A Maine food tour by bike: Blueberry and lobster … pies

I bet someone has found a way to combine the two, but for me, it was blueberry pie for breakfast and lobster pie for dinner.

Not together!

Though I bet someone in Maine has come up with a way to combine them.

Pie is an important part of bike riding, as you can see here and here.

I finally did get my own slice at Helen’s Restaurant in Machias — that was called breakfast. Like the one I had drooled over on Sunday afternoon, it was a thick helping of blueberries that spilled onto the plate. None of that gumminess in cheap grocery-store pies.

On the other hand, that slice cost a touch more than Clive’s proper breakfast of corned beef hash and two eggs. Worth it!

my blueberry pieThe day ended with lobster in Ellsworth. Instead of lobster roll, I went for lobster pie. So rich! Lots of lobster chunks drenched in a cream sauce, with a layer of fine bread crumbs as the “crust”. It plus the sides left no room for dessert. Not that the ice cream shop stayed open until 9 p.m.!

lobster pie

Some of the others went for a full lobster, and Chris, who calls himself a newcomer to Maine since he’s only been living here at least part-time since 1976, gave the tutorial in how to twist and crack it open.

lobster lesson cropped

A happy rider:

don eating lobster

And if you didn’t want that, there was lobster stew, lobster dip…

The Union River Lobster Pot is one of those seasonal restaurants that fills up early. So we had a bit of a wait. But here, the “bar” is chairs on the lawn, with a view of the river. And yes, you can get beer.

ellsworth river view

A second look at Maine’s Down East Sunrise Trail

I’m reassessing my view of the Down East Sunrise Trail.

Perhaps I was a little harsh yesterday.

The group that rode the Down East Sunrise Trail on Day 1 loved it. They took their time, seemingly stopping on every bridge to take photos. And the surface, while not consistent, isn’t as rough once you get more than a few feet away from a road crossing, they said.

While the trail is the longest trail segment on the East Coast Greenway, the big users are ATVs and, in the winter, snowmobiles, not cyclists. While the machines kick up some rocks, they also pack down the surface.

So we took a walk along the trail in Machias. It still felt too sandy for our skinny, slick tires, but it certainly looked better than what we saw on Sunday:

dest machias

Taking the trail today cut off about 8 miles and all those hills. There’s barely a grade on on this trail Still, the surface seems to have beaten up our riders. Those who made it the whole way arrived much later than all of us who took the road.

Here’s a sign by the crossing in Machias that I liked. Can’t ignore the economic impact of trail tourism!

dest services sign

Day 2 — 68 miles from Machias to Ellsworth

We biked 68 miles today — it should be our longest day of the week.

Acadia from the roadWe biked 68 miles today — it should be our longest day of the week — and climbed an estimated 3,212 feet, also the most of the week. We’re now at the gateway to Acadia National Park. The closest we’ll get, though, is this view from the road. I think Cadillac Mountain is the one on the right.

And while we left Machias after 8:30 a.m . (local newspaper wanted a group photo), we were in just after 4 p.m. Admittedly, our stops were relatively brief — while others opted for a sit-down lunch, we stuck to Clif Bars and the like. (Thank you, Steve, our five-star SAG, for keeping us plied with water and snacks.)

One of our stops, however, involved Columbia Falls and Rosa, who I wager is in her 80s, grew up in the town and now just summers here. She spotted a trio of riders taking a picture and clearly decided talking to them was far more interesting than washing the beet greens for dinner. Then more of us stopped. Among the tales she told us were of ice-skating to high school in the winter, the timber and fishing industries that once kept the town alive, and how in the 1940s there was no meat to be had and they ate venison in season — and out, she pointedly added. These sorts of encounters are one reason why exploring by bike is so interesting.

Our route along the East Coast Greenway was essentially the same as U.S. Bicycle Route 1. The hills just kept coming, but once again they weren’t too bad. The worst stretch was U.S. 1 and all the traffic, followed by the road we took to get off U.S. 1 that lacked a shoulder. But that’s why the Down East Sunrise Trail is there, right? Just too bad we didn’t have the right bikes (or at least tires) for it. It would have been the better choice for the second half of the ride. Plus the almost-finished extension goes right to the back of our hotel in Ellsworth.

A look back at Machias:

ECG sign faded

And I stand corrected on how those blueberries get harvested. It’s with a rake that shovels them into a box, and then eventually put in other boxes like these. Rosa told us her friends from down South who had helped their parents pick cotton said they;d never complain again — blueberrry harvesting is harder!

blueberry baskets

Blueberries!

Found some blueberries. Still looking for blueberry pie.

blueberry fieldWe have been told to stop for blueberries. Hey, bike rides are all about the food.

So when we spotted this blueberry field about three-quarters into our first day of our East Coast Greenway ride, we did. We focused on harvesting them by the handful. It felt a little like “Blueberries for Sal,” but without the bear.

The actual berries are smaller than the ones at home, and they’re grown on low bushes, not the high bushes at home. Our SAG driver said they serve another purpose — to act as fire breaks.

We saw someone harvesting blueberries as we drove to Calais yesterday. To me, it looked like he was using something similar to a tennis-ball hopper — push down and the balls (or berries) go in from the bottom, pushing up the balls (or berries) already there. Or was it some kind of scooper? He certainly didn’t seem hunched over, doing back-breaking work. Still, if it was hours in a field…

We’re still on the hunt for blueberry pie. Three of our riders have scored some, but it took a bit of sneakiness. The restaurant next to the motel in Machias had closed after lunch by the time they got in (and we can’t have been that far behind at 2:30 p.m.). But they waited outside the door until an employee wanted to head out, then bolted in and successfully pleaded for pie to go. They got the last three pieces of blueberry pie. And they just oozed blueberries. Look at that:

blueberry pie

I admit I drooled. Enough, I think, that one of them felt guilt-tripped into offering me a bite. And then I said no. Crazy! Apparently they felt badly enough that they offered a bit to the next person who came by. And Alan our mechanic said yes!

We’ll be at that restaurant for breakfast. Maybe I’ll get lucky? (Because I certainly won’t be eating eggs!)

A bigger vision — a U.S.-Canada trail

Imagine the East Coast Greenway connecting to the Trans-Canada Trail, already the longest trail in the world. And there’s more.

ecg plus tctOne of the great things about these East Coast Greenway Week-a-Year tours is that you have a chance to hear what’s happening elsewhere on the 3,000-mile route and to talk with local (and sometimes state) officials.

This time, we’ve already heard about the vision to close the 110-kilometer (66-mile) gap in Canada between the East Coast Greenway and the Trans-Canada Trail, which will be completed next year to mark the Canadian sesquicentennial. That trail — a mix of road, trail and even water — stretches from the Pacific to the Atlantic and will be 24,000 kilometers (nearly 15,000 miles) long — the longest trail in the world. But when it crosses the province of New Brunswick, it’s well north of St.  Stephen, the town opposite Calais. So that’s got to change.

Then we heard about an even bigger vision — to link two great national parks, one in each country,  with a linear park. That would be Acadia National Park in the U.S. and Fundy National Park in Canada. The big missing pieces are two bridges on the Canadian side; otherwise the back roads, keeping you away from most of the RVs, already exist.  And it would double as the connection between the East Coast Greenway and the Trans-Canada Trail.

Who knows when it will be done, but we heard support from an MP, among others. And the stars seem aligned in the sense that there is a Liberal government in charge at the national level and a Liberal government in charge at the province level.

Day 1 — 49 miles from Calais to Machias

A wonderful first day of our East Coast Greenway ride in Maine.

maine lakeThis was a wonderful first day of our East Coast Greenway ride in Maine — comfortable temperatures (perhaps it topped 80) and low humidity (especially compared to the heat dome we left behind). The hills were generally undulating and the uphill looked worse from the top of the previous hill than they actually were. They also seemed shorter than the ones at home and only rarely did we have to work hard in our lowest gear. The “official” estimate is we climbed 1,874 feet.

We started with a gathering of local and regional U.S. and Canadian officials near the border (more on that in another post), then headed closer for our own shot of the border. I’m glad we walked over last night because there was no way we were going to convince part of the group to wait for the others to go over and back. As it was, the American border agents didn’t take too kindly to a few of us going halfway across the bridge for a photo and then walking back — and not crossing over to go through U.S. customs. Thankfully, they said that since they had seen us, it was all OK … just don’t do it again!

Apparently they don’t take it easy during the international festival the two towns have. The parade from one side to the other? Get pre-approved if you want to do the whole thing.

This is most of the group well away from the bridge crossing, with Canada across the river. Notice the day’s uniform?

ecg group at the canadian border

We found our welcome to Maine sign a few miles later, after we’d passed the turn-off for the last of the local crossings. The waves are to the friendly motorcyclists passing by who had also spent the night at the Calais Motor Inn.

welcome to maine

Can someone photoshop “and bikes” to the bottom of that “open for business” slogan?

Signage was generally great — both for the East Coast Greenway and Adventure Cycling’s U.S. Bike Route 1. Our cue sheets really were more of a backup than anything else. Maine DOT has done a fabulous job!

bike signs in maine

We crossed the Down East Sunrise Trail quite a few times.

ECG group at DEST

But we made the right choice — the surface is great for ATVs and snowmobilers but awfully bumpy for a cyclist. One of our Mainers told us it’s also plagued with black flies — and our few encounters with them were bad enough.

ECG DEST surface

This was supposed to be a 46-mile day. Where did the other 3 come from? Two are the ride to the border and back. The third is a math mistake on the cue sheets — somehow it added just 0.2 instead of 1.2 miles for one stretch of roadway. Stuff happens. And it was no big deal.

An evening stroll into Canada

Cross the border into Canada and you’re in another time zone.

canada

We’re staying a mile away from the border. So we took an after-dinner walk through downtown Calais, through the pedestrian border checkpoint and into St. Stephen and another time zone. We stayed for just five minutes before heading back.

No passport stamp. 😦

How much lobster will I eat this week?

The lobster taste test begins.

I’ve decided that one of my focuses this week should be to seek out as much lobster as I can.

So I started in Portland with a 7-inch lobster roll for $10 at a non-descript deli:

lobster roll

I’m going to need to try a few more to discover what makes one truly great.

And if I can’t find lobster? The bus driver warned me it’s harder to find in northern Maine. It’s blueberry season, and those are plentiful in northern Maine.

Ready to ride!

We’ve made it to Calais. Now the biking starts.

ECG group and the school bus

We’ve made it to Maine — and taken the five-hour(!) ride in a school bus to Calais from Portland. I was last on a long ride in a school bus in Alaska — and before that to corn detassle as a teenager in Indiana.

But it gave us lots of time to get to know each other. One rider is from Maine (another Maine rider joined us at dinner), and another is from Florida, and the rest of us are from Pennsylvania north. There are quite a few who are on their first East Coast Greenway ride.

As we went up and down the hills on Highway 9 between Bangor and Calais, the group started wondering about Sunday’s route. We knew it would be hilly — but this hilly? Should we have come with fatter tires after all and taken the Down East Sunrise Trail, with its imperceptible 1% grade? Maybe a third of the group has planned to take the trail. One person even brought a second set of tires, so she could swap out for something more road-friendly after two days. Why didn’t we do that?

At least it’s only a 46-mile day.

The Down East Trail is the longest trail on the East Coast Greenway, at around 85 miles. The nonprofit that runs it is now finishing up an extension into Ellsworth, the gateway to Acadia National Park, and is envisioning an extension in the other direction, into the Moosehorn National Wildlife Refuge. Pull out and sell the rails to build the trail seems to be the way it’s done.

And just how isolated is this eastern part of Maine? Our bus driver said you wouldn’t take this highway in the winter because of the snow — you’d stick to the coast. He pointed out signs with the letters TWP and a number. That’s how areas of forest and or other “town without people” get identified in rural Maine. We went through an area where there used to be a lot of logging and paper mills, but there’s much less of that here. A few homes, small — small — grocery stores (think the size of a trailer), one little elementary school and lots and lots of forest and not much else, until we finally saw a sign for a proper supermarket … 7 miles away. That would be in Calais, a town of about 3,000.

And between Calais and Machias? We’re heading out with boxed lunches because there’s nowhere to buy food.