We Love Our National Parks, but This Maine Park Is Just as Spectacular

The majestic and natural beauty of northern Maine famously provides an outdoor playground for hikers, backpackers, campers, climbers, sailors, swimmers, and wildlife enthusiasts. While many East Coasters consider Acadia National Park the best park to visit, I also love Maine’s gorgeous state parks, particularly the dramatic coastal views found in Quoddy Head State Park.

The park is open from April 1 to November 1, and is located in Lubec, Maine. To access the park, from Route 189 in Lubec’s downtown, turn right on South Lubec Road and follow it two miles to a fork; at the fork, bear left and continue two miles to the park entrance. 

The name Quoddy comes from the Native American Passamaquoddy tribe, who inhabited this unceded land for centuries, and means "fertile and beautiful place." In fact, the Passamaquoddy of Maine were once part of the Abenaki Confederacy, and Abernaki means "the people who dwell at the sunrise" or "people of the dawn." This may be because their territory encompassed the easternmost point of the contiguous United States where the park sits, and is therefore the first place the sunlight touches.

Thanks to its far-eastern coastal location, the park is home to the West Quoddy Head Lighthouse. Originally built with wood in 1808 by order of then-President Thomas Jefferson, the current red-and-white-painted tower became operational in 1858 and is the only candy-striped lighthouse in the U.S. The tower overlooks the Quoddy Channel separating the U.S. and Canada; from it, you can view Sail Rock, the country’s easternmost point.

While tours of the lighthouse aren’t available to the public, the keeper’s home is open as a museum, and there’s a picnic area nearby with some of my favorite views for dining al fresco. The site also marks the start of a scenic but easy hiking trail: Quoddy Coast Guard Trail. This one-mile loop, a long-established path used by the lightkeepers, gives you an elevation gain of 85 feet as it leads to the top of a high, rocky bluff overlooking the Atlantic Ocean and black cliffs that date back to the Silurian Age, when volcanic magma rose through the water to form the rugged coastline

When I have the time, I like to hike the moderately challenging 3.6-mile out-and-back Coastal Trail. It starts near the picnic area close to the lighthouse and leads past Gulliver's Hole and Green Point, and then reaches Carrying Place Cove. There’s a sandy beach in the cove where you can take off your shoes and socks and dip your toes into the ice-cold ocean while rehydrating. Be sure to bring your own drinking water for any activities within the park, as there are no water sources available—and of course, leave no trace of your presence.

There are a few other easy-to-moderate trails to follow, some of which bring you inland into the 541-acre state park. The trails’ surfaces vary pretty widely, and include forest floor, gravel, rock, boardwalk, and bog bridging.

Wildlife enthusiasts should have their binoculars ready for come summer, you may spot finback, humpback, and minke whales offshore, along with eider, scoter, and old squaw ducks. More avian sightings could include kittiwakes, gannets, black-bellied plovers, ruddy turnstones, and purple sandpipers. In the colder months, lucky visitors may even catch a glimpse of our national bird, the Bald Eagle.

Planning a trip to the Maine coast and thinking of adding Quoddy Head State Park to your itinerary? Be sure to bookmark this article and share it with your fellow hikers, birders, and pharologists!