unfortunately, the weather sucks this weekend.

I'd like to see it some day. Hopefully, it stays open long enough.

First -- we had trouble finding it. (thanks to jerk LePage for not allowing official road signs to be posted.) We took exit 264 as instructed on the website, and then sort of got turned around because we missed the turn-off from Route 11, but eventually we managed to get onto the correct road (unpaved)

Second -- we went in a sedan. I highly recommend going in an SUV as the gravel road has lots of bumps and there's a lot of unpaved road you have to travel on before you get to the entrance.

Third -- for the next few weeks, bring your DEET and a black fly hood. We're at the height of blackfly season now, so be prepared. Mid-summer and fall will be much better times to experience it.

OK, now for the good parts. The views of Mt. Katahdin are indeed spectacular, and there are about five different viewpoint spots where you'll see it. A lot of the drive is through dense second-growth forest, so most of the way there aren't a lot of distant vistas, but there are some nice spots to pull over and take a hike. I most enjoyed a walk that partly traveled the I.A.T., because it led down to a river. We weren't energetic enough to take the full 3-mile hike to the waterfall, but I hear it's really pretty.

My favorite parts of the experience had to do with water. Near the entrance, you cross a bridge across a gorgeous river (maybe class II rapids). Also, later on the hike to a river. I really hope that when they build additions to the current loop road, they'll take it closer to water, because that would make the park much more of a draw.

For a park that's just opened for the first time, it's really got a lot of great infrastructure in place -- picnic areas, one set of restrooms, and a number of REALLY enthusiastic volunteers who were eager to tell us whatever we wanted.

I'm surprised there aren't any private businesses yet on the road there. No ice-cream stands, no convenience stores, nothing. We saw about two dozen cars while we were there, and I bet a lot of them would have stopped to buy ice cream either coming or going. We were ready and eager to spend some money to help support the local economy, but there was nothing to buy!