If you get crackin’ you still have time to catch the lingering remnants of Maine’s fabled fall foliage. It is as splendid as ever.
The swamp maples never cease to hold my attention and inspire me to pick up my watercolor brushes once again.
If you and yours have yet to sample nature’s show, and you are at a loss of just where to find the best views of the autumnal kaleidoscope, these are some of the most commonly recognized sites for foliage viewing: Acadia National Park, Katahdin Woods and Waters, the Rangeley Lakes Scenic Byway, Moosehead Lake, Grafton Notch State Park, Camden Hills State Park, Bingham to the Forks, Baxter State Park, Schoodic Peninsula and the Bigelow Mountain Range.
But there is another scenic vista that I bet you never heard of, at least I never had. And, trust me on this, I have been around some when it comes to the Maine wilderness.
Quill Hill is a must see for serious leaf peepers. Quill Hill is a 2,638-foot knob about four miles off Route 16 between Eustis and Rangeley. There is signage at the entrance. It is a little busy this time of the year, but the dirt road to the top is wide and well groomed.
Up on the top, there is a 360-degree overlook with picnic tables and story boards to help you identify all of the lakes and mountains that loom in the distance, making for a breathtaking panoramic view, not only of the color-dappled foliage but the sweeping grandness that is so much Maine.
Insofar as I know, nobody knows how Quill Hill got its name. In the 1970s, two brothers, loggers Adrian and Andre Brochu, hiked to the top and fell in love with the long view.
Adrian Brochu almost single-handedly took on the challenge of building a road to the top and creating public access in hopes that others would be able to share the breath- taking view for years to come.
Brochu died in 2019 not long after finishing his Quill Hill dream project. The signage at Quill Hill calls it “The Best View in Maine.”
The lumberman Brochu, who was of Quebec-French heritage, reflected before his death, “I did it. You all thought I was crazy, but I built the thing and people came. And when I’m gone, they will keep coming.”
Quill Hill, I have been told, is also a very popular winter visitation spot for long distance snowmobilers from both the Rangeley and Stratton-Eustis areas. There is an ITS snowmobile trail that intersects with a snowsled trail that leads to the top of Quill Hill.
What a view and invigorating lunch break spot that must be in March or February!
And what a wonderful gift and legacy this site is for people who appreciate Maine’s wilderness and western Mountains. It is a visionary’s privately underwritten gift from the Brochu logging family that will long be appreciated.
Is Quill Hill, “the best view in Maine” as advertised? That’s for you to decide.
I was surprised, not only by the majesty of Quill Hill in its fall colors, but by the mere realization that I had never in my many years of traveling about Maine ever even heard of the place.
V. Paul Reynolds is editor of the Northwoods Sporting Journal. He is also a Maine Guide and host of a weekly radio program “Maine Outdoors” heard Sundays at 7 p.m. on The Voice of Maine News-Talk Network.
