Alright...you've all convinced me to put a little less planning and a little more spontaneous into this trip. I'm modifying the plan to really focus on the land lights. I know I’m going back pretty, maybe even THIS summer if I want to and can wing it. But I want to take April as time to really get to spend time at the land-based lights…the ones that will be more of a tourist-trap in the summers. If I decide to do a summer trip, I’ll figure that out next. (Seeing as I am a second-semester senior and do nothing all day, I may well plan it now,
before I even do the April trip.)
As thus, I'm thinking of these changes in the general plan:
-The Newburyport MA lights, as well as Portsmouth NH, are staying. The former are because I never got to them on my 2004 Mass. trip. And then why skip Portsmouth if I pass through? But I'm going to skip the closer viewing point for Whaleback on the Maine side, and settle for that from Fort Constitution in NH. Next time, I'll take a cruise out to the Isle of Shoals Light, and see it up-close from there.
-Goat Island and Wood Island are on the fence. There doesn't seem to be a cruise to see these, so I might just do the land thing. I have a 75-300mm telephoto lens that becomes 450mm when I put it on my D50, and they don’t look too far away from the photos I looked up on Flickr. Seeing them is nice...cutting them gives me more time at the Portland area lights. I think they’ll become very time-sensitive.
-On the Kennebec, I have to think hard. I want to go up to the DP Lights, including the Range, and would arrange to do so. Squirrel Point has a land-based trail to it, but there seem to be access issues that just got fixed. (
http://www.timesrecord.com/WEBSITE/MAIN.nsf/0/E084FE7703FA802E052573F5005755C2?Opendocument). So we’ll see what happens here bureaucracy-wise. In some ways I’m thinking of skipping the south coast, since it’d just be a lot of telephoto. Instead, go for the north lights, walk up to them, and see them all from a boat trip in the summer (see below).
-In that vein, I’m also cutting Cuckolds, Ram Island, Burnt Island and Hendricks Head Lights from land. Next time I go, I’ll take the Long Reach cruise, and see those plus the Kennebec lights. I also save a LOT of driving time and gas money by doing this.
-Curtis and Indian Island are probably out. I’ll figure out how to see them, but that means more time at the land lights.
-I’m cutting the distant viewing points around Deer Isle. None are really great, and it’s just a lot of time.
-With all this, I now end up with almost a full day in Acadia NP. I figure that I’ll get a bit of a taster…and I can always come back.
-Winter Harbor and Prospect Harbor…not sure there. They may be cut if I want to spend more time on Mt. Desert Island and still need to get home. Shall see.
I’m kicking up the Streets and Trips stop times to 45 minutes to an hour at all the major lights, and planning my end-of-day stops for about 2 hours before sunset for extra leeway. That seems to make timing more reasonable. Also, with the cutting of the offshore lights, I gained a lot of time and gas money. I’m seeing less lights now – about 28 instead of about 40 – but I think it’ll be much more meaningful a trip. And still kicks me over the 200 lifetime-lights mark.
So…here’s Version 2. Which can very easily become version 3, 4 or 5.
Day 1: Tuesday 22 April 2008
Leave NJ around 5:30 AM. Newburyport MA lights (3), Portsmouth Harbor NH, Nubble, (Goat Island VP, Wood Island VP), Cape Elizabeth lights, Portland Head, Spring Point Ledge, Portland Breakwater. Stay overnight in Portland, or perhaps somewhere along the way to Bath.
Day 2: Wednesday 23 April 2008
Leave lodging around 6AM. Squirrel Point, Doubling Point, DP Range, Pemaquid, Marshall Point, Owls Head, Rockland SW, Rockland Bwater, stay overnight B&B in Searsport area (I found one that looks really cool…and cheap!)
Day 3: Thursday 24 April 2008
Leave around 8AM. Fort Point Light, Dyce Head Light, Bass Harbor Head, Bear Island VP, Egg Rock VP, spend rest of day in Acadia NP/Bar Harbor (now starting around 10AM), stay overnight Bar Harbor.
Day 4: Friday 25 April 2008
Leave in the morning. Maybe Winter Harbor VP, Prospect Harbor, head home for NJ.
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A bit less crazy? A bit more fun? I don’t want to pare it down too much – I must keep in mind that I can always go back whenever I want. But I do want to get a nice lighthouses/time/cost balance too. But I can still be ruthless deleting stops in Streets and Trips.
