Touring alongside the jagged soar, into the valley, and out to the Mahoosuc mountains, National Geographic Photographer Pete Muller isn’t any stranger to Maine. A Portland resident and an avid explorer, Muller roams extra into the direct to list the most attention-grabbing thing about the land and the powerful connection Mainers own with their home.
Deep appreciate for the land and sea DownEast
Muller’s sprint begins in the DownEast region of Maine—an rental that gets its title from its maritime history, comparatively than its geographic plan. In the olden days, “downwind and to the east” become the route ships sailed to salvage right here from Unique York and Boston. On the present time, the region is a trove of fishing villages, dramatic shoreline views, and well to construct biodiversity.
An hour up the soar from Acadia National Park, the Mettlesome Bolt is an improbable expanse of twenty miles of the most attention-grabbing density of coastal peatlands, rocky headlands, and maritime grasses in the direct. Muller hikes a 10-mile loop thru trim-fir forests, alongside birth meadows, and steady as much as the shoreline, while paying attention to a chorus of wild birds above. Your whole thing is incredibly restful and beautiful.
In the DownEast town of Roque Bluffs, Muller meets up with friend and kelp farmer Jake Patryn to sight the system and within workings of kelp farming. They head out, off the soar of Roque Bluffs Deliver Park, in a puny boat Patryn aged as a young individual to haul lobster traps. However currently’s take is diversified. After lively to Denver and studying about the health and environmental advantages of seaweed, Patryn and his fiance Morgan Lea-Fogg returned to their roots to launch a sustainable seaweed farm, Nautical Farms.
It’s the discontinue of kelp harvesting season. Patryn pulls in traces of new kelp, cuts them off into plastic totes, and brings them to shore to dry below the solar. “The activity is incredibly tactile and artisanal,” says Muller. As soon as dried, the kelp is packaged and sold whole-leaf or crafted into physique scrubs, soaks, and capsules.
The DownEast region furthermore boasts scenic harbors, biking paths, and a myriad of architectural sites, museums, and lighthouses.
Dynamic artwork scene in Kennebec Valley
The inland puny town of Skowhegan is subsequent on Muller’s checklist. Space on the monetary institution of the Kennebec River, the rental aged to play a colossal feature in Maine’s logging substitute. However that’s no longer the finest thing the home is legendary for. In 1946, the Skowhegan Faculty of Painting & Sculpture opened on a 350-acre farm. To currently, the college supplies an intensive nine-week summer residency program for rising artists—bringing much contemporary abilities to the town year after year and developing a dynamic visible arts scene.
Muller visits the town murals with native artist and educated woodworker Amanda Slamm. Bask in Mul