Maine Island Trail - Day 10 - June 26th

Knowing that the tide wasn't going to be low until around 9:50 meant that I got to sleep in some this morning. The tide coming in on the bold coast flows at up to 3 knots at it's peak, meaning I could basically lounge around in my boat and nearly make it up in time. I was up around 7, aiming to get on the water around 9, so that I could get a bit of a head start during the slack tide. I even had the current through the Cross Island narrows helping me along at the start. The forecast had changed from 5 knot winds to up to 10 knots, but the weather still looked like it would be pretty great.

The Bold Coast has a reputation for being one of the roughest sections of coast in the state, but also one of the prettiest. It's around 15 miles of sheer rock faces and steep rocky beaches. It has some of the largest tides in the world too, up to 20 feet between high and low tide in some sections. Between the huge tides and steep coastline, there's only one real option for taking out in an emergency, and the current is too strong to get back to it if you pass it. That means that once you start, you're committed to it. After hearing how strenuous it was supposed to be, I was very nervous about doing it, especially solo.

It turns out that my fears, while well founded, were completely unnecessary today. The entire way up the coast, the water was nearly glass calm. I stuck pretty far out from the coast, trying to stay in the strongest section of current. I spent most of the time enjoying the view and floating along. What I had anticipated being the roughest day of the trip turned out to be the calmest, most relaxing day of the trip.

The 27 miles passed by quickly, and before I knew it I was up to Quoddy head. I was surprised to see my parents on the rocks waiting to greet me, having driven up from Maryland just to do so. I still had a few more miles to the landing, and so after a brief conversation from the cliffside, I continued on around into the narrows. While there had been absolutely no wind in the wide open area before rounding the point, now there was wind whipping through the area causing whitecaps to appear. So much for a calm day. I hugged the coast as I approached the narrowest part, under the bridge. As I approached the break before the bridge, I noticed a sharp eddy line. This was going to be interesting. As I hit the eddy line, my boat did an almost immediate 180. I quickly turned back and sprinted up out of the strongest section of the current and passed under the bridge. I thought I was done, but it turned out I had another eddy line I had to pass through before getting to the boat ramp. This one nearly flipped me when I hit is, and was so strong that I nearly couldn't move forwards in the current, but I made it through.

After breaking out a Maine Island Trail Ale to celebrate (yes, that's actually a thing), we packed up my gear and headed off to a campground nearby where I could shower. From there, it was off to get some pizza and rest up. A final weight check revealed that I had lost 15 pounds from the time I started the trip. It was without a doubt one of the best experiences of my life, but I definitely was glad to be done with it. While it as exciting as I had hoped, the long stretches without talking to any living people was a bit much for me.

225 miles down, onward to the next adventure.