West Quoddy Head Loop

West Quoddy Head is the easternmost point of land in the contiguous United States, a bold granite headland jutting into the Bay of Fundy at the entrance to the Lubec Channel that separates Maine from New Brunswick's Campobello Island. The loop trail circles the headland past the West Quoddy Head Lighthouse, the only candy-stripe lighthouse in the United States — its distinctive red-and-white horizontal banding a navigational aid since 1808 in this fog-prone maritime environment. The first sunlight to touch US soil each morning strikes this headland before any other continental point. The trail follows cliff-top paths offering views directly into Canadian waters, with the shores of Campobello Island and Grand Manan Island visible across the channel. The cold, nutrient-upwelling waters of the Bay of Fundy support extraordinary marine mammal density; minke whales, finback whales, harbor porpoise, and Atlantic white-sided dolphins are regularly sighted from the cliffs. The boreal forest bordering the trail is draped in old man's beard lichen and harbors Wilson's warblers, yellow-rumped warblers, and white-throated sparrows. The visitor center in the keeper's cottage contains exhibits on the geology, ecology, and maritime history of this uniquely positioned landform.