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This morning we got up convinced that the rain was finally a thing of the past, and ready for a beautiful day exploring Acadia National Park. Breakfast at the hotel this morning was great, and we left with plenty of energy, and a desire to hike. It was chilly, about 61 degrees and the fog was really thick. It was so thick that most of the first scenic views were views of fog and nothing else. But the weather report called for the fog to burn off in the afternoon and the temperatures to rise to a blistering 72 degrees.
Acadia National Park is laid out with a Loop Road that surrounds the central Cadillac Mountain, with about half of the Loop Road being one way.So we started by following the road in the one-way direction, with our first stop being Sieur de Monts. Sieur de Monts has 3 attractions associated with it: Nature Center, Abbe Museum, and Wild Gardens of Acadia. We started with the Nature Center, which first of all had a passport stamping station so we were able to get a passport stamp. It was small, and had a few small activities for children, and a little
of the history of the area. So we quickly moved up the path to the Abbe Museum, which did not open until 10:00. Since it was barely 9:30, we decided it was time for our first hike since there were lots of hiking trails in the area. The one that looked the most inviting was the Emery Path which claimed to be 1.6 miles to the top of Mt Dorr. We didn't really intend hiking all the way to the top, but we would climb for a while to check it out.
The Emery Path turned out to be one of the best hiking paths we have been on so far this trip. Since the direction of the path is up, most of the path is made by placing granite stones in the form of steps all the way up the path. It has switchbacks along the side of the mountain as it continues to climb, and most of the path has the mountain on one side and a steep dropoff on the other. Fortunately, Mt Dorr is only about 1270 feet to the summit, so there are trees all around blocking the view of the steep dropoff. With
all the rains of the past few days, the rocks were wet and pretty slippery. But we had good hiking boots, and so we were just careful as we climbed. The path was fairly rugged in spots, and there were spots where I could really notice the height. We probably climbed about 2/3 of the way to the top, and by then it was getting even steeper and more rugged, so we decided we had gone far enough for today, and that we didn't want to spend most of the day just hiking this path. So we turned around and started heading back down. One thing we did notice immediately was that while it was easy to climb up in wet, slippery rocks, it was much more difficult to climb down. We slipped a few times on the way down, but mostly we just took it slower and paid close attention as we descended.
It was close to 10:30 by the time we reached the bottom, and by then the Abbe Museum had opened. Most of this museum was dedicated to the early Wabanaki natives who were present when the Europeans arrived at the end of the 15th century.
There were examples of stone tools, pottery and later bone tools found during explorations in the 1920's. It was interesting, but the museum was very small, but there is evidently a sister museum in Bar Harbor that contain additional artifacts.
When we left the Abbe Museum, we headed over to the Wild Gardens of Acadia which even though the name is impressive, it is really just a garden of plants that grow wild in the area. Mostly it was dedicated to local fern plants. Nevertheless, it was pretty, and we were able to take lots of good pictures. While there, we met a nice family who talked to us for a while about our trip, but it was getting late, so we got on the bike and headed back to Park Loop Road. We stopped at a couple of scenic overlooks along the way, but the fog was still pretty thick, so there wasn't much scenic to view. Our next stop was the Precipice Trailhead which I mistakenly thought was a trail to view a precipice. Jody reminded me that we had seen the Precipice Trail on the obligatory 15 minute move back at the Visitors Center, and the
Precipice Trail was just that, a trail that climbs up a precipice. There are a number of metal hand holds built into the side of the precipice and some narrow ledges to walk along. It was way too advanced for our skills, not counting my fear of heights, besides the trail was closed today, probably due to wet, slippery rocks.
Our next stop along Park Loop Road was an overlook before Sand Beach. We looked out from the overlook, but there was only fog to view, but there were a number of cars in the parking lot with no one to be seen. But there was a trail that looked like it headed down to the ocean, so we decided to follow the trail which led us to the real Acadia National Park. When we had spoken to the Park Ranger yesterday at the Visitors Center, he told us that there was an outside trail that basically followed alongside the ocean all the way from Bar Harbor around most of the park. He said that if we were at the park for several days, it would be one of the many great hikes we could do. But if we
were only going to be at the park for 1 day, we should leave the Park Loop Road at several locations and follow the trail down to the outer trail around the rocks. This is what the trail from the overlook did. It joined up with the outer trail at the seashore and there were these huge rock formations that we could climb all over We climbed all over the rocks, admiring the view and taking lots of pictures. Most of the rock formations had a pink color to them, with lots of greens and browns from the vegetation and moss attached to them. We really enjoyed climbing on the rocks. We would have loved to continue along the outer trail, but the motorcycle was getting left further behind so we turned around and headed back to the bike.
Our next stop was Sand Beach. This is one of the most popular spots at Acadia as it is a very wide natural sand beach, the only one in the park, formed by some kind of natural inlet that accumulates sand. The beach was beautiful, surrounded by rocks on all sides, young kids in bathing suits playing in the very
cold water, or digging in the sand. We may be freezing, but there's something about a beach and sand that little kids just love, and they can ignore the cold. We hung around Sand Beach for a while enjoying even more of the view and taking even more pictures. We tested the water and it was far too cold for these Floridians to even consider playing in the water.
The next stop was a place called Thunder Hole. Thunder Hole is a cutout in the rocks that as the incoming waves enter, they splash against the back wall generating a loud noise that sounds like thunder. Thunder Hole also has a Gift Shop, so we could buy t-shirts, and some snack food as we were getting a little hungry and thirsty from our hiking around the rocks. So we took a little break to recharge, and headed back down to the rocks. Eventually we made it down to Thunder Hole and were able to take some great pictures and even a couple of awesome videos. Like most of the times we have been at National Parks, the other tourists are usually very nice, letting everyone have a turn getting
that perfect picture, staying out of each other's panoramic shots.
As we continued to make our way around the park, we continued to stop and walk out onto the rocks. But the time we reached Otter Point, the rocks had become cliffs, and the water was far below, but it was still fun walking out and taking pictures. Once we finished with Otter Point, Park Loop Road began to turn inland and we were no longer able to follow the shoreline. We approached Wildwood Stables, where they have all the horses for either riding or pulling carriages along the Carriage Road. The Carriage Road is evidently fairly extensive as the stables are also very popular. Unfortunately, our 1-day schedule just didn't lend itself to any of the horse activities. By now we were getting a little hungry, but mostly we really wanted some hot coffee. According to the map, our next stop - The Jordan Pond House, had a restaurant, so we hurried along, looking forward to that cup of coffee.
When we arrived at the Jordan Pond House, we were quickly made aware that it was the Saturday before the 4th of July. There were 3 parking
lots and all were full. Cars were wandering around waiting for someone to leave so they could take over their parking spot. I looked in vain for some small spot where I could fit the motorcycle but without any luck. So we joined the cars just wandering through the parking lots. We were stopped in traffic in one of the lots while a car several ahead of me claimed his new found spot when some girl walked right up to me on the bike and told me that someone a couple of spots behind me was leaving. I looked back, and sure enough they were leaving, and no one was behind me! So I walked the bike back and lined it up on the new spot waiting for them to leave. They saw what I was doing and hurried along and finally, I had a spot!
We made our way over to the Jordan Pond House and checked out the restaurant. It was very nice, a little pricey as expected, with outside tables with umbrellas over them. They had real waiters and waitresses taking orders and delivering food which would have been nice if we were looking for dinner.
But we just wanted coffee and maybe a snack. As we wandered through the Gift Shop, I noticed a sign marked Grab & Go pointing upstairs. It was just what we were looking for: coffee, sodas, snacks, soup, etc. We grabbed a couple of coffees, some chips and a cookie and headed outside to an empty table where we could watch the outdoor restaurant below. It was awesome, and the coffee was just what we needed. As we finished our coffee, and began to head out the door, I spotted a passport stamp in the Jordan Pond House Gift Shop. Unfortunately, I had left the passports on the bike, so we had to walk back to the bike, pick up the passports and walk all the way back to the gift shop to get them stamped.
When we left Jordan Pond, there was only one more stop in the park on our agenda: a ride to the top of Cadillac Mountain, the highest point in the park. The ride to the top was awesome! While it wasn't as extreme as our adventure on the Mt Washington Auto Road of a couple of days ago, it was still a very
fun ride. The road was steep with a couple of hairpin turns and some scenic overlooks right at the edge without guardrails. We even spotted a small waterfall coming out of the rocks as we passed by. hen we reached the summit, there was one final passport stamp we needed in the summit gift shop, and then there was about a half-mile summit hiking path. The summit was almost entirely stone with very little vegetation. We took lots of pictures, and looked for the summit marker. That's when we realized that the actual summit was on a rise behind the gift shop and decided we would settle for the picture of the marker on the sign in front of us.
It was after 5:00 when we left Acadia National Park, and we really had a full day. It is really a beautiful park, we really enjoyed visiting, and we could have easily spent a few more days hiking around, taking some of the ferries between islands, or some of the tours from Bar Harbor. But Lowell awaits, so we stopped at a local chain restaurant called Governors and had some comfort food for supper - Shepard's Pie for me
and Ham Steak for Jody, on our way back to the hotel for tonight.
Tomorrow we turn south, to spend the 4th of July near Lowell, MA where I grew up. Hopefully, we can connect with friends and family while we are in the area, and maybe a few meals at some of my old favorite restaurants.
74.8 Miles Today
5838.6 Miles Total
5.047 Gallons Today
148.092 Gallons Total
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