There is no official name for
this hike, it was more a conglomerate of intersecting trails that took us to
four peaks in the park. The hike started
along one the carriage roads in Acadia. What is a carriage road? Well, in the
golden age, the Rockefellers and others in the same socio-economic status
enjoyed this area and created roads that were the width of carriages (the ‘ole
horse and carriage). These days, the roads are used for miles upon miles of
biking, hiking, walking, horse, etc… trails and their quite lovely.
We finally found the trail marker for the first leg of our hike (to Parkman Mountain, elev. 941’ via Bald Peak, elev. 974’).
The
hike was not one of those where ya just follow a tail – there were markers
(blue rectangles) on trees and granite,
as well as cairns.
The hike was a bit of a scramble –
there were a lot of giant steps and maneuvering around large boulders, walking
along granite and traversing rock piles.
In Acadia NP, dogs are actually
allowed on the trails, so it was cool to bring Zoey along on the hike. In fact,
since she pretends she’s a husky when we hike with her (pulls a lot), sometimes
we’d have to let go of her leash since she’s pull us down the rock slides.
Invariably, she always found the easier route up or down, than Brad, who always
went first. Suzanne leaned to follow Zoey!
We did have nice views – this is
of Somes Sound, the only fjord in the lower-48. As you can see, we didn’t enjoy
clear blue skies.
At some times the hike was long granite
rocks, other times in a forest. Question – do you think Brad is just standing
there enjoying the view? Or is Brad
watering the forest?
Here’s another view of Somes
Sound~
 |
And some more views along the
trail~
As we arrived at each
destination, there was a marker with the various route options one could take.
A family picture at Bald Peak~
It was a short 0.3 miles to
Parkman Mountain, but it was one of the steepest descents over granite so it
took a bit of time.
Like we said before, there were
many interconnected trails in this area. We continued along towards Gilmore
Peak (elev. 1036’). Here’s another crossroad post with various peaks and trails
–
and this was posted below – seriously
– try to read it,
like hikers won’t be bothered by
the fact that the maps we follow (and yes, we had purchased a trail map and referred
to it a lot on this hike) have different names than the trails themselves!
Seriously!
It was a quick stop at Gilmore Peak where we enjoyed some peanut butter & jelly sandwiches
and we continued along to our final peak destination – Sargent Mountain (elev. 1,373’) where we heard there were beautiful 360-degree views.
However, when we got there, the
rain was crashing down on us, the wind was blowing hard, and all of our
360-degree views looked like this:
It is not the first time in
20-years together of hiking that we’ve hit some rain (even hail), but it was
the first time we hit such a downpour, wind and cold in an area where there was
no place to seek shelter – we were on an open-faced granite dome and to
continue our hike, had to walk about half-a-mile. We even donned our $1 emergency
rain gear – also about 20-years old!
We continued our journey (and the
skies cleared) along Sargent South Ridge and allowed Zoeyto be completely off-leash
since she was tired (she’s a runner) and there was nothing to distract her and
cause her to run (squirrels, rabbits, small animals that are fun to chase). She
definitely enjoyed her freedom! And it was much easier to hike without her
pulling us along the way, especially on wet rocks.
We joined the Hadlock Trail, walked along a stream,
passed by two cool bridges and a waterfall
once we arrived back to the Carriage Road, and about five hours later, dry
again except for our boots & socks, arrived to the truck with a wet and
tired dog.
All-in-all, a great and fun hike –
a definitely when in the area (if a moderate to strenuous hike is in your
plans) and one we’d do again when back in Acadia National Park.
Easy and affordable - no matter where you are!
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