MagicPassages

from Portland Monthly Magazine Summerguide 2023

Surprisingly Cold

As fellow explorers, we respect the hard way to discover Maine but sometimes share a guilty pleasure when we’re jumped by beauties that barely require a single step.

While some of us love the thrill of a steep ascent in crampons, others crave the big payo s of a 100-foot journey: the Lazy Hiker’s Lobster experience with the shell already cracked for us. It’s only a few steps to the ramp of a sea plane waiting to take you wheeling over Mt. Kineo. It’s also a hundred feet from the porch of the Bar Harbor Inn to the dock where the schooner Margaret Todd is tied up, ready to take you on a romantic island cruise. It’s far less than one hundred feet from your car to one of Maine’s many scenic overlooks. As for the rest of this story, it’s yours with just the turn of a page.

Where the Vast Meets the Intimate:

Rangeley Scenic Highway

GIANT’S STAIRS, BAILEY ISLAND

It’s convenient when your portal to the astral plane has a parking lot. To get to Giant’s Stairs, drive through Harpswell, follow along the rough coastline of Bailey Island, and go over the Cribstone Bridge.

“Two hundred million years ago, lava rose against the shores and began to separate what was the Pangea supercontinent,” says Je , a volunteer at Harpswell Heritage Land Trust. “ e molten material hardened around the land and created this once-in-a-lifetime structure. e Giant’s Stairs is the perfect walk for all ages.” is undercovered attraction comes with an extra kick, under Hole (yes, there’s one in Acadia, and we’re not trying to steal its thunder). Just steps from Giant’s Stairs, you can sit here, watch the waves crash against the rocky shore, and hear what the thunder said. Although the Giant’s Stairs have been the subject of studies by earth and marine biologists, including frequent pilgramages from Bowdoin College faculty and students trying to get to

Make an ordinary trip, extraordinary

Make an ordinary trip, extraordinary Make an ordinary trip, extraordinary

Make an ordinary trip, extraordinary

We invite you to make an ordinary trip extraordinary, and enjoy affordable luxury travel without the worry.

We invite you to make an ordinary trip extraordinary, and enjoy a ordable luxury travel without the worry.

Maine Limousine Service specializes in corporate and leisure travel, airport transfers, weddings and all special occasions.

Maine Limousine Service specializes in corporate travel, airport transfers, weddings and all special occasions.

Maine Limousine Service specializes in corporate and leisure travel, airport transfers, weddings and all special occasions.

Maine Limousine Service specializes in corporate travel, airport transfers, weddings and all special occasions.

Situated just minutes from the Portland International Jetport, Maine Limousine Service has been providing professional, reliable, luxury transportation for Northern New England since 1987.

Situated just minutes from the Portland International Jetport, Maine Limousine Service has been providing professional, reliable, luxury transportation for Northern

Situated just minutes from the Portland International Jetport, Maine Limousine Service has been providing professional, reliable, luxury transportation for Northern New England since 1987.

The 100-Foot Journey

Sometimes it’s more fun to discover your own 100foot journey. This dazzler is from Boothbay with the photographer’s car just out of view.

the bottom of things, we’re pretty sure a magic giant is responsible.

MARGINAL WAY, OGUNQUIT

When Carson Kressley told us “there’s nothing marginal about Marginal Way,” our readers loved it, but they were already invested in this 1.25-mile stroll across the extraordinary.

e most glamorous point of entry is from a parking lot in Perkins Cove. It’s the scenic grandeur that moves us here; perhaps that accounts for the astounding 39 benches positioned de ly along its length. Each has a backstory. One bench was donated by Maine lobster maven Linda Bean to recognize the work of India Woodbury to sustain the Ogunquit Art Colony. To the paranormally inclined, there are documented UFO visits to this rose-strewn, serpentine path.

MOUNT BATTIE, CAMDEN

Edna St. Vincent Millay shook the world when she revealed her favorite teenage secret spot—this incredible vantage— in her breakthrough poem “Renascence.” Channel her by driving up here to the top. A century-old tower sits on the crown of this 1.1-mile forest-lined trail in Camden Hills State Park. Endless views of the Penobscot Bay are your reward. Sure, there’s a walking trail... “Sometimes I want the view but not the walk, so I take my car and drive up the mountain. ere’s no right way to get to a view,” says a sta er at Camden Hill State Park.

WOLFE’S NECK, FREEPORT

Philanthropists Lawrence M.C. Smith (a wartime member of the FDR administration) and Eleanor Smith of Freeport donated 200 acres of the land that now makes up Wolfe’s Neck Woods State Park.

How can we take all of this in without thrashing through the marshy wilderness? Enock Glidden is intent upon advocating for more outdoor wheelchair accessibility. Glidden has given White Pines Trail his seal of approval after a personal adventure on the half-mile-long fully accessible path through the woods.

POPHAM BEACH, PHIPPSBURG

Shark sightings are not the only exciting thing to be seen at Popham Beach State Park. Open your car door for a gust of air and views of the three-mile curve of dunes while your mind collects sand dollars and seaglass. Consider the islands, like Fox and Dix, that sit just o the coast. Visit historic Fort Popham, dating to 1861, just 1.6 miles from the State Park. Popham Beach has faced a lot of changes due to sand movement and dune erosion. is has caused a severe shi in what remains of the beach. Better see this in a hurry. Live in the present and soak up some sun. n