Maine

Maybe I'll actually get caught up with this post? We'll see how it goes...

So many people have told me how much they love Acadia National Park so it's been prevalent on my must-do list from the get-go (things get a little more vague after that in terms of preconceived ideas of where I need to go next, other than south and west as the temperatures get colder). I didn't hit Acadia in the best of weather. It was in the low 40s with dense cloud cover when I arrived on 10/20 late in the day. Usually when I get to a new (or seldom seen) ocean and walk on the beach I am compelled to walk barefoot in the sand and at least wade in ankle deep. On my wandering the next day, I settled for looking at the Atlantic (what I could see of it through the fog) and kept my shoes on while I strolled on the beach.

Fall colors through the mist. The higher up I went, the less I could see...

The view from Gorham Mountain (day 2 of hiking; for some reason when I try to add a caption it moves this and the last picture above the ones I already put in here for day 1. Oh well... 

 

The rain can be beautiful.

Thar be the sea. If only I could see it!

On day 1 of exploring Acadia I drove the Park Loop Road and did mostly wooded hikes. This is bubble rock. I'm sure there were good views below it, of Bubble Pond at least... I also hiked part of the Gorge Trail and various sections of the seaside trails along the road. It added up to nearly 9 miles, even though I couldn't really see much...






Most of the campgrounds were closed and I was told the one open in the Park  was booked so I headed 15 miles back the way I came in to "camp" (for free) in Walmart's parking lot. There were 5 other RVs there. We sort of segregated in the parking lot; Class B's (vans like mine) migrated to one spot (there were 3 of us) while the big Class A's were in the main parking lot toward the outside. It rained hard that night. I SOOOO love camping in my van on nights like that; counting my blessings that I'm not in a tent. The next day I headed back to the Park. I considered trying The Precipice trail but it's steep with ladders to climb and narrow rock ledges. It was windy and the rocks were slick and the signs cautioned against attempting the trail in those conditions. I only went a short way up and, sure enough, very slick rocks. I headed off to hike to the top of Beehive, which had a few ladder rungs and hand rails of its own and cautioned not to come down that way. I did a long loop route that included Gorham Mountain and came back along a beach trail to my car (a 7 mile hike). The farther up I went on the trail, the more I entered the clouds and the less the view below. Sigh... But I wasn't the only one hiking in the clouds. At least it was exercise! At the end of the hiking I headed into Bar Harbor to check it out (more so than my direct beeline to the Post Office to pick up, fill out, and mail my Absentee Ballot the day before). The waterfront was pretty, filled with lots of touristy shops and restaurants and expensive looking places to stay. A short wander was sufficient for me.


The next day was forecast to be windy but dry. I opted to explore the Carriage Roads in the park. They are logging road width, hard-packed dirt with just a hint of pea gravel. I imagine in the summer, taking a horse-drawn carriage along those roads is quite nice. I rode my hybrid bike but you could probably ride the roads with a road bike. In 49 miles of bike riding (most of the roads available) I saw maybe a dozen other bikers, a good number of hikers, and 1 horse. Given the winding route I took and much of it in sheltered, treed lanes, the wind wasn't that big of a deal. It couldn't always be head winds! It rained for a few brief showers here and there but generally a very nice day.























The next day the sun finally came out. YAY! I hiked a big loop. Starting up the tallest 'mountain' in Acadia (Cadillac Mtn.) from the north side, then down the south side, across Canon Brook Trail, up the south side of Dorr Mountain, down the North side and out to the road via Mt. Kebo (neither a mountain nor a view) and then a mile back along the road to my van (9.82 miles). The views were best coming down the S side of Cadillac (a bit of a zoo up there since you can drive to the top). The views from Dorr were nice too. Hopefully the photos will all land below and I won't try to put captions on them or who knows where they'll wind up landing...

Between the obscured foggy hikes, the long bike ride and the gloriously sunny day where I did the 10 mile loop and once again drove the park loop, I'd pretty much explored the main part of Acadia. There were a few shorter trails I hadn't been on, and a couple of other discreet sections of the park, but the weather was getting colder (below freezing a couple of nights -- I finally fired up my propane heater in my van). It was time to move south. The next day was mostly driving but I managed to get 4+ miles of walks in along the way (Moose Point and Camden, ME) and at the campground (Recompense) that I stayed in that night.

The next day was another mostly-driving day :( but I found a few places to walk along the way for another 4+ miles. With most campgrounds shut down I've become a patron of Walmart parking lots.  They allow RVs to park there for the night; figuring they'll get some sales out of it. They are right. I've been disappointed that many of their stores don't have produce, but I have bought a fair few groceries from them in return for my night-time parking space. Most nights there are at least 4 RVs but this evening's Walmart may not be conducive to the big RVs. I was the only RV here when I pulled in as the sun was setting.

I was going to upload a few more photos but the last one isn't managing to upload so I may have reached a limit for this post.  I will post this now and I think (assuming my laptop battery doesn't die) I might actually be able to catch up in the next post. It won't have too many photos because I haven't taken many in the last few days.