Moosehead Lake

Hi Blog.  We got a chance to see some more of Maine today.  We drove up north to see one of Maine's biggest attractions - Moosehead Lake.  The drive was along country roads that took us through rolling hills of timber country.  We searched high and low every time we passed a marsh or swampy area, but we still haven't see a live moose.  There are plenty of moose logos, moose decals, stuffed moose, wood cut out moose, moose shaped mailboxes, moose mugs, moose t-shirts, moose droppings, but to date, no live moose sightings.

We arrived at the southernmost point of Moosehead Lake where the town of Greenville is located. We stopped at the marina and history museum, where we bought our tickets for the boat tour of the lake.  We watched a couple real cool videos on the history of the lake and the logging industry.  After the videos we found a local pub to have lunch.  We boarded the USS Katahdin (named after Maine's highest mountain, made famous as the terminus of the Appalachian Trail).  This Katahdin is a 98 year old steamship (now run by two 300 hp diesel engines). It started its career ferrying passengers and cargo up and down the lake.  During the Depression, the Katahdin pulled lumber barges. It is now part of the history museum and gives tourist rides up and down the lake.

Moosehead Lake was formed when the glaciers receded.  It is 40 miles long and 20 miles across at its widest point.  There are lots of islands, some of which are privately owned.  You can buy one for around $147,000 (we know because we looked at the real estate listings on the way back from lunch).  The lake freezes solid in the winter and folks love to ice fish and drive their snowmobiles back and forth across the lake.

If you look really hard in this photo, you can see the ghostly shape of Mount Katahdin off in the distance.

Here is a photo of Mount Kineo. It is famous for its flint deposits.  Indians from miles around would come to Kineo to gather flint to make tools.

We enjoyed chatting with some Mainers from Bath. They were very proud that the ship Katahdin was built in Bath. Before we knew it, the three hour tour was over.  The ride back produced no moose sighting either.  It is probably not meant to be.

Chat at you later!