onto the road for a tour through Madawaska and then south toward Caribou.