Acadia National Park ~ Day 4

 

We knew that today was going to be cool and rainy, so we did not set the alarm knowing that we'd probably not be able to hike, but we were up by 5:30am anyway - sigh! Regardless of the weather, we wanted to go to Schoondic Point (part of Acadia National Park, about an hour away), so that was our destination today.

We will have to take another trip here, as the views are quite promising, but alas, not today....

We did walk a bit in the tidepool area at low tide (10:30am), but there wasn't much to see in terms of flora or fauna, except us! 😆

By now it was still quite early, about 11am ~ still rainy and cold, so we (okay, Suzanne) said, "Let's do the Junior Ranger Program!" (We've done it before at other parks.) So we got our Junior Ranger Books.....

...and started working - given that we are aged 12+, we had to do NINE activities! 😧

Brad looks pretty serious, huh! 😂

We had to do a word search, maze, answer questions, matching, and even draw pictures! 

Here is Suzanne's drawing of us hiking Beehive Trail:

Brad's photo of a lobster earned compliments from the NPS Ranger who awarded us our Jr. Ranger Badges.....

Badges? Yes! We earned our Junior Ranger Badges....

..and even had a swearing-in ceremony.....

...where we repeated (not the first time) the Junior Ranger Pledge:

As a Junior Ranger, I will do my best to:

Observe the world around me, and appreciate its beauty.,

Make respectful choices to protect nature and history,

And share my knowledge and love of national parks.

By now, it was lunchtime, so we went to Bunker's Seafood & Spirits - we didn't have the lobster rolls here as they were cold and we prefer them warm (with butter), so we just had typical lunch food.

We then decided to meander Bar Harbor - it's a nice village with lots of restaurants and typical tourist shops. One store had a wooden horse that begged to be ridden.....

Then we headed back to our Airbnb and called it a day. 

Looking forward to no rain ~ though still overcast ~ day tomorrow. We'll (hopefully) be back on the trails!

Acadia National Park ~ Day 3

Today was a very different type of day for us - we rented e-bikes and rode along the Carriage Roads in Acadia National Park. 

It was the first time we've rented e-bikes - we thought that they would have throttles, etc..   but in reality they were "pedal assist," meaning that one still had to pedal, and depending on the level of assist chosen, the bike "helped." The different assists were:

• None -  used to go downhill
• Eco - used on horizontal surfaces
• Tour - slight uphill climb
• Sport - more of an uphill climb
• Turbo - long or steep uphill climb.....or when tired at the end of the day and feeling lazy! 😏

There were lots of great views and surprisingly different trees and flora in different areas....

Jordan Pond - in the distance are The Bubbles.....

Top of Day Mountain...

Throughout the Carriage Roads there are signs at each intersection....

By the end of 6-hours, we had biked 36 miles, and quite honestly, had very sore behinds! 😆 In fact, we were a bit surprisingly a bit sore all over......

Our route (in red)....

(Purple is where we hiked on Day 1.)

Our final mileage!

After we returned our e-bikes, and saw that we had a parking ticket 😡 (Park Mobile app issues....oh well....a keepsake!😂), we headed to an early dinner at the recommended West Street Café. 

We started with a cup of clam chowder and lobster macaroni - both were good, but the lobster didn't taste as fresh as one would have hoped....

...so we cut our loses and did not order any more lobster dishes and got blueberry pie instead! (Which was very good!)

Lobster Rankings:

#1 ~ Bar Harbor Lobster Pound - a great lobster roll, great side of homemade chips, cooking and shelling are visible and fun to see, super nice staff

#2 ~ Archie's Lobster - slightly better lobster roll, however not "better enough" to warrant the 30 minute drive, side of Cape Cod potato chips (bag), nice views over water, nice staff

#3 ~ West Street Café ~ good clam chowder & blueberry pie, but disappointing lobster. Perhaps a different food selection would be a better choice. 

Another great day here in Acadia National Park!

Acadia National Park ~ Day 2

Another great day ~ hiking, weather, and food! 😀 We hiked the Beehive Trail (which we did last time we were here, in 2013) and ended up making it a larger loop ~ again, not the plan, but we are thrilled we did as it was a super fun hike!

Beehive Trail is very popular, so the alarm was set for 6am and we were at the Beehive trailhead by 7:45am, with just a few parking spots remaining! It was a rocky and steep ascent....

..with great views from the start....

There were narrow parts of the trail.....

..and rungs/ladders.....

Hi Brad!✋

More rungs.....

It took about about 40 minutes to get to the Beehive Summit:

At that point, one can continue to complete the Beehive Loop (our original plan), however once we got there, we decide to make it a larger loop, so we continued along the Gorham Mountain Trail which took us past The Bowl (a lake)...

Along the way we chatted with fellow hikers - all super nice - a couple women from Alabama and a couple from North Carolina. After a bit of chatting, the guy from North Carolina graduated from the same college as Brad! Small world! 🌎

This part of the hike was a bit more forested....

...though not for long, as the path became rockier and more boulders again. Actually since all the rocks and boulders were huge, it wasn't difficult hiking - or bothersome to the soles of our feet. 

By 10am, we were at the Gorham Mountain summit - a whopping 525ft elevation! 😅

The views here were amazing!!!

We continued along the Gorham Mountain Trail, eventually connecting with the Cadillacs Cliffs Trail....

Arriving at The Gorham Mountain Trailhead at 10:40am. We walked back to our car (at the Beehive Trailhead) along a path along the road...

....still enjoying some amazing views.....

We took a short detour to Sand Beach....

We took this picture walking back to our car - this is Beehive - where we were (many more people at this late-morning hour):

We intended to take another hike in The Bubbles area, but we could not find any parking as it was about noon by now and the masses were out-and-about, so we ended up driving back to the area where we were yesterday as our Airbnb hosts recommended a restaurant in that area - Archie's Lobster. 

The place was right on the water, with both indoor and outdoor eating areas:

Brad ordered the warm lobster roll in butter and Suzanne decided to try something different based on our hosts' recommendation - a crab roll. 

The warm lobster roll was definitely the winner - the crab was cold and once you've had Oregon Dungeness Crab, there is no other crab (unless a crab cake). 

We headed back to the Airbnb for the rest of the day to plan tomorrow's activities and place to eat. 

Lobster Rankings:

#1 ~ Bar Harbor Lobster Pound - a great lobster roll, great side of homemade chips, cooking and shelling are visible and fun to see, super nice staff

#2 ~ Archie's Lobster - slightly better lobster roll, however not "better enough" to warrant the 30 minute drive, side of Cape Cod potato chips (bag), nice views over water, nice staff