Spring in Maine usually comes well-earned.
That’s not a knock against our winters, which (as we’ve pointed out more than once) are fabulous and inspiring and adventurous and drop-dead gorgeous. But, in a typical year, they are pretty darn cold, pretty darn snowy, and pretty darn long.
We love embracing the pleasures of winter (from ice-fishing to skiing) to the fullest, don’t get us wrong. But the heavy-duty nature of that season here in Vacationland means that the vernal shift-over is most definitely cause for excitement.
It’s an amazing thing to experience firsthand that seasonal shiftover in its many expressions on the Maine landscape, whether it’s a river icing out, a carpet of blooms busting out in a still-bare forest, or the pulses of fowl and fish that help give this stretch of the calendar its sense of energy and excitement.
Overview of Spring Activities in Maine
Spring is, of course, a transitional month, especially in a northerly state such as Maine. The segue between winter and summer brings plenty of its own distinctive charms and opportunities, as we’ll get into below. It also more generally serves as an overlap between wintertime and summertime activities.
Thus, early spring still often allows for great snowsports—downhill skiing and snowboarding, Nordic trekking and snowshoeing, snowmobiling, etc.—while the latter part of the season can mean topnotch hiking, mountain biking, and the like. (That said, remember that a goodly chunk of the New England spring is “mud season,” when poorly sited or timed hiking and biking can cause significant environmental impacts. More on that later in this article…)
In the following section, we’ll cover some spring-specific awesomeness that makes a trip to Maine this time of year especially appealing for outdoor recreationists and nature enthusiasts.
Spring Fishing
Across the broad run of a typical Maine spring, both ice-fishing and open-water fishing opportunities abound. Earliest spring often means primo ice-fishing opportunities on many lakes and ponds, with ice at or near its maximum thickness. The ice-fishing season in Maine extends till the end of March and can range from the tail-end of “smelt-shack” time on tidal rivers to targeting lake trout (togue), brook trout, landlocked salmon, and other freshwater prizes on still-frozen inland waters.
Beginning in March and really cranking up in April, open-water fishing in spring only expands your opportunities for world-class angling focused on landlocked salmon, trout, bass, and more—all while enjoying the longer, warmer days.
That open-water angling can take the form of a truly classic Maine outdoor pastime: fly fishing. From the trout-cluttered Penobscot and Kennebec rivers to Grand Lake Stream—fabled for its landlocked salmon and restricting angling to fly fishing only—spring can be a great time indeed to indulge in it!
Spring Wildflowers
No expression of Maine’s hard-won spring is quite so exuberant and joyful as the explosion of vernal wildflowers that takes place all across the state—from maritime spruce-fir woods along the coast to airy oak stands in the south, Vacationland’s hugely widespread beech-birch-maple forests, and sunny roadsides everywhere.
In hardwood forests, a special cohort of wildflowers that burst forth in bloom before the canopy fully leafs out—thereby taking advantage of strong and abundant sunshine—are known as “spring ephemerals.” These include such species as round-lobed hepatica, Canada mayflower, marsh marigold, wood anemone, red columbine, trout-lily, and several kinds of trillium.
A classic late-springtime spectacle in much of Maine, not least along roadways, is the gorgeous riot of tall purple-blue flowerheads produced by bigleaf lupine. In fact, this showy forb is not native to the state; popular as a landscaping plant, it spread from cultivated gardens to become what’s technically considered an invasive weed (though, purely from an aesthetic standpoint, a widely appreciated one). It’s not the only such non-native lupine growing “feral” in Maine, either. The Pine Tree State has but one native species: the equally handsome, but more diminutive, sundial lupine—a fun one to seek out in and of itself.
Whether you’re taking a scenic drive or hitting the trails on foot, you’ll find springtime wildflowers flourishing their petals all across Maine, providing the wild counterpart to the blooms lighting up town and city parks and gardenscapes this time of year.
Birdwatching: The Spring Migration
Actually, in the “exuberant and joyful” department, there is, in fact, another springtime phenomenon in Vacationland that gives the spring-wildflower show a run for its money. That would be the northward sweep of migrating birds into the state, a stirring sign that warmer weather—and the ecological bonanza of the growing season—is getting underway.
Spring migration in Maine plays out over a broad temporal window, roughly February through May, with that latter month the absolute peak of proceedings. The long duration reflects the specific migratory timetables of different species—set, in large part, by when and where their go-to foods will be findable—as well as year-to-year vagaries of weather, including duration of snowcover and waterbody ice and patterns of temperature, wind, and precipitation.
Spring birdwatchers in Maine can enjoy all sorts of migratory action, from flights of seabirds and shorebirds along the coastline to the colorful and tuneful flocks of warblers and other songbirds flitting their way through woods, thickets, and oldfields.
Coastlines and coastal heights, plus the elongated ridges of western Maine’s highlands, provide premier vantages for spotting migrating raptors—birds of prey—taking advantage of propitious updrafts and winds for their journeys. Among the premier sites for spring “hawk-watching” (though everything from eagles and ospreys to turkey vultures and falcons mingle with “true” hawks such as redtails and broadwings) are Bradbury Mountain (which holds an organized springtime hawkwatch each year), the Camden Hills, and Acadia National Park.
While some spring migrators in Maine are passing through for points northward (the boreal vastnesses of Canada, the High Arctic), many other birds are arriving to nest in the state. That includes one of the most near-universally adored critters of all: the puffin, aka the “parrot of the sea.” Specifically, the Atlantic puffin, which nests nowhere else in the U.S. besides Maine, at the southernmost edge of its North American breeding range. Better than 4,000 Atlantic puffins are thought to nest on islands along the Maine coast, with the biggest colonies situated on Machias Seal Island, Matinicus Rock, and Eastern Egg Rock Island. Treeless, seven-acre Eastern Egg Rock, set in Muscongus Bay on the MidCoast, is the southernmost puffin rookery, a resurrected one that exists again here thanks to an ambitious restoration effort by Project Puffin.
May, by the way, marks the season opener of the Audubon Seabird Institute’s Project Puffin Visitor Center in Rockland, Maine: a great destination in spring and summer for “puffin-heads.”
Waterfall Touring
The melt-off of the winter snowpack and typically abundant seasonal rainfall sees Maine’s rivers and streams rise in spring. That, in turns, means the state’s many waterfalls and cascades tend to crank to peak flow this time of year, producing a truly awe-inspiring spectacle.
Some of the preeminent waterfalls in New England roar away in Maine, from Screw Auger Falls in the chasm of Gulf Hagas (the “Grand Canyon of Maine”) and the impressively broad Grand Falls on the Dead River in Somerset County to two of the main contenders for Vacationland’s tallest: Angel Falls in Franklin County and Moxie Falls in Somerset County, both with drops on the order of 90 feet.
Maine’s waterfalls are at their showstopping best in springtime, so get out there and take in the thunderous whitewater show (while soaking up those negative ions)!
Maple-Syrup Season
A classic early-spring weather pattern in Maine: crisp, sunny days bumping above freezing, then a plunge back below it overnight. And that’s the ideal setup to get sap flowing in our maple trees!
This process—part of the trees’ physiological rev-up for producing leaf and flower buds—is, of course, the foundation for a quintessential and long-running Maine industry: maple-syrup production. The northeastern U.S. is part of the epicenter of commercial maple-tapping, and Maine is a powerhouse on this front. In fact, it’s said that Somerset County in the Kennebec Valley produces more maple syrup than any other U.S. county.
Tapping maples—sugar maples, especially, though sap from other species can be used—goes down between February and April, depending on the given year’s weather conditions. Producers harvest from sugarbushes, commercially tapped maple groves, and boil the sap down into syrup in so-called sugarhouses or sugar shacks. Many of these sugarhouses open their doors to visitors during maple-syrup season, giving you a unique opportunity to see the process in action—and, naturally, sample some of the resulting products!
And the very best time to do some sugarhouse-hopping is the fourth Sunday in March: Maine Maple Sunday. Actually, quite a few sugarhouses participate in this event on the Saturday of that Maine Maple Sunday weekend as well, making for two days of maple syrup goodness. From sugarbush tours, demonstrations, and syrup tastings to live music and games, Maine Maple Sunday is a highlight of Vacationland’s spring calendar and certainly worth planning a trip around!
Spring Weather in Maine
By now, we hope we’ve convinced you what a rewarding time of year spring is for visiting Maine. But what can you expect, weather-wise, during the season in New England’s biggest state?
Well, spring weather in Maine is variable, to put it simply. It varies across space—again, New England’s biggest state—and time, with early March (the start of meteorological spring) generally feeling a whole lot different than late May. Spring “springs,” if you will, earliest in (surprise, surprise) southern Maine and along the ocean-moderated coast, which can be basking in balminess and blooms while Old Man Winter is still very much holding court in the western highlands and northern Maine.
We’re thus painting in broad strokes here, but you can roughly expect daytime temperatures in Maine to range from the mid-30s and low 40s in March to the 50s and mid-60s in May.
Especially in early spring, snowfall can still be a factor in Maine. In fact, as the winter storm track shifts north and sends low-pressure systems rolling through the region and out to sea, the still-sharp temperature contrast between the chilly Northeast and the Gulf Stream can supercharge offshore storms that can bring gales and wintry precipitation to Maine. Indeed, some of the strongest Nor’easters affecting New England often strike in March.
Spring’s on average the cloudiest season in Maine, but sunny days aren’t uncommon (and, needless to say, they’re glorious). And it’s among the rainier stretches of the calendar, too, but a lot of that precipitation takes the form of brief showers and sprinklers. And unlike spring in many corners of the country, Maine doesn’t see very many thunderstorms, let alone severe ones.
A Word (or Two) About Mud Season in Maine
As across much of New England, spring in Maine also means mud season. Depending on where you’re from, that may be an unfamiliar term, but to Mainers, it’s as real a season as any other, spoken of on about the same terms as winter or summer.
All the snowmelt of late winter and early spring, coupled with shallow soils that may still be frozen and are often clay-rich—plus the fact that the roots of trees and other plants aren’t yet in full water-uptake mode—makes for a lot of water without much place to go. Therefore, much of the landscape is on the soggy and, yes, muddy side—not least unpaved roads and trails.
At its peak in late March and April but stretching into early May in some places and some years, mud season can make travel along backroads or hiking trails difficult. But there’s more: Driving, hiking, and mountain-biking off pavement can also impact the landscape during this sodden stretch of the calendar. If you intend to do spring hiking or mountain-biking during mud season, choose trails wisely and responsibly.
And if you do encounter gloppy stretches on a trail, resist the urge to detour around them: This tramples groundcover, causes erosion, and expands the trail’s footprint anytime of year, but all the more so during mud season. Instead, grit your teeth and slog through the muck, sticking to the centerline of the path. (Again, ideally you’ll select trails less prone to muddiness in the first place, or tackle them once they’re likelier to have dried out.)
Celebrate the Unfolding of Spring in Maine
Whether you’re casting for landlocked salmon fattening up on smelt, photographing spring ephemerals in a birdsong-filled woodland, or savoring the taste of fresh-made New England maple syrup, put a springtime sojourn to May on your to-do list! Spring just feels, well, springier up here in the Northland…
