Downeast Sunrise, Part 1 (Day 10: Ellsworth to Machias)

Posted by Jeff, 6/3/15

Miles: 60

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These were our water bottles

Were seven water bottles enough for our needs? Yes. America ByCycle recommends at least 2 to 3 per person. We probably refilled at least once a day. Bicycling Magazine recommends (direct quotes):

Sip 12 to 16 ounces of water four hours before hopping onto your bike

Two hours before, sip another 12 ounces

While riding...the average recommendation is one 16-ounce bottle per hour in cool weather...based on a 150-pound cyclist [that amount varying in hotter weather and for different body weights]

* * * We had a long, leisurely, and sizable breakfast at the Riverside Cafe...

...which was packed full of people.

The trailhead for the Downeast Sunrise Trail (DEST), the 85-mile rail trail that was to be our proverbial Silk Road for the next day-and-a-half, stood inconspicuously near a storage yard 2.5 miles east of downtown. Getting there was a milestone; it was the home stretch! Besides, after pedaling many miles next to fast-moving traffic (e.g. US-1), with a topping of hostile motorist threat (see: Salem), the promise of the quiet of the trail was welcoming.

Gravel driveway off of Main St./Washington Junction Rd. that provides access to the DEST trailhead

The trailhead

The beginning of the trail

The DEST is a jewel at the end of the East Coast Greenway...

...a worthy culmination of a long northbound tour.

Trail history

More history of this awesome trail

The Sunrise Trail Coalition (STC) is the nonprofit organization that promotes and helps manage the trail. Their Autumn 2014 newsletter (PDF) includes a more detailed history of the trail's development. Here's an abridged version:

The Calais Branch Railroad Corridor was a 127 mile long rail corridor for freight and passenger service between Brewer and Calais.

In 1987 this Corridor was acquired by the State of Maine Department of Transportation (MDOT) from the Maine Central Railroad, and service was thereafter ceased.

After an analysis of the business potential to support future potential freight service was determined not to be economically feasible due to uncertainty of demand and high capital cost to reactivate the railroad, then Governor Baldacci on July 15, 2005 charged MDOT with developing a Trail Management and Maintenance Plan for an interim multi-use trail along 87 miles of the Corridor between Ellsworth and Ayers Junction.

MDOT formed the Calais Branch Trail Management Committee...to develop a Management and Maintenance Plan for the rehabilitation of the Corridor and subsequent construction of the Trail.

[...]

Construction would entail removal of the substandard rails, repair of washouts, placement of decking over bridges, rehabilitation of the Corridor, and construction of a 12-foot wide, compact gravel base. Total cost was estimated to be $3.9 million financed by sale of the rails, ties and other hardware.

Construction began spring 2008 along the easterly 49 miles from Machias to Ayers Junction. A ribboncutting ceremony was held January 31, 2009 at Ayers Junction for the opening of these 49 miles to winter activities. Construction began in the spring of 2009 for the remaining 36 miles from Machias to Washington Junction and was completed in the fall of 2010. A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held at Washington Junction in September 2010.

DEST map (Source: Sunrise Trail Coalition). Larger JPG map

The trail surface is gravel. The old rail bed means no steep grades or sharp turns. One of the things we heard from the ECG staff before the trip was that rain might render some of the trail impassable. In the winter, the trail has packed snow for cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, snowmobiling, and dogsledding. In the spring, snowmelt can create muddy conditions that close the trail for weeks, if not months, to everything but foot traffic.

Had it rained, this would have meant getting back on US-1. As I’ve written earlier, when the highway has an 8-ft. shoulder, it’s tolerable if not ideal. When it doesn’t, it’s a little harrowing. The latter characterized a lot of US-1 east of Ellsworth. But luck was with us: the two days on the DEST were sunny. They welcomed us with open arms.

There weren’t many people on the trail. Of those few, the majority were ATV riders. We maybe saw 2-3 touring cyclists. For miles, we could ride side-by-side without interruption, and this invited lengthy conversations. Eve and I were, at the time, still very much learning about each other. Some attention needed to be paid to avoiding potholes and the occasional critter. Some was paid to the placid meadows, woods, and bogs we passed. But mostly, we could focus on listening to one another.

At about milepost 15, we reached Schoodic Bog and Mountain, a remarkable part of the route.

The landscape was getting really rural. At lunch time we reached Cherryfield, which, by the way, is the self-proclaimed Blueberry Capital of the World. (Maybe "Blueberryfield" was too much of a mouthful.) We stopped at the North Street Café &ndash which is not only adjacent to the trail but is also a business sponsor of the STC &ndash to fuel up on fried food and ice cream sundaes and refill the water bottles.

Bridge over the Narraguagus River, near Cable Pool Rd., Cherryfield

The afternoon ride was mainly uneventful. Parts of the trail were more potholed than others, parts wider than usual. Parts were causeways with shallow water on each side. We were clicking off the miles.

We left the trail to find a water source in Columbia Falls, but to no avail. (We didn’t even see a human being, to my recollection.) That set us back a bit as the light of the summer evening was finally giving way to the gloaming. It became the Sunset Trail. We were a long way from Boston, not far from the Land of Chocolate.

But it seemed categorically set apart from everywhere that evening; the trail was its own tranquil world. And before the short night fully set in, we were asleep in the tent.