Yesterday we took a break from golfing to visit the nearby (and excellent) Aroostook State Park (ASP) in order to go paddling on Echo Lake. Normally, we would be camping at ASP, but this year the campground section of the park is closed for renovations; the very cordial park ranger told us that the bathhouses were being rebuilt with more toilets and showers, in a more handicapped-accessible way, and that a dump station for RVs was being added. This will undoubtedly be a marked improvement from the previous facilities, and should be available to the public for the 2026 camping season. I recall having to find a dump station in Presque Isle the last time we made this trip (in 2022) and being charged an exorbitant amount (something like $25) to use it. A dump station in the Park will be most welcome.

The other excellent feature at ASP (besides Echo Lake) is the hiking trail taking you to the top of scenic Quoggy Joe Mountain. We did not avail ourselves of hiking this trip, choosing instead to rent a canoe for a very reasonable $5/hour, to paddle scenic Echo Lake.

While there are several cabins and cottages on Echo Lake, about half of the shoreline is undeveloped.

There were several flocks of mallard ducks on the lake, but they were so skittish that I was unable to capture a decent photo of them. This is the best I could do:

Last night we ate at Ferris BBQ in Presque Isle, a decent family barbecue spot, finishing dinner at sunset.

Today we drove half an hour south to Mars Hill to play the course at the Mars Hill Country Club. This is a fine course, well-maintained with especially good greens, but I did not enjoy it because of the numerous blind tee shots, fairways sloped either left-to-right or vice-versa (which would rocket good tee shots into the woods), and terrain features which I found to generally punish otherwise fine shots. Admittedly, I did not play in stellar fashion, but I feel I did play better than the scorecard would indicate, due to the annoying terrain features listed above. I think that if a person played here regularly, s/he would know where to hit it and what to avoid — but I did not, and suffered accordingly.

Here are a couple views of the more scenic holes on the course. Many holes are routed in the shadow of the windmills spinning on the ridgetop of Mars Hill, which you can see in the photos below.

The sixth hole at Mars Hill is probably the signature hole, a stunning par-3 with about a two-club drop in elevation. Check out the views from the tee box:

As I write this post another Little Guy Max is pulling in directly across from our site, a first! Tomorrow our northern Maine/New Brunswick golf trip comes to an end as we make the five-hour drive back home. Stay tuned for a September golf trip to New Hampshire — and I remain hopeful that I can complete the four corners tour to Madawaska on the scooter before the riding season comes to an end, too. Thanks for following along!