The Maine Attraction

I’ve got nothing against cities, but I think rural areas usually make for a better vacation. Even though I grew up in the countryside and really enjoy the rural lifestyle, I live in a city and have been a resident of Minneapolis for nine years now. Luckily, I get to spend a lot of time in some of the country’s most rural places through my ATV Mag travels, some naturally spectacular areas. I just returned from one destination that really had an impact on me – Maine’s isolated northwestern edge near Jackman.

Flying into Portland, Maine was spectacular, with all the tiny islands, big bridges and old buildings really painting a nice postcard to see through the plane’s window. One of my close friend’s, Meghan Howard, lived here for a year for school, so I had a list of places to check out, mostly down by the waterfront. Portland is the lobster capital of the world, after all.

After grabbing my rental car, I drove into downtown, walked by the water and grabbed a cup of lobster bisque, but then realized the time and knew I had to get on the road for Jackman.

One of the best view's from our first day's trip to the historic Pittston Farms.

The drive up was also a picturesque experience, with all of rural Maine’s tiny churches, small town charm, rushing rivers. After two hours things started getting really rural north of Augusta, with signs warning motorists of moose crossings.

Pretty soon my four-lane freeway was a two-lane highway, winding along through the trees with very few houses and even fewer towns. My destination was the Brown Moose Motel in Jackman, where I would meet up with Kevin Cavanaugh of Maxx’s ATV Rentals the next morning to do some riding.

Breakfast was found (every day) at the Mama Bear’s Den cafe across the street, and the riding Kevin and his sons-in-law Nigel and Mike showed me, was unique and spectacular. Most trails were wide paths abandoned from logging use, but some were very tight and technical, crossing many rivers with cool names like Penobscot. [Read more]