By Lale Lovell, PhD, Vice President for Transformance Advisors
My trail of the month comes from Monehegen Island. This fall my husband and I took a vacation to coastal Maine. One of the magical places we visited was Monhegan Island. Monhegan is an island a little over ten miles from the coast and only accessible by ferry. Some locals have small pick-ups and golf carts to get around but, otherwise, it’s truly a walker’s island.
Start Your Journey
We started our journey by taking the Monhegan Boat Line ferry from Port Clyde to Monhegan. This service is the only one offered year-round to the island. After about an hour, we arrived at Monhegan harbor. As you can see, it’s a small space and quite tight when the ferry is there for everything comes in on the ferry—food, lumber, and the public port-a-potties!
You can do the island as a day trip, but to avoid the rush, we opted to spend the night at one of the few lodging choices, The Island Inn. The Inn, which dates to 1816, features three floors of rooms and a great dining room. It’s the large building in the village photo below. We spent a lovely night there in a room facing the harbor and enjoyed one of the best meals of our trip. Since all the food is brought in by ferry, I was impressed by the wide variety of tasty dinner and breakfast dishes that were served.
Find Your Way
The island’s trails are maintained by a private land trust and you can get a paper map at the ferry terminal. This is a wise investment since cell service is spotty on the trails (be sure to download your trail map if you are using an app for guidance). After checking into the hotel, we decided to cross through the middle of the island to the cliffs on the Atlantic Ocean side. This path (#7 Whitehead) led us past the lighthouse (erected in 1824) and through the woods.
The Glorious Ocean
After about a mile, we came to Whitehead point with the Atlantic Ocean spreading out before us. It was an amazing site, just you and the glorious ocean. With such solitude, you could really appreciate the power and majesty of the ocean waves.
Since the island is only 0.7 miles wide and 1.7 miles long, I dreamt of circumnavigating the island, so we set off north following the Cliff trail. The brochure warns the trail is very strenuous although the trails app claims it’s moderate. As we were about the find out, the brochure was right!
The trail makes it way up and down continuously as it hugs the steep terrain to Green Point. It’s a bit overgrown and hard to follow in spots, but staying by the coast allowed us to see some amazing sights, including this seal enjoying the waves.
An Island Explored
We continued to follow the coast for about another 1.5 miles and made it to the northern end of the island. We encountered no one on the trail that afternoon and enjoyed one awe inspiring ocean view after another. However, by that point, I had to admit that circumnavigating was not going to be in the cards. The steepness had not abated and we weren’t up for any more steps. So, with one last look at the amazing ocean, we turned south for about another mile, taking the Evergreen (#15) and Black Head Rd (#10) trails back to the Inn.
The next morning, we went on a walk following the roads through town and the Lobster Cove Rd trail to get to the southern end of the Island. This path, with far less steps and just a hill, was a much simpler route. So, even though we didn’t circumnavigate, we can still claim to have walked the island north to south and east to west. The southern end was not as steep as the northern end but still had a grand view of the Atlantic. We stayed there awhile soaking it in.
Final Thoughts
Our time at Monhegan had come to an end. It took a bit of effort to get there, but we were rewarded with uncrowded trails and expansive ocean vistas. This place has inspired many artists and I can see why. Its natural, unvarnished beauty is a step back in time. I applaud the community for keeping it free of too many cars and people.
I stayed curious about the people that live on these islands so on the way home I read Well Out to Sea by Eva Murray. It chronicles life on Matinicus Island, which is even more remote. I’m not sure I have it in me to spend a winter there, but the book is filled with uplifting stories of ingenuity and community.
Lale Lovell
Lale Lovell, Ph.D. is the Vice President of Transformance Advisors. She is a chemical engineer with over 20 years of engineering and management experience in a variety of technology companies in Colorado, including Lexmark and Seagate. Lale brings a wealth of expertise to her role, specializing in Lean thinking and coaching.
Her dedication to continuous improvement and community service underscores her commitment to professional excellence for her clients.
As time permits, Lale likes baking, reading historical fiction, going on walks/hikes, and traveling to new places.
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