Acadia National Park 2011

Here we are on our way to Acadia National Park, over 162 miles of highway driving but it was scenic.

I did not realize that the National Park is actually an island called Mount Desert Island and some of it is in city limits of Bar Harbor.  There are signs that you are are leaving the Park or entering the Park all over the Island.

The campground where we were staying,  Seawall Campground  was located on the Southeast side of the Island. 

After setting up we took a drive over to the Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse.  It was a little chilly but the sun was out and the view was awesome off the rocks.

These steps led down to the rocks on the other side of the lighthouse.  There were quite a few people down on the rocks but the sun was setting on the other side so once the sun was down far enough it started getting colder.

So we got back in the car and drove around the Island.  In one of the small towns there was this restaurant....need I say more....

We drove over to Southwest Harbour to take some pictures.

Night was falling on us rapidly so we headed back to the campground.  Just before the entrance to the campground was the natural seawall that the road drove over. We stopped for one last look at the sun setting and the awesome view.  

We then went back to the campsite and had a nice fire from the wood the park was providing due to the fact that you could not bring any in with you for fear of  infestation of invasive insects.  The wood pile was right across from us so it was easy to get the wood back to our site.
The plan was to go to bed early and get up before sunrise and drive to Cadillac Mountain, over 30 minutes away from camp.  Well.....we should have gotten up at 4 a.m. instead of 4:30 because by the time we got our coffee and actually got up there it was after the 4:50 a.m. sunrise.

The picture above is on our way to the Mountain right at 4:50 a.m.

Still on our way......

It was a little cold and windy but we got up there and stayed to watch the sun continue upward for about one hour.  We walked on a short trail near the top of the mountain.  Dozens of people were here for the sunrise and had already started back down the mountain. 

It is one of the places where dawn first touches the continental United States and the highest east coast mountain north of Brazil

Views from Cadillac Mountain

Eastern overlook of Frenchman's Bay

Bar Harbor early morning hours

Field of common Lupine

Bill liked the boat with the flowers in it

Our fire pit back at camp

We went back to the campground and had some breakfast and a few hours later headed out to look for a bike for Bill.  We were in luck in the town of Ellsworth there was a bike shop right on the main highway.  Bill went in and someone had just traded in a men's trek mountain bike.  They sold it to Bill and said come back in an hour and we will have it all cleaned up and mainenanced for you. 

 So we drove through town stopping at this barbeque stand for some lunch.  Crazy Dave had a whitewall haircut and made some really good barbeque.  Bill was impressed by his grill.

We went back to the shop and Bill picked up his bike and we headed back to the Park.

These were outside lobster pots

We got back in late afternoon so decided to do a hike not too far from the campground.  This was called Ship Harbor Nature Trail and let through the forest to the water.  The primroses were everywhere on the trail and very fragrant.

This picture was taken just before 9:00 pm

People had made Carnes all over the place even though there were signs not to since the park had made them to mark trails.

Ty must have smelled or spotted a crab or critter of some type

This white throated sparrow came pretty close when Bill was using his ibird to pull up the sound of the bird.

We finished hiking the trail and even though it was still light out after 9:00 pm we were tired from getting up so early and went back to the campground. 

The next day we had wanted to ride our bikes on the carriage trails that John D. Rockefeller had built in 1917 for horse drawn carriages.  There were 57 miles total of trails that automobiles were not allowed on.  It was foggy most of the day so we decided not to try the biking but went hiking instead.

We started out on the Hadlock Brook Loop at Parkman Mountain and walked up to the Waterfall Bridge.  The waterfall was a 40 foot cascade and I walked down to it while Bill and Ty stayed on the bridge to get a picture.

Here is Ty looking down at me from the bridge

We then walked down under the bridge and continued on the trail walking on rocks over streams and down on the very well marked paths. 

We walked for about two hours and got back to the car to head to The Wild Gardens of Acadia

After viewing the gardens we headed for Park Loop Road.  This is where the first Entrance Station was that we encountered so we showed our annual pass we had purchased and proceeded up the road a bit and parked in one of the parking lots off the one way road.  We walked across the street to a path along the cliffs.

The cliffs here were easy to walk down on and you could go either south or north with not too much trouble. 

These mussels were everywhere, albeit very small

We continued on the path above the cliffs north a bit every once in a while going down to the cliffs for a new view.  The fog was there to stay but close up the view was pretty.

We ended the trail North here at Sand Beach, one of very few swimming places on Mount Desert Island.

We headed back up the trail southbound and Bill decided to climb out on this high rock.  He had to go down at least 20 feet or so to climb back up to get to the rock. 

Made me a little nervous but he made it back!

We headed back to the car to drive up to the parking area for Thunder Hole.  The tide was coming in so the waves were pretty powerful coming up through the hole.  The walkway and stairs were added after there was a sad misfortune where several people were swept off the rocks and out to sea including a young girl who did not survive. 

We then continued around the loop stopping several times to see the rugged coastline and bridges on the way back to the campground.

Although the fog was pretty thick Bill made a fire and dinner outside.  The three days we were here sure did go fast and I for one did not see and do all that I had wanted to.  A week would have been much better but it was coming up on the 4th of July weekend and reservations were made well in advance for this Park and surrounding areas.  Oh well.....Canada here we come!

Last campfire in the US...for now...

The fog felt like a light rain

Wildflowers by the campground were pretty

Good bye Acadia