Ellsworth, Maine
June 26, 2021
We spent a quiet night in Newport, Maine. After our ride yesterday and a long drive we were a bit slow getting going this morning but finally got on the road to Ellsworth, Maine to ride the Down East Trail.
The Down East Trail is named for its location in Down East Maine, dubbed by early Mariners for being “downwind” from more western ports such as Boston. Also, it’s one of the first trails to experience sunrise in the United States.
What can I say about this trail? Bad news first – it was loose gravel, sometimes big rocks, rutted, and washboarded. ROUGH!
Good news – there were some areas of smooth going, the scenery was pretty, the ATV riders were courteous and the deer flies didn’t carry us away.
We passed through woods and marshlands. Wild flowers were still in bloom. We road 12 miles out of Ellsworth and it was pretty remote.
We are spending the night in Ellsworth and may try another section of the trail in the morning. Wish us luck!!
One of the “smooth” areas sure didn’t look very SMOOTH!!! Goodness gracious!! Thanks for sharing the journey through this blog. I know it wasn’t easy to document so many details and put your experience into words!