After the summer tourist season, Hannah and I take to the open road (You might think we have a Harley? We don’t. We have very sensible, fuel efficient Hyundai Elantra.). On a Friday in early September Hannah and I drive north on the Maine Turnpike, then Route One to make the 930A ferry at Rockland, some two and a quarter hours from home. Passing through the coastal towns of Bath, Woolwich, and Wiscasset, we see pottery stores, antiques shops, small farms, marshland, u-store it garages, forests, and roadside stands such as Beth’s Berries and Sweet Corn. The most annoying are the Mainely signs – Mainely Sewing, Mainely Poultry. There is no romance in biking this coastal highway for the shoulder is the white line on the side of the road.
Pulling into the parking lot at the Maine State Ferry Service terminal in Rockland, we pay $10 to park, which turns out is a mistake since free parking on the side streets of Rockland during the day is easy and close by. At the ticket counter we learn that for a 1h 15m ferry ride to North Haven we are charged $17.50 for each round trip. Fair enough. Then we are told our bikes are $16.50 each round trip! What part of a green initiative do they not understand! The bill is $68. To take a car with a driver and a passenger is only $67! Alas, without a reservation for a car, there would be no room on the ferry today. The North Haven ferry just has places for 17 cars and today a semi-tractor trailer taking food to the island grocery store takes up five of those spots.
Out on the open waters we are enveloped by fog that just as quickly dissipates. The North Haven ferry has stiff plastic commercial benches inside on the first floor and white painted metal benches up top in the open air. We opt for the latter and are pleasantly “trapped” for an hour with time to read and write without distraction. As we enter the North Haven harbor we pass by lobster buoys, lobster boats, and pleasure boats anchored in front of houses with wide lawns to the shore.
North Haven, twelve miles long and three miles wide, is an island of a manageable size with gently rolling hills that you can almost totally explore in a day of biking. Rather than the steep up and downs found near Boothbay Harbor or on Islesboro, a coastal island twenty miles north of North Haven, the roads make for easy conversation. We head inland on Main Street past modest houses, many of which have Direct TV dishes. What does one do here in the winter? immediately comes to my mind. On paved roads, we find little traffic on this September Friday so we can ride side by side. We are told 3000 people live here in the summer while there are 370 fulltime residents, who do have their own school (North Haven Community School – http://www.northhavencommunityschool.org). We have been transported into 1950s Maine and couldn’t be happier. The school closes at noon Fridays to give anyone the chance to get the last ferry (345P) to the mainland.
Off Shore Road, Mullins Head, the town park, is one mile away on a dirt road to a clearing among farms with two beaten and weathered picnic tables. It looks as if no one has been here in a month. It’s ideal. We feel like teenagers and have the place to ourselves. Back on the circumnavigating road we head north to North Shore Road with its view of channel islands. Rarely do we see a car; in fact it’s mostly islanders in trucks who give us a wide berth as they pass.
We learn of Ames Knob, a 152 foot peak on the island. Nearly back to the dock in town, we turn onto Ames Point Road, take a weathered grassy trail through the field on the right, tromp through some thickets, then along a brief rocky trail to a stony summit. It’s a 360 degree view and we easily spot the controversial wind turbines just across the bay on Vinalhaven Island, maybe two or three miles away. Two of the three monstrous turbines (263 feet in height) spin regularly and provide all the electrical power for North Haven and the larger Vinalhaven. What I see as unsightly, Hannah sees as appealing. We are told by summer residents that it’s the whirring sound within a mile of the turbines that’s the major complaint. (http://www.nrcm.org/Vinalhaven_wind.asp). We will certainly explore Vinalhaven next year to see for ourselves.
As we wait to board the ferry after 30 miles of leisurely biking, we talk with a spunky woman in her 70s who was actually born on North Haven. I ask her what does one do in the winter. She says, Nothing. I go to the mainland from October to April. We leave a delightful island on a human scale.
Hannah and I settle upstairs on the North Haven ferry and know how lucky we are. Life is good.
Yes, it sounds lovely, but that bicycle fare is really peculiar. Shouldn't it cover the cyclist as well. A note to the Maine State Ferry Service, the DOT or your representative might be in order.
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