We woke to another beautiful day with the sun shining and good weather for the rest of the day in the forecast. Jeff, the CG owner recommended that we take a ride on the Golden Road and take advantage of the beautiful scenery in the area. The Golden Road is a logging road that spans from Maine to Canada. The section of the road we will be taking is 28 miles long and is passable by car.
Jeff took the time to highlight the route on a map for us and showed Ron a bypass that would eliminate 8 miles of really difficult road. So we packed a lunch and Jewel and we were on the road by 9:30 AM.
Jewel was not to happy to be going for the “ride” but we thought she would enjoy getting out and running around in a non-restricted area.
Despite the carefully highlighted road map we missed the detour away from the rocky road and ended up off-roading even though that was not our intention. There were no signs to indicate we were on the Golden Road but since we were heading North Ron thought we were on track.
We did get to see some cool rock art and if we had done the by-pass would have missed them.
The artists left their signatures and dates the rock was painted on the back. Pretty cool!!!!
Then there was the turtle.
We thought the rock paintings were pretty cool and other then the rough road we were glad we didn’t take take the easy route.
Jeff was correct, the rocky road was about eight miles long and then we were on the wider better paved Golden Road. The Golden Road is so named because of all the money that has been made from logging over the years.
There were no signs indicating we were on the Golden Road but the map said we were. Our first stop was at the Abol Bridge, a one lane bridge over looking the West Branch Penobscot River and with the most incredible view of Mount Katahdin. We were also able to get pictures of the rafters starting on there Category Five White Water rafting trip.
After we were duly impressed by the beautiful view of Mount Katahdin we moved on to our next stop at the Ambejackmockamus Falls. Yes, that is the name of the falls. We were hoping to get some pictures of the rafters coming over the falls in the 10 foot suicide drop.
It was absolutely spectacular at the falls with the rushing water and the cool breeze from the gorge. There were family members waiting to watch the rafters with their relatives on board. We waited to get some pictures but they never came. After almost two hours one disappointed Mother and Grandparents believed they missed the rafters altogether.
We did mange to get a couple of pictures of one raft with two people in it, so all was not lost.
The grandfather waiting for his grandson told us that he had done the raft trip and right at this point the raft flipped and everyone was thrown out. A couple of people were hurt and his son-in-law almost drowned. And this was not even the rapids called the terminator. Crazy people!!
We decided to leave and continue on our journey. The people waiting for the rafters were disappointed but truly felt they had already passed through. Where they put in and where the rapids were was very close and the river was running very fast so missing them would have been easy.
Our next stop was the Ripogenus Dam that we missed because there were no signs anywhere. We were told not to drive past the dam because the road conditions got much worse and our tires would be in jeopardy. Ron remembered Jeff saying something about a sign that said McKay Landing so we turned around and headed back.
We found the little road sign and finally arrived at the dam.
We walked then drove to the other side so Ron could investigate a dirt road he thought we might try but it was closed to the public.
At this point it was almost 2:30 PM so we decided to stay at the dam and have our lunch. It was very quiet and peaceful. There were not people around so we had the place to ourselves.
Jewel decided to sit in the high grass then she tried her hiding act by going deeper into the grass. She had decided she had enough of riding and was not coming with us. LOL
After lunch we took a hike to the generating station and the overlook to the section of the river they call the Terminator. It was getting really hot (92 degrees) and humid. The walk was downhill all the way.
Looking down into the gorge we could see why it is called the Terminator. And rafters do this – WHY????
The entire area has been quite spectacular and Jeff did not steer us wrong. We had to do one more thing before heading out – climb that dam hill in the heat. LOL Like Ron always says we get ourselves into situations that we don’t have any choice but to plug on and get moving.
The hill doesn't look too bad in the picture and it really wasn’t after all!!!
We had done the 28 mile portion of the Golden road plus a few extra miles but Ron wasn’t quite finished. He wanted to check out the Ice Caves located down another unpaved dirt road – so off we went.
We never did find the Cave but we did run into more beautiful vistas.
This picture was taken from someone’s side yard. I wan to live there!!!
We had a great adventure on the Golden Road but it was time to head back.
We had passed a Hannaford’s in Millinocket and we needed some groceries so we decided to stop. Jewel was about done with the riding thing and when I didn’t take her with me she went into sulk mode. Ron stayed in the car with the AC running and got a great picture of her being a brat. She kept his pose for the entire 20 mile ride back to the CG!!!!!
Back at the CG she was more then happy to go back in the MH she also hates to ride in. LOL
Our neighbors Dan and Terry invited us to have dinner with them. Red hot dogs, home made baked beans and mashed potato salad. We did join them and had a very nice ending to a very nice day.
We have met some very nice accommodating people here in Maine. It has made our stay most enjoyable. So much so that we plan on spending an additional day.
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