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SPRING 2019 ISSUE 01 / VOL . 04
State Route 11 became another single-barrel shot through thick woodland to Millinocket , where more flags jutted from just about every stanchion . I discovered that regions throughout this patriotic state hoist their flags on Memorial Day and keep them flying through July 4 and beyond .
I obtained 93 octane in Millinocket and the Beemer responded with a satisfying burp as we continued up Route 11 , swaying alongside this river route past Grindstone Falls and its unique rapids burbling over striated rock . Out of Sherman the road elevates to a turnout revealing a 360-degree sweep of Maine in contrast . Fields of potato blossoms fill the hillsides . Eastward looms the Aroostook Plateau . Westward across a valley of forestland rise the successive peaks of Baxter State Park , including prominent Mount Katahdin at 5,267 feet . On this mountaintop begins the Appalachian Trail . The road undulates northward from here to Patten .
Patten is home to the Lumbermen ’ s Museum , appropriate since State Route 159 from here to Shin Pond joins another tote road , one in service for more than 175 years . This must still be the lifeline of Maine ’ s modern lumber industry , because I encountered truckload after truckload of rolling thunder blasting past as I headed toward Shin Pond . I paused by two seaplanes resting in an idyllic cove like contented waterfowl . I stopped to fill my canteen with spring water gushing forth out of a standpipe protruding from the hillside .
The road ahead rose , dipped and curved through deep woods until I spotted two Baxter Park peaks poised above a sharp bend . I paused to photograph — a fortunate act — because as I dismounted a behemoth filled the bend with its bulk , issuing forth a staccato growling as it careened through the apex at a speed I would fear to go .
Forest like that beyond this idyllic meadow covers 90 percent of Maine .