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July 2, Raymond NH to Kingsbury , ME ride report:
I left a few hours late at 3pm, headed up I-93 to make some time into the mountains, a perfect day for a long ride, 80 degrees and dry. Stopped in N. Woodstock for gas, a roast beef sandwich and a pound of fudge, then up through Franconia Notch, West to Rt 2, Twin Mt, and Gorham. Seeing the mountains up close always makes me want to hike instead of ride, but I was on a mission.
Rt 2 vista looking NE towards Gorham
Route 2 North of the Presidentials is a nice enough road with amazing views. Not much for twisties, but good for a relaxing ride. Crossing into Maine was much the same, good scenery and not much traffic, nice views along the Androscoggin River most of the way. I had planned a few twisty detours to get off Rt 2 in Maine, but the only one I had time for was Rt 4 North out of Farmington to Rt 43 instead of taking Rt 2 all the way to Rt 201 in Skowhegan. Awesome choice, if a bit bumpy in spots.
Rt 43 sunset
As noted above I left Rt 2 in Wilton, ME for my only gratuitous detour: RT 4 North to Farmington, then Rt 43 to Rt 8. It was an amazingly scenic stretch with a lot of hills, twisties, rolling farmland and gorgeous views.
I had already decided to avoid the well traveled Rt 201 from Skowhegan to Bingham, so I took Rt 8 to Rt 16 staying on the West side of the river. It was almost as quick and much more scenic of course. Along with taking routes ending in "a" and "b", taking a smaller road on the "wrong" side of a river is almost always the better ride.
At dusk the bugs became a visibility hazard. One time when they got thick on my shield I made the reflexive mistake of wiping them into an opaque haze with my glove and had to stop immediately. I stopped at every gas station and convenience store after that for a quick clean from their windshield squeegee tubs.
It was dark when I got to Bingham, but the remaining trip over the "mountain" on Rt 16 to my in-laws' camp on Kingsbury Pond was uneventful despite the scourge of bugs, fear of wildlife, and 14% grade down to Mayfield.
Bingham to Jackman side trip:
A few days later I abandoned the family and took a blast back to Bingham, then up Rt 201 to Jackman, 12 miles from Canada. There's a hydro dam in Bingham/Moscow that created 13 mile long Wyman Lake in the valley. Rt 201 North parallels the lake and is a spectacular ride with smooth pavement that alternates twisties with sweepers and takes you multiple times from shore level to higher on the ridge with long views down the lake. Once North of the lake the road parallels the scenic Dead River for a while ("Moose Crossing next 35 miles") before meeting the Kennebec River at The Forks. Rt 201 then gets straighter, climbing through a few mountain passes with great views before you get to Jackman, where I fueled up and blasted back to camp.
Next time I'll plan for a few extra hours to go East of Jackman on Rts 6/15 for what should be a spectacular loop over to Moosehead Lake and down to Abbot.
Attean Pass/Attean Lake West of Jackman
PS: I've never been a Harley guy, but...:
I took the family as far as The Forks a few days later to show off the most scenic part of my Jackman route. On the way back at a rest area on the lake we saw these guys on an old Harley and an Indian, riding them how and where they should be ridden:
make sure you click on the Indian below to enlarge it and see the well-used details:
the ride home:
I retraced part of my route across the river from Bingham, SW on 16/201a/8/43/4 to Rt 2, enjoying every mile. I left Rt 2 in Wilton to head SE towards Lewiston and I-95 for a necessarily quicker ride home. Instantly the roads turned boring, straight, commercial, and traffic clogged. The rest of the ride was a chore, but I'll still dream about the ride there.
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