Acadia National Park

1-8-07
Left Emily and Jason’s around 9:00 AM. It rained virtually the whole day. Saw a double rainbow in Maine. Bar Harbor is a long way up there. Stopped in Portland at Becky’s diner for lunch. Had a great Haddock sandwich. Maybe the best fish sandwich I have ever had. Enjoyed talking to the people working there. Made it to Bar Harbor around 6:30. The Hostel is great, especially because I was the only one there. It is off-season in this resort area. Nova is very nice. I kept wanting to call her Super Nova, but resisted the temptation as I thought it might offend her. I am hoping to get a lot done tomorrow so I better hit the hay.

Got going about 8:30 and headed to Tapleys for breakfast just a few doors down from the Hostel. Had two eggs and potatoes and headed to a bike shop as recommended by the person eating breakfast by me. The bike shop was closed so headed to Bar Island as it is passable at low tide which was at 8:36 on this day. Hiked to the summit of Bar Island and then made it back around 9:20. Nova told me you have an hour on each side of the low-tide time to cross before the tide starts coming in. It appeared to me that was quite conservative. I expected the tide to just cover the lower areas of the pathway which is about a ½ mile hike. From there went to the Park Headquarters. They gave me a map and some ideas on what to see. I went away from that meeting with the intentions of only spending one day here. Although I obviously can not see everything I could definitely get a feel for what this Island is all about. I learned that Acadia was actually created by private individuals who donated their land to the government. Also learned that the Rockefellers owned much of this land. They did not like cars so they made what is called the carriage roads too narrow for cars. The carriage roads or vast and are used for biking and hiking now days.

Took Route 3 south out of Bar Harbor to Schooner Head Road. Got some great photos at the overlook along the road. Went to sand beach and then continued along, stopping to snap photos as I went. Worked my way to Jordan Pond, which is known for the two bubbles which look like two giant boobs. Continued on Route 3 to Seal Harbor. Much of the park is closed this time of year with only a small part of the park loop open for traffic. Went to Northeast Harbor and up around Somes Sound. Learned that the interesting terrain on this Island was formed by glaciers. Got a great picture of a pine tree along the road. Looks like a giant Bonsai Tree, which is a common look in this area. Continued to Route 198 and then south along 102 to Southwest Harbor. From there went down Route 102A to the natural seawall. At one point the ocean during high tide, backs up onto the road. It’s neat how the tides affects so much around here. Proceeded on to the Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse. I learned later there were two places to photo the lighthouse. I had picked the lesser location. Drove through Bass Harbor back to Southwest Harbor and over to Bar Harbor. Lots of towns named after harbors. In Bass Harbor I went down to Bar Island to see if the path to it was under water and sure enough it was completely underwater. Pretty amazing. I didn’t expect the water would cover the trail that completely. Went back to the Cadillac Mountain entrance and proceeded to the summit. This area of the Park is closed to motor vehicles, but you can still bike and hike them this time of year. The lady at the Park Headquarters said it was approximately a 2.4 mile ride to the Summit of Cadillac Mountain, the highest point on the Island, with a 8% grade. This was pretty grueling and about 4 times I paused to take pics (actually to rest). At one point the road had a slight dusting of snow on it. Normally there is lot of snow and normally it is much colder than 30 degrees F. The wind chill I suspect made it feel more like the teens this day. At the Summit you can see for many miles. It was truly amazing although it was cold as well. After about 15 minutes decided to start the descend. The descent was much faster although much colder as well. I was the only one on the mountain on this afternoon, which was cool but painted a picture of my makeup as well. Actually I was very lucky to be able to even being doing this as normally the weather would not permit biking to the summit at this time of the year. After getting back to the truck I could barely feel my hands as they were frozen even with the gloves on. I quickly loaded up the bike and headed to Bar Harbor, where I had a beer at Geddy’s and to scout the food prices. From there I went to the Hostel and took a long hot shower and worked on my photo journal until about 7:30. I went to Little Anthony’s for supper. Ordered a Buffalo Wing Pizza and had a couple beers. I talked to a guy who is from Down East as he put it. I asked if he was from the Portland or Boston area? He explained no that he is from north of Bar Harbor. I was told Down East is a nautical term. He had a lot of slang in his speaking. They pretty much put their r’s wherever they want to. For example Bar Harbor is pronounced Baaa Harbor and they might pronounce my name as Daver. I had a lot of fun talking to this guy and the people around me regarding the slang. The bartender says the slang is most prevalent north and east of the cheese factory, which I learned is in Trenton a little north and west of Bar Harbor. The man said if you get close to the Canadian Border the slang is so bad you can’t even understand the people. I left the bar around 9:30 and did a little work on my journal and tried to find out where I would be sleeping the next night. I was unsuccessful finding a Hostel I was familiar with and went to bed not knowing where I would sleep the next night.

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