Downeast Maine: Lobsters, Whales, and Wildlife

The Trip

Join us for our tour of the Downeast Coast of Maine! Tucked into the northeastern corner of the U.S., Maine promotes itself as “The Way Life Should Be.” As people who have visited know, Maine offers a slower pace of life and a step back in time.

The Downeast region of Maine takes up the northernmost tip of Maine’s rugged coastline adjacent to the edge of New Brunswick, Canada. It’s a stunning landscape of rivers, forests, blueberry barrens, and fishing villages along a rock-bound shoreline dotted with lighthouses. This is coastal Maine as it’s been for decades with fewer tourists and commercial development than the more southerly coastal regions. Here you’ll find no large malls and only two traffic lights in an area twice the size of Rhode Island. Its small towns still mostly depend on fishing or lobstering for their economy.

Quiet coastal trails offer views of islands, deep coves, and granite outcroppings. Ospreys and bald eagles nest in the spruces along the shore. Deer and moose forage in the woods, and harbor seals bask on rocks in quiet coves. Most restaurants are small and family-style, specializing in home-cooking that features locally grown vegetables and fruit (especially blueberries) and fresh-caught seafood (lobster, fish, scallops, clams). Visitors marvel at the world’s largest tides in this area with as much as a 28 feet difference in water level within six hours.

Why is this region called Downeast? When ships sailed toward Maine from the south, they sailed downwind and eastward with the prevailing winds. 

Our trip includes several hikes on easy to moderate trails that feature sweeping views of the coastline, nearby islands, and forest. Naturalists from two local land conservation trusts will accompany us on some of our hikes, identifying fauna and flora and offering information about the region’s history and current environmental conditions. Two distinguished, local birding guides will take us birding on a hike as well as on our two-hour whale watch trip. We will also take a boat trip to an island preserve that contains a historic site. Near the end of our trip, we will drive over a short bridge to New Brunswick’s Campobello Island to spend the day visiting FDR’s summer home and hike in the adjacent Roosevelt Campobello International Park.

Please note: Changes to the itinerary may occur due to weather or other factors. Your flexibility is appreciated.

Day 1: Our trip begins with an orientation meeting in the early afternoon at a restaurant in Machias. After our meeting, we will take a short hike on a nearby forest trail. We then check in at our lodging and enjoy our welcome dinner at a nearby restaurant famous for its seafood and blueberry pies. Our inn overlooks the tidal Machias River.

Day 2: After breakfast we begin our drive to the town of Eastport, stopping to hike at Cobscook State Park and Shackford Head State Park where we will gain wide-open views of Eastport and Campobello Island. These trails average 2 to 3 miles roundtrip with a moderate grade. The sardine industry was introduced to Eastport in the late 19th century and five canneries operated there at its height. Today it is home to many artists and arts groups who display their work in the town’s galleries. For those who are interested, tonight is a chance to take in a musical concert at the yearly Eastport Pirate Festival. We stay at an 1846 Victorian home, now a B&B, close to Eastport’s Historic Waterfront District. Victorian buffs will be delighted with the ornately carved, marble-topped furniture, knick knacks, and books. Breakfasts are sumptuous.

Day 3: This morning we take a chartered boat for a ten-minute ride across the channel to Treat Island, a nature preserve with open meadows and cobbled beaches. We’ll hike the 1.2 miles of trails with views of Passamaquoddy Bay. We’ll visit the monument where an American Revolutionary War Colonel is buried. In the afternoon we take a two-hour whale watch cruise accompanied by two local birding guides. The Bay of Fundy is unique because the whales’ feeding grounds are close to the shoreline. We stay at the same Eastport inn tonight.

Day 4: After breakfast we drive to the nation’s easternmost point, Lubec, once the world’s sardine capital. We hike at Quoddy Head State Park, site of a famous photogenic lighthouse. A naturalist from a local conservation trust will accompany us on our hike on Klondike Mountain. We stay at a renovated former sardine factory, now a comfortable inn facing the sea. Each room comes with incredible views of the Bay of Fundy. An adjoining restaurant will furnish us with breakfast and dinner.

Day 5: This morning we will enjoy a birding hike with a local birding guide. After a picnic lunch we hike at Bog Brook Cove in the Cutler Coast Public Lands. We stay another night at our Lubec inn on the sea.

Day 6: Today we spend the day on Campobello Island in Canada’s New Brunswick province, just over a short bridge from Lubec. To visit this area you must present your passport at the Canadian checkpoint. Here is where President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his family summered in their spacious homes overlooking the sea. We will tour his home, experience “Tea with Eleanor,” a dramatic presentation of Eleanor Roosevelt’s life accompanied by tea and cookies, and hike on well-maintained trails in the Roosevelt Campobello International Park. Our farewell dinner will be at a seafood restaurant on the island. We return to our Lubec inn for our last evening.

Day 7: After breakfast we’ll say our goodbyes to our new friends and depart for our homes.

Getting There

Our trip starts in Machias, Maine on day 1 at 2 p.m. The nearest airport is in Bangor, Maine (BGR), an hour and 45 minute drive to Machias by Route 1. Rental cars are available at the airport.

It is recommended that trip participants carpool, if possible, to Machias from the Bangor airport. The trip leader will send registrants contact information of the other trip participants in order to facilitate carpooling, if participants wish to do so on their own. We are unable to organize carpools because of Sierra Club’s liability policy.

If you are interested in visiting Acadia National Park or Bar Harbor before or after our trip, it is close to Route 1 on the way to or from Machias. The leader will be happy to suggest activities in that region.

Please do not make non-refundable travel arrangements until notified to do so by the trip leader.

Accommodations and Food

Vegetarians will be accommodated and special diets will be considered. We will eat breakfast either at our lodging or at a nearby restaurant. Dinners will be at local restaurants that feature seafood. Most of our lunches will be picnic lunches prepared by local restaurants. Restaurants in Maine proudly feature locally grown produce, fresh dairy products, and fresh-caught seafood.

Trip Difficulty

This trip is suitable for folks who enjoy moderate hiking and boat trips. Our hikes will average two to four miles round trip with an elevation gain of up to 500 feet. 

Equipment and Clothing

Temperatures are expected to be in the 60s to 70s during the day and 50s at night. The weather in New England is notoriously fickle. Participants should be prepared for hot, cool, sunny, foggy, and rainy weather conditions. It’s best to bring layers of different weight clothes. Light weight hiking boots are recommended. A "what to bring" list will be sent to registered trip participants.

References

Map:

• AAA Club, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont map

Books:

• Ackerman, R. and Buxton, K., The Coast of Maine Book.
• Conkling, P.W., Islands in Tine: A Natural and Cultural History of the Islands of the Gulf of Maine.
• Curtis, W., Maine Off the Beaten Path.
• Dawson, L.B., Saltwater Farm.
• Dwelley, M.J., Summer and Fall Wildflowers of New England.
• Gibson, J., 50 Hikes in Coastal and Southern Maine.
• Kendall, D.L., Glaciers and Granite: A Guide to Maine’s Landscape and Geology.
• Nangle, Hilary, Moon Handbooks Coastal Maine.
• Wass, P.B., Lighthouse in My Life: The Story of a Maine Lightkeeper’s Family.

Websites:

• www.mainetourism.com
• www.visitmaine.com
• www.downeastacadia.com 
• www.mcht.org
• www.downeastcoastalconservancy.org

Conservation

Two conservation land trusts serve Washington County. Guest naturalists from the Maine Coast Heritage Trust and the Downeast Coastal Conservancy will accompany us on some of our hikes and talk about the work of their organizations in conservation of this area.

The Downeast Coast Conservancy protects land by accepting land donations, by purchasing land, and by accepting conservation easements. They offer the public free access to trails on their conservation areas. The Maine Coast Heritage Trust holds 12 preserves with hiking trails open to the public in the Downeast area. Less than one percent of Maine's coastline offers guaranteed public access. It's a near-historic low that the Maine Coast Heritage Trust wants to reverse. They recently announced a $125 million fundraising campaign to expand ocean waterfront access and protect it from development pressure and climate change. Supporters say the goal is to stitch back together the shreds of a tapestry that has already started to unravel.

Governor Janet Mills recently signed into law three major renewable energy and climate action bills aimed at reducing reliance on polluting fossil fuels and creating new jobs by accelerating the development of clean energy. The bills, which passed with bipartisan majorities in the House and Senate, will set Maine in a fresh direction, reversing eight years of backward policies from the former governor.

Maine’s tribes will receive long-sought water quality protections for sustenance fishing under a bill signed into law by Governor Janet Mills. Along with an upgrade of legal protections for more than 400 miles of rivers and streams that was signed into law, it will represent the most significant upgrade of clean water protections for Maine’s rivers in a decade.

Sierra Club National Outings is an equal-opportunity provider and when applicable will operate under permits obtained from U.S. federal land agencies.