2012 Big Truck Across the Northeast, Day 5

Day 5 started a bit later, but it's tough to sleep in with Ice Cream Truck Creeper just a few hundred yards away.  Our agenda for the day included a trip up to Mt. Battie, some lunch & exploration of the harbor towns, and maybe a mountain biking sneak away for me.

We started out heading up to the playground for a rendezvous with Viola and Eloise (which Kim pointed out yesterday, with those names they could be anywhere from 4 to 75 years old).  Luckily they were there, otherwise Jordan would have gone Exorcist-level freakout, as she had been talking all night about what activities she and her new friends were going to cover.  Here they are solving the European economic crisis.

After the playing was over, it was time to drive up the mountain.  Granted, it's only about 1,000' of elevation, but the view from the top is tough to put into words.  Here is our intrepid explorer mentally preparing to jump on every rock in sight.

I'll go a bit pic-heavy here to give a flavor for the view.  The sort of hazy islands in the distance had a bit of 'Hound of the Baskervilles' feel to them (I'm sure I lost some of you there - don't judge me, I read it when I was 8 and the imagery stuck).  Watching the ships come in & out of the harbor pretty much made time feel irrelevant.

Once we checked out the views, next up was the cool WWI-era tower/turret at the top. Here are shots from inside & out.

On her way down from the top, Jordan gave her best Blue Steel, which definitely has me worried for her (and my) future.

From there it was on down to the harbor below to grab some lunch and wander around the town.  Camden is a pretty cool place, very walkable, and lots of foot traffic.  The locals are very friendly, even if you can't understand a word.  Here's the view from our table.  Hard not to make tons of Goonies references when the tall ships were leaving...



On our way out, we took the scenic backroads to Rockport.  Our friend Aaron (thanks Aaron) had given us tons of inside info on places to see up here, and this tip proved to be a great one.  It's hard to describe the scenery on these roads - think Northern Michigan on HGH.  Tall, wooded canopies over the roads, with occasional glimpses of the bay and boats everywhere. 

As we pulled into Rockport, we stumbled on this gem, a 1971 Jeepster Commando.  I'm quite sure I'll never seen another one like this in my lifetime, so even though the 2 females in our Jeep were not impressed with me drooling all over this thing, I grabbed a few pics.  Whoever did this meticulous restoration, thank you for bringing it back.

All that activity wore us out, so when we got back to the Big Truck there wasn't a lot of conversation, everyone just found a spot and relaxed.  After an hour or so, I got the itch to go explore the mountain bike trails here at the State Park.  There is a pretty extensive network of hiking trails here, as well as a few mixed use trails set aside for biking.  Since the campground is at the base of the hill, I wasn't looking forward to just a straight climb, but the reviews said the top was worth it.

The best way I can describe what came next is with this picture.

Behind me is the trail I just came down.  As you can see, it looks like I either just did a few lines of bath salts or am totally wired on adrenaline.  I'm pretty sure it was the latter.  The trail dropped roughly 200' in about 1/4 mile, and the entire descent is over boulders, rocks, roots, and moss.  It's like nothing I have ever seen in Michigan.  I had biked/hiked up it first, and on the way up all I could picture was this happening.

Instead, I made it just fine and was still completely jacked up when I found Kim & Jordan holding court at the playground just before sunset.  It was here that we later discovered the kids had found a pupa, the larvae stage of a butterfly.  This was incredibly difficult to decipher when Jordan was describing the pee-poop she and her friends had been playing with earlier.

All in all a pretty good day.  Tomorrow we do a few hikes to some of the local lookout points, and then work our way over toward Bar Harbor.  Having never been to Maine, we had heard stories of how beautiful it is, and can now confirm those to be true.

One very bright note - after returning from our lunch, we noted that Ice Cream Truck Creeper has vacated the premises.  Tonight's sleep will be at least 10% more comfortable.