What a fun day we had yesterday. After spending much of our time indoors this rainy spring, we were ready to jump in the car to hunt down some exciting photography adventures. Before we left, I mapped out a set of destinations up and around the Kingfield, Maine area. Since it’s now the very beginning of summer, I figured we could find some nice fields full of flowers as well as some beautiful landscapes. Just as luck would have it, we found both. And both were unexpected.
When we usually drive up to Kingfield, we take the same route. Rt.27 to be exact. While that’s nice and all, we’re used to it. For this trip, I decided that we need to get off the beaten path and head up into the woods somewhere. Anywhere. So like I said above, I mapped out some interesting looking places and we took off for them.
My lady has been jonesing for some flower photography. She uses her photography for so many different things and she told me that she’s been running dry lately. She needed to refill. I said, “That’s fine. If we see anything on our way up to Kingfield, we’ll stop and take pictures of it.” I say this type of thing all the time with hopes that my statements will pay off. Sometimes they do and sometimes they don’t. Yesterday, we got lucky. As we approached the Poland Spring bottling plant just south of Kingfield, we spotted an open area that was full of Lupine flowers. What a find! We pulled over and spent a few minutes photographing what we could.
It’s definitely Lupine season in Maine. These flowers are all over the place.
To the left of the field was a house with a large barn attached to it. I thought this structure would be a fine addition to my photo. I tried to frame the field with the house on the left and the trees on the right.
We had a few different things to do on my list. Finding flowers was one of them, getting some ice cream from a local establishment was another. Pick up some groceries while we were out, visit a local inn to see what it looked like and visit a campground up in the hills. I was playing with Google Maps before we left and I noticed not only a campground, but a fairly large lake across the street from it. These lakes up here are very unspoiled and so many of them look just stunning. I was excited to see what we’d find.
After driving through Kingfield, we made a left on Tufts Pond Road. After driving for a few miles, we passed by a sign that said, “Deer Farm Camps” and that indicated the campground was right next door. We drive into the campground, spoke with the owner for a little while and then took a quick tour around the camp sites. That was fun. I do love camping and perhaps one day we’ll come up to stay at this establishment. It was very nice.
While I was talking to the owner of the campground, I asked about the lake across the street. He gave me directions and told me that we were welcome to visit the small beach. I was so excited to see what it looked like up close because it was very hidden from the public. I mean, you have to know where this pond is located to visit it. You don’t just drive by it by accident. I’m sure there are people who live in Kingfield who have never even seen it.
After driving down a dirt road for about a half mile, we saw the gate to the beach. The entire area was very unoccupied, so we had it to ourselves.
After the gate, it was only a short walk to the beach.
Utterly perfect. Postcard perfect. This is why they call Maine “Vacationland.” There are so many hidden gems in these hills. It was so nice that we used the opportunity to take some quintessential photography of our surroundings. There were a few kayaks, canoes and a rowboat.
My lady was even able to capture me trying to get off shore in the rowboat. I haven’t been in a boat in so long. I rowed out about a hundred feet and then came back. I figured that it wouldn’t be nice if I left her behind.
After some time at the beach taking all sorts of different shots, we headed back down the hill onto the main road. We went to a few stores and then ended up back at home.
What a fun day. We’ll definitely need to do this again. I have a new camera lens coming that I’d like to try out, so we’ll have to visit someplace good. Until next time!
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