Doggin' America's First Sunrise

This weekend we begin daylight savings time earlier than ever. If all we had to concern ourselves with was hiking with our dogs I suspect we would prefer our extra hour of daylight in the morning rather than at night. After all, if you are on an open-ended hike you don't want to have to concern yourself with getting back to the trailhead before dark. Plus,there is always something special about getting on the trail before the sun has fully risen and your dog is full of spit and vinegar.

But consider the special circumstances if you want to hike with your dog in the easternmost spot in the United States. That would be Quoddy Head State Park in Lubec, Maine. Here, the sun sets in winter before 4:00 in the afternoon. In the summer you can start hiking with your dog with first light about 4:30 in the morning. The folks who live in this part of Maine clearly had their hands in the air during the vote for earlier daylight savings time.

Not that there are a bunch of them to vote. You won't find a traffic light for 50 miles around Lubec. When the first highway down the United States East Coast - Route 1 - was built from Maine to Florida it came down this part of the coast. But when Interstate 95 replaced Route 1 it cut much further inland. So don't expect much competition for the trails when you bring your dog to Quoddy Head State Park.

The feature trail here is the Coastal Trail that dips up and down atop the 80-foot black rock cliffs for about two miles. These dark rocks were forced up from below the ocean floor as hot liquid magma over millions of years. As it cooled the softer surrounding rock eroded the magma, now known as gabbo. Blissfully ignorant of the underlying geology, your dog will love this rollercoaster walk at land's end; eagerly bounding to the top of the many hillocks to see what awaits on the other side.

The trail drops to water level at Carrying Place Cove where your dog can play in the shallow waters. The return trip can be made over the inland Thompson Trail. This easy-going path travels through light forests of shallow-rooted white spruce and hardy balsam trees that are battling the wind and salt spray. Many of these arboreal warriors remain standing after losing the fight, leaving bleached spectral sculptures against the coast.

A side trip leads to the Carrying Place Cove Bog, a National Natural Landmark. This subarctic remnant is home to plants that survive in low temperatures and thin, non-nurturing soil. So carniverous plants such as the sundew and pitcher plants gobble insects for nutrients unavilable in the soil.

After your hike you can relax with your dog in the grassy banks around West Quoddy Head Light. The candy-striped lighthouse was built in 1808 as America's easternmost lighthouse. The moist climate around Quoddy Head is frequently foggy and the lighthouse was one of the first to employ a fog bell. The bell was eventually replaced with a steam-powered foghorn but the original Fresnel lens still guides ships through the Grand Manan Channel.

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