September Camping Trip

I had planned to spend all day Saturday mountain biking, however when I missed my exit and took the next exit to turn around, I decided to go exploring and find out where the road went. That decision turned into an 8 hour detour!

I took Exit 40, RT 302E, off of I-93S, all the way over to RT 16N, up through Jackson, Gorham, Berlin, Milan, Errol, passing Umbagog Lake, and through the rest of Coos County. I decided to keep going and crossed over into Maine, where there were plenty of very long, very hilly, very steep roads.

I had started driving at 11am and by 3pm, I decided it was time to look at the map and figure out where I was. I really did not want to take the same road back, so I decided to take RT 17S. By chance, I found an unmarked lookout area and took some nice photos of Rangeley Lake:

I then passed by Coo's Canyon and had to get out and take some pictures:

Then passed through Mexico, Maine where they acknowledge, and apparently are proud of their connection to the country of Mexico. All of the city signs were designed with Mexican art work. I then passed this huge pivot irrigation system, something rarely seen around here:

I then took RT 2E to RT 5S, and then back on to RT 2E all the way to Lancaster, NH. I then hopped onto RT 135E back to the campsite.

Saturday evening I spent by the fire, started with my magnesium fire starter, just as I started the fire on Friday night. It's certainly a lot harder than you'd think, but I was determined to start a fire without matches or fire starter logs to simulate an actual survival situation. It must have taken me over an hour to start the fire on Friday because almost everything I could find was damp and not dry. I also took advantage of the fact that I was alone and started learning to play the harmonica.