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The Edge of the Continent is 12-13 hours NE of Boston. There is literally no northern limit to weekend getaways to Boston, you are not going to spend 24 hours driving for a weekend. Boston is not even close to Isolated. The Maine woods start at about Lake Sebago 1 hr 20 mins from Boston and extend to about 30,000 sq miles north and east from there. Really about an hour/ 1:20 is about the limit in all directions but S when you enter the wilderness, the Lakes, Maine Woods, Berkshires, Monadnocks. Maybe closer to 1:40 up the coast.
Not a chance. It's two hours from Boston to Sebago Lake, and another two into Longfellow.
We would regularly get to Lake Sebago (granted from the northern Suburbs) in about an Hour, and can get to York, ME on the Saturday in under 1 hour.
Sebago Lake is an hour from Kittery. How'd you get from Boston's northern suburbs to the lake in an hour if Kittery to the southernmost part of the lake is an hour?
A neighbor who commuted from Boston's northern suburbs usually wouldn't arrive home in York until about 7pm and got out of work at 5pm.
Plus there's the overall traffic of the area when you get to Maine. Coastal southern Maine (York, Kittery, Ogunquit) is a disaster during the summer. The traffic can get backed up for miles.
Last edited by joeyg2014; 05-17-2017 at 06:37 PM..
I think Boston, NY, Philly - toss up. The areas within a few hours of each are quite similar. All have access to ocean beaches, quaint towns, all season activities such as skiing and hiking. And to get there all have traffic. I think the comparisons should be more like the northeast corridor (DC to ME) versus the south versus the southwest, etc.
I think this sums it up nicely. In fact, one of the great hallmarks of the East Coast is how compact it is, so the hair-splitting between any of the major metro areas in the Northeast Corridor about access to weekend destinations is quite silly.
I also have the unique perspective of someone who's now lived for a substantial amount of time in three of those major metro areas (DC, Philly and Boston), and I've never felt like I ran out of places to go/explore in any of them -- not even close. It's arguably the most historic, layered and complex region of the US.
Its under a bunch of different names but from the Whites/Lakes into Northern/Central Maine is way larger than the Adirondacks. Also there are Ski Resorts on the South Shore of Lake Winnipesaukee.
Maine is the size of Indiana and has only 1.2 million people. Colorado, Arizona and Iowa are more densely populated than Maine. Maine is HUGE people don't understand, and Kittery is only an hour from Boston. People act like all of New England is made up of states the size of Connecticut.
Nothing east of the Mississippi in America compares to the scale of the Maine Woods.
I have not said anything before but you keep saying how big Maine is but most of that land is PRIVATE land. Other then Baxter SP and a few other areas, most of Maine is private land, less then 6% of Maine is public land.
Much of Maine in fact was traditionally owned by timber companies. But that is changing as the land is gradually being subdivided into smaller parcels, some of the best scenic parts no doubt will one day unfortunately be developed.
I lived about 20 mins out of Boston and with. I traffic it's perfectly reasonable to knock 14% off google maps time.
Quote:
Originally Posted by joeyg2014
Sebago Lake is an hour from Kittery. How'd you get from Boston's northern suburbs to the lake in an hour if Kittery to the southernmost part of the lake is an hour?
A neighbor who commuted from Boston's northern suburbs usually wouldn't arrive home in York until about 7pm and got out of work at 5pm.
Plus there's the overall traffic of the area when you get to Maine. Coastal southern Maine (York, Kittery, Ogunquit) is a disaster during the summer. The traffic can get backed up for miles.
I have no idea how long it takes from point A to point B in the Boston area. Or the Philadelphia area for that matter. But I can say if you time your trips carefully, like obviously avoiding rush hour for instance, you can go a lot further and faster than normal.
I have not said anything before but you keep saying how big Maine is but most of that land is PRIVATE land. Other then Baxter SP and a few other areas, most of Maine is private land, less then 6% of Maine is public land.
Much of Maine in fact was traditionally owned by timber companies. But that is changing as the land is gradually being subdivided into smaller parcels, some of the best scenic parts no doubt will one day unfortunately be developed.
A lot of that private land is accessable people hunt and fish in the lumber lands all the time. additional areas are private campgrounds or vacation cottages so the Northwoods are acccessavle.
I lived in York so I know Kittery well. Boston to Kittery for a weekend getaway is going to be longer than an hour.
Boston to Maine for a "weekend getaway" is pretty miserable. At the start of every weekend, 95 north is a mess. And every Sunday, 95 south is a mess. There's a toll booth in NH and then another one 15-20 minutes north of that one in Maine that add to the gridlock. It gets to be a complete stop for miles in many cases.
Maine isn't built to hold that many people. Some of these towns if I remember correctly triple in population during the summer. The roads in Maine are narrow and Route 1 is poorly designed for traffic and gets gridlocked for miles (like a dead stop).
Not as peaceful and great as people paint it out to be. Summer in Maine is not that enjoyable. I wouldn't really advise someone visit Maine in the summer.
I spend many summer weekends in Maine and you are greatly exaggerating the traffic. On a Friday afternoon it's bad in the Boston area, which is not surprising. After that, it is generally clear sailing all the way up. It also gets annoying coming home from roughly York to the Piscataqua Bridge (5-8 miles of stop and go) and even then it only adds another half hour onto drive time. I have never experienced "dead stop".
Btw, Boston to Kittery is about an hour and 15 to an hour and a half depending on traffic.
]A lot of that private land is accessable [/b]people hunt and fish in the lumber lands all the time. additional areas are private campgrounds or vacation cottages so the Northwoods are acccessavle.
But most of it is not. And why would it be? These days with all the lawsuits why would a private landowner want the liability of letting people roam around his land for no reason? And as I was saying the timber companies have been breaking up their holdings and selling them.
So with only 5.7% of Maine's land area in public lands, I will be generous and say that about 15 to 20% of Maine is accessible to the people of Boston. Add some more land open for hunters if you want.
I did not even get into the fact that a large percentage of people in Boston are not about to roaming about Maine's woods. You and I may like to do that but I doubt many middle aged women would and probably most seniors cannot.
Anyway the point is that there is NOT an area the size of Indiana in Maine that is accessible to the public of Boston. In fact there is actually more public land available for people in the Mid-Atlantic states of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
I have not said anything before but you keep saying how big Maine is but most of that land is PRIVATE land. Other then Baxter SP and a few other areas, most of Maine is private land, less then 6% of Maine is public land.
Much of Maine in fact was traditionally owned by timber companies. But that is changing as the land is gradually being subdivided into smaller parcels, some of the best scenic parts no doubt will one day unfortunately be developed.
The timber companies like Plum Creek and Weyerhaeuser allow full public access to their lands. I camp, fish, and jeep up there and have never seen a "no trespassing" sign in the backwoods.
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