AD4: Waterfalls 1, Wildlife 0

One of the most annoying things in life is waking up earlier than you have to and not being able to get back to sleep. It is doubly annoying when it happens on vacation! But sometimes it happens and today was one of those times. Wide awake at 6:30, Frank announces that it was time to go stalk moose. {sigh} Okay, sure, why not?

The sky was bright and sunny but the air was chilly but nevertheless the couch on wheels headed west along route 6/15 to an area we had been told was usually good for moose spotting. For the first time possibly ever, Frank was trolling along at 30mph on a 55mph road watching carefully for large lumpy brown animals. He did see a small one disappear into the woods so there may have been a sighting but like before, we have no photographic evidence. So back for breakfast we went.

Fried eggs on toast and a couple of sausages later, we headed out again along the same road. This time we were bound for Moxie Falls, supposedly one of the hidden gems of the region. It is probably a pretty short hop as the crow flies but roads are scarce commodities around here so we had to drive for about an hour to reach our destination. It was a short hike to the falls – more like a walk really since several others we saw did it in flip flops – but well worth the time. The scenery was beautiful. I can only post the pics from my little portable camera but Frank took plenty on his big new DSLR Canon that he got as an early birthday present. We’ll definitely post those as soon as he figures out how to get them off the camera…. 😦

We scrabbled around along the bank of the river and found a lovely quiet spot at the water’s edge to just sit and watch the smaller parts of the falls. For about 5 minutes. Then a family with 4 small children plopped themselves down right next to us and spread out their towels and blankets while the kids shed layers and prepared to jump into the pool at our feet. When I got up to go, the mom said (somewhat coyly) “I hope we aren’t kicking you out.” There is no polite way to honestly respond to such a disingenuous comment so I made no response. It’s funny because in general I have found people to be very polite and almost hesitant to take liberties given the current pandemic. Case in point: the family yesterday atop Mt. Kineo who were happy to let me take as long as I needed on the fire tower before they ascended so as not to crowd me. Today was nothing like that. Not enough to spoil the day but it did take the glow off just a bit.

It was time to find our midday repast so back towards Greenville we went. The route was more direct but involved lots of unpaved roads and bumps and dust. We managed to come out unscathed and found a parking spot in the middle of town right in front of the crepe truck – lunch was at hand! The crepes were fantastic – Frank had something spicy with cheese and jalapenos. My was GF and dairy free with turkey, brie, walnuts, and raspberry jam. Yummy! A quick pop into the outdoor gear shop to get Frank a hat to save his forehead and nose from the sun and we were ready to take on the next challenge: a short hike to see the wreckage of a B52 bomber that crashed in 1963.

This would normally be where I wax historically about the story behind the memorial we hiked to except for the part where we didn’t get there. The logging company that now owns the land with the access road to the trailhead had closed the road. So no second hike for us today. Hmmmm, what to do on a sunny summer afternoon? Time for a swim!

We headed back to the flat for a quick change and then found the same spot of grass at the edge of the lake next to the same folks we saw there yesterday. It’s funny but we are finding ourselves running into the same people over and over. Today at Moxie Falls, we chatted with an older couple who hiked Kineo at the same time we did yesterday. At the public beach we ran into a mom and her small boys who had been seated near us at Kelly’s Landing the previous evening. It was no surprise that we saw the same people swimming at the same place today since they told us that they are there every day. But they were pleasant enough to not complain when we sat down nearby (we asked first BTW) and we wound up having very pleasant, socially distant conversations with them over the course of the afternoon. Then the skies darkened and the “scattered thunderstorms” we had been promised decided to arrive.

Tonight was a very quiet night with a gourmet dinner of frozen pizza and beer (GF Freschetta is very good BTW!) One last moose search at dusk – just in case but no joy – and it was time to enjoy that last glass of wine and some local sea salt caramel ice cream before turning in.

Numbers for today: