MAINE, USA — Like all good road trips, our summer Outside Edge series comes to an end this week as we head into Labor Day weekend. Beginning in Franconia Notch with an easy hike, we traveled through the White Mountains for rock climbing, western Maine for mountain biking and the southern coast for a school sail and birding.
We then headed to Midcoast for sea kayaking, and Baxter State Park for an ascent up Katahdin. This week Meteorologist Mallory Brooke journeys far Downeast, to one of the most picturesque and rugged parts of the state’s shoreline.
The rocky bold coast of Downeast Maine is not to be forgotten on your summer, or fall trip list. There are gorgeous trails and tidal pools to explore throughout Washington County that offer quintessential Maine views and an unparalleled ambiance. For this adventure, we visited Petit Manan Point, part of the Maine Coastal Islands National Wildlife Refuge, and the Cutler Coast Public Reserved Land.
The Cutler coast is a must-see, especially for photographers. That’s where we met Jeffrey Bos, an avid photographer who loves visiting Maine to capture our vibrant scenery.
“Nature is just stunning over here," Bos explains. "So I’m originally from the Netherlands, and don’t get me wrong it’s beautiful over there as well, but literally every piece of land has been touched by man at least once. Just look around here, it’s just beautiful.
While now living in Philadelphia, it's Maine’s dramatic landscapes that keeps him coming back to different parts of the state.
“If you look here, there’s enormous cliffs, waves and beautiful trees. so I would say the cliffs over here, but also if you go more inland Maine, it’s just beautiful colors, and different shades of green.”
Though sporting a professional camera, Bos says that you can capture some beautiful photos with your phone by following a few tips. The rule of thirds is important in photography and turning on the grid will help immensely.
“If you take very nice landscape picture, I see a lot of people putting the horizon perfectly in the middle," says Bos. "Very simple, put like for example two third sky, one third ground, or the other way around. And you will see that your picture becomes instantly so much better. And if you want to be even a little more adventurous, you can even have one third on the vertical line, and maybe put a big tree over there, or something in the foreground.“
And a picture says a thousand words, certainly of the unrivaled, stunning panoramas found Downeast across the great state of Maine.
While this concludes our summer series, fear not. We’ll return with our winter adventures of the Outside Edge later this fall.