The Maine coast is definitely a popular destination for many people and with good reason. There are many wonderful things to see and experience along the coast. Today, however, we decided to explore a different part of Maine. Instead of going east again, we went west towards the mountains to a small town named Bethel that is advertised as “Maine’s most beautiful mountain village”. This small town borders the White Mountain National Forest and appears to offer recreational opportunities in every season. We decided to test the advertisement.
Road to Bethel, ME
Bethel is about a 2 hour drive on small roads through small towns but we felt the ride was well worth it. The town has all sorts of recreational activities during each of the seasons including Nordic Skiing in the winter (actually the ski and snowshoeing capital of Maine) and lots of outdoor activities in the spring and summer. In the fall their trees put on a splendid show of color and they have several festival weekends. Our timing wasn’t right for any of the activities but it was great for the leaves and taking in the natural sights available all.
Our first stop was the Artists’ Covered Bridge. This bridge was built in 1872 and has the distinction of being the most photographed and painted covered bridge in Maine.
View from Covered Bridge
From there we drove to the Step Falls Preserve and walked about ¾ of a mile through a rocky wooded trail to the top of the 250 foot water fall with breathtaking views. It is one of the highest falls in Maine.
Falls @ Step Preserve
Thank goodness I had “the country boy” with me to show me how to follow the trail or I would still be trying to find my way out. On the way up, there was a huge tree that had fallen on the trail so I proceeded to climb over it, using up quite a bit of energy I might add.
Why don’t you use the trail?
On the way down, we met a young family headed up to the falls and when I started to show off how a woman of my age was agile enough to get over this huge tree, they pointed out a trail that goes around the tree. Duh!
The next stop was into Grafton Notch State Park. There are several trails and falls in the Park but we were advised to be sure to see at least two of the spots; Screw Auger Falls Gorge and Moose Cave Gorge. Screw Auger Falls Gorge was by far my favorite. The gorge is one of the narrowest in the State, being only 9.8 feet wide but it contains several waterfall cascades with a total drop of 23 feet. Over the years, the water has created this gorge by eroding the rock to form the falls. You need to know we did some fancy rock climbing to get these pictures.
Screw Auger Falls Gorge
The final stop was Moose Cave. This was a short but step filled trail leading to a cave created by granite boulder falling in a fault zone. The sign warns you not to get too close to the edge so you don’t fall in like the victim for whom the cave was named.
Moose Cave
As we travelled west, it was obvious the trees were turning quicker in the mountain areas than on the coast, although we had already commented that the leaves were turned more after the rain over the weekend.
Turning leaves in western Maine
By the time we finished these three nature walks, my knees were screaming my age and I knew it was going to be another Advil night. On the way back home, we noticed this huge crank telephone standing in a square.
When we stopped and looked at the plaque we saw it commemorated this town’s use of the crank phone until 1981.
We hope you enjoy the pictures and a less travelled part of Maine. On Thursday we will be moving to New Hampshire.
goneagainblog.com 
Beautiful, simply beautiful Thank you