Maine 2025 (January and February)
Ellsworth and vicinity
Wednesday, January 29 through Wednesday, February 5, 2025
Stu had already traveled to our house in Maine because of a failed heater, which had to be restarted as soon as possible, and only one airline ticket was available for same-day travel. So, I ended up flying solo to Maine almost a week later (when we had previously planned to travel to Maine, anyway). I flew from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma to Bangor, Maine via O'Hare International Airport (Chicago, Illinois) and Newark (Liberty International) Airport, New Jersey. We stayed in the Ellsworth area, including various hikes at Acadia National Park (ANP). We returned to Oklahoma City via Newark (Liberty), New Jersey and Houston (George Bush Intercontinental) Airport, Texas. Because of dense fog at the Oklahoma City airport, our flight was diverted to the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, and we rented a car there, and drove back to Oklahoma City in it.
I tracked the trip with a Garmin eTrex SE GPS receiver (GPSr), using my iPhone 16 (Gaia GPS app) as a backup (and the FlightRadar24 website). Most local-area trips were not recorded (since in-town trips are regularly ignored where we live).
NOTE: the downloadable GPX tracks are full-resolution files while those shown on the provided "view map" links are simplified (with minimal effect on geographic accuracy) for much faster viewing.
Original GPX tracks are unedited, except to break up separate events, and where necessary to fill in missing data. Altered tracks (other than cropped) are noted in their descriptions.
Businesses are named below for reference only. No endorsement should be inferred. If you wish to see my opinion of the places mentioned, see TripAdvisor (for those few that I have actually rated).
Overview
- Overview map—This is a composite map of all the GPS tracks on a blank US/Canada map. Just Downeast Maine.
- All GPS tracks / view map—The whole trip, including walking, driving, etc.
Wednesday, January 29
- GPX / view map—driving to the parking lot at OKC Will Rogers International Airport in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
- GPX / view map—walking from the parking lot to the terminal, and on to the plane at the Oklahoma City airport
- GPX / view map—(FlightRadar24 track) flying from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma to O'Hare International Airport near Chicago, Illinois
- GPX / view map—flying from Chicago, Illinois to Liberty International Airport in Newark, New Jersey. There are a few loops (over Pennsylvania and New Jersey), as we needed to delay our arrival in Newark (which was having issues with strong crosswinds on their primary runways). We landed on a runway that I didn't know existed!
- GPX / view map—walking and riding the bus at the Newark airport
- GPX / view map—flying from Newark, New Jersey to Bangor International Airport, Bangor, Maine
- GPX / view map—walking from the aircraft, through the terminal, to the car Stu drove to pick me up
- GPX / view map—driving from the Bangor airport to Ellsworth, Maine
Friday, January 31
Sunday, February 2
- GPX / view map—driving to the Bass Harbor lighthouse area in Tremont, Maine
- GPX / view map—hiking at the Bass Harbor Lighthouse (ANP) in Tremont, Maine. Because of ice on the steep trail east of the lighthouse, we wore ice spikes under our shoes/boots.
- GPX / view map—driving the short distance from the Bass Harbor Lighthouse to the trailhead for the Ship Harbor Trail
- GPX / view map—hiking the Ship Harbor trail (ANP). Again, we used ice spikes to safely navigate the snowy/icy trail. (Topo)
- GPX / view map—driving back to Ellsworth via Bar Harbor (the loop at Jackson Laboratories south of the village of Bar Harbor is where we turned around after taking a wrong turn)…we found all the restaurants in Bar Harbor closed, so went to dinner in Ellsworth.
Wednesday, February 5
- GPX / view map—driving to Bangor International Airport, Bangor, Maine
- GPX / view map—walking from the rental car return to the terminal, and on to the aircraft
- GPX / view map—flying from Bangor, Maine to Liberty International Airport in Newark, New Jersey
- GPX / view map—walking from our arrival aircraft to our departure aircraft at the Newark airport
- GPX / view map—(FlightRadar24 track) flying from Newark, New Jersey to George Bush Intercontinental Airport near Houston, Texas. This track is from FR24 because the aircraft was a Boeing 787, and GPS receivers do not work inside those aircraft
- GPX / view map—(flawed track) flying from Houston, Texas to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport in Texas (there are missing track points in this track…see next track for full detail)
- GPX / view map—(FlightRadar24 track) flying from Houston, Texas to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport near Dallas, Texas. This flight was supposed to go to Oklahoma City, but when we arrived there, dense fog blanketed most of central Oklahoma. Our plane circled for about 26 minutes, but the fog remained, so our flight diverted to DFW.
- GPX / view map—riding the shuttle from the DFW airport to the car rental building (a few minutes are missing at the beginning of this track)
- GPX / view map—driving from the DFW car rental to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
