Safety Tips in Maine

Like all Maine islands Cliff has it's share of poison ivy...but unique is it's Brown Tail Moth infestation.
To some people this means nothing....but to the people who are senstive to their little tiny hair-like filaments that float in the air after they bust out of their cocoons, they mean lots of itching and rash like reactions.

I am personally allergic to them....so I itch and walk around covered with calamine lotion.

Just a note if you do go to Cliff and you do break out this is why. Keep towels and clothes off clothes lines. This helps.

If you decide to climb Katahdin, I would not recommend the Saddle Trail. If you do, be careful. I slipped and fell down some of the landslide in the photo. It was too steep to walk, and not solid enough to climb. All the rocks are loose and there really isn't a good way to go down. See Sports tips for more details.

Be careful of moose when driving Maine's country roads at night, especially along the northern tier. Every year, several Maine motorists die in collisions with moose, an animal perfectly designed to have the most devastating impact on drivers. With tall spindly legs and a huge torso, most of the weight of the beast ends up in the driver's seat during a collision with a car, putting the brunt of the impact right on the driver. Though I hate to say it, the safest speed to drive at night in northern Maine is 50 miles per hour, which gives you time to stop if you spot a moose atthe end of your headlights. If you can't avoid a crash, it is recommended that you aim for the rear of the animal, which has less weight.
Of course, not all moose accidets lead to death -- only about one in every 700 crashes are fata to the humans involved. Sitll, since there were 2009 moose-vehicle collisions just on Maine road from 2000-2004, there were probably 3 or 4 deaths over that period. In 1998 there were 5 deaths in 859 moose-vehicle crashes, so sometimes the numbers work out for he worst. And they always work out bad for the car and the moose.

Hypothermia can be a real issue in Maine. The combination of water and cold weather can be lethal. If you are planning to be outdoors for any extended period of time where you might be isolated from civilization and get wet, wear a material that will keep you warm when water-logged (such as wool or some of the newfangled stuff). If you travel to the coast during the winter, dress warmly as the damp air increases your risk of hypothermia. The good news is that, if you are properly dressed, the Maine winter can be as beautiful and inviting as any sason anywhere -- in fact I'd rather plan to be outdoors in Maine in December than in Thailand in July!

Traffic coming and going into and from Maine is "horrific".
We always plan on driving into Maine during the Midweek, and also try to leave on Monday.

If that is possible with your vacation time, it will make things alot more enjoyable.

We have waited for periods of a hour just to get through the main toll gate or through New Hampshire where all routes emerge. And if there is an accident it can be hours extra.

Recently Maine has added an extra lane from Portland southward, but it is still a challenge.

Caribou, Maine. I've always wanted to go here. I don't know why...perhaps because it's the town farther north than any other on the US east coast. There aren't any big cities close to it...it's just so out of the way and isolated all tucked up in the NE corner of Maine. We were both very excited about going here, so there was no argument about it whatsoever. It does take a LONG time as there are no interstates that go here, just US Rt. 1 and ME rt 11 to ME 163. Even if I had looked on the internet and found nothing great about it, I would have wanted to go...I would have just thought it was a great secret or something. Not so. Caribou SUCKED.

When we finally got up there, I drove all around the town looking for something cool and there wasn't anything. I couldn't even find a cool bar or a restaurant that served beer. I'm sure they are around, but I don't know where--certainly not their chamber of commerce website or advertised anywhere. Finally we did find a restaurant and I grabbed a local guide they always have in such places. It included real estate and I was amazed at how cheap everything was. They have 5 bedroom houses--lakefront--for $50,000. Maybe here in rural PA you can find an apartment for that much but even trailers in most cases cost more.

I had a vision of Caribou and if I worked for the town, I would try to make it happen. It could be the Alaska of the lower 48. There's wilderness surrounding it, lots of rivers and lakes, supposed moose, (Caribou?), mountains...it could be a cute little town for people who wanted to get away or for eco tourism. Instead, it's more like a town with no image of its own. Plain brick faced buidlings, churches that look like they were constructed in a hurry sometime in the 1970s and houses from the same era. The only outdoor events we saw posted for the county (Aroostook County) were for trapping and hunting. Oh well, at least we can say we've been there and probably won't go back.

It REALLY blankets the coast. As mentioned in my must see activity on Acadia, we tried to go the park in bad weather. Make plans to go there for a few days at least because if you're trying to escape the remnants of a hurricane, chances are it will catch up with you at some point. And even more likely, there will be some fog of cloud cover when you're trying to see this wonderful place. It was a great way to see the Park, actually. We got to focus on things close up at first because we couldn't see 10 feet ahead of us and also got an idea of the things we wanted to come back to see later. Also, we had driven by a few spots where we were like "wow, what's so great about this?" and then later, we had no question what made the place special.

Visitors to the North Woods in the summer should be prepared for mosquitos. The mosquitos breed in the numerous lakes and ponds that dot the North Woods.

There are stories from the frontier times that tell of people actually being driven insane by the swarming insects. Moose have even been known to spend most of their time in lakes to avoid the mosquitos, with just the tips of their noses sticking out of the water.

I once tried to take a walk in the woods near Moosehead Lake in northern Maine, and I had to literally run back to the car because the mosquitos were so bad. I can really believe that people have been driven insane by these pests.