A "DeLorme", for those that might not know, is a road atlas. They print one for most states. The one of Maine is broken down into 69 grid squares.
They're topo maps with every known passable road marked. Very detailed and usually darned accurate if you have the current version.
Like most good maps, the type/color of line indicates the quality of the road. Interstate, US Highway, State roads, local paved roads, local gravel roads and jeep trails right down to 4 wheeler paths. (If the "road" is a dashed line...)
Dug mine out and plotted a path out through the blueberry barrens of Washington County. Wild blueberries thrive on thin, sandy, rocky soil that pretty much nothing else will grow on. "Barren" is exactly the right word. Desolate, rocky, treeless ridgetop land. The views from the ridges and the valleys, ponds, streams and woods in between are some of the prettiest in the State IMHO.
I figured out a route that should eventually get me from a coastal town on US 1, Northwest out through the barrens and back onto State Route 193. Map indicated improved secondary roads all the way.
Map was wrong. First choice turned to gravel about halfway across the barrens. NASTY gravel. Turned around and backtracked, screwed around for a couple of hours looking for a way to get there from here that didn't require gravel or sand roads. Never found it.
Did find a REALLY nice paved road right out in the middle of the puckerbrush. 5 or so miles of mostly decent pavement right through the middle of nowhere. Blueberry barrens as far as the eye could see and a warehouse/processing shed every couple of miles but no traffic (and I mean absolutely NONE). I'm assuming the road was built to get semiloads of berries from the processing sheds back to civilization during the harvest (usually mid-to-late August) Great sightlines. Lots of random curves. I was FLYING out through there, right up until it turned to...yup, gnarly gravel. Turned around and flew back through.
Never did get where I was going but the whole escapade was worth the 15 minutes or so I spent playing on that road.
They're topo maps with every known passable road marked. Very detailed and usually darned accurate if you have the current version.
Like most good maps, the type/color of line indicates the quality of the road. Interstate, US Highway, State roads, local paved roads, local gravel roads and jeep trails right down to 4 wheeler paths. (If the "road" is a dashed line...)
Dug mine out and plotted a path out through the blueberry barrens of Washington County. Wild blueberries thrive on thin, sandy, rocky soil that pretty much nothing else will grow on. "Barren" is exactly the right word. Desolate, rocky, treeless ridgetop land. The views from the ridges and the valleys, ponds, streams and woods in between are some of the prettiest in the State IMHO.
I figured out a route that should eventually get me from a coastal town on US 1, Northwest out through the barrens and back onto State Route 193. Map indicated improved secondary roads all the way.
Map was wrong. First choice turned to gravel about halfway across the barrens. NASTY gravel. Turned around and backtracked, screwed around for a couple of hours looking for a way to get there from here that didn't require gravel or sand roads. Never found it.
Did find a REALLY nice paved road right out in the middle of the puckerbrush. 5 or so miles of mostly decent pavement right through the middle of nowhere. Blueberry barrens as far as the eye could see and a warehouse/processing shed every couple of miles but no traffic (and I mean absolutely NONE). I'm assuming the road was built to get semiloads of berries from the processing sheds back to civilization during the harvest (usually mid-to-late August) Great sightlines. Lots of random curves. I was FLYING out through there, right up until it turned to...yup, gnarly gravel. Turned around and flew back through.
Never did get where I was going but the whole escapade was worth the 15 minutes or so I spent playing on that road.
