August 7, 2019
Freeport, ME
Wolfe's Neck Oceanfront Campground
Site 424
Day 6 started with an unprecendented early departure. We had prepped everything the night before, requiring only a minimum of a Randy Quaid and hooking up the Jeep. We were on the road by 7:45am, which may not seem early to you but the inhabitants of this motorhome believe the day starts at 10am, and this condition is exacerbated by vacation.
Our plan was to get to Acadia before 11am in the hopes of landing a campsite. Some of the most desirable campgrounds up here do not take reservations, which I'm sure simplifies things for them, but makes it very stressful to plan a vacation involving an RV. Mentally this was me during the entire 2.5hr drive, as the campsite would be our home base for the next 3 days of exploring.
The response when I called ahead was the same sort of reassuring as calling a restaurant that doesn't take reservations and hearing "Yeah, come on down, its not that busy and you should be able to get a table without much of a wait." That means 1.5 hour wait minimum. When I called Bar Harbor Campground (where we stayed in 2012, oceanfront views, super convenient location), the gentleman on the phone gave me the "Well, there's some weather coming in so we might have a couple of checkouts. Come on up and we'll see what we can do for you." Sure guy.
Fast forward a couple hours and we landed this, the only site with electricity available. And there was much rejoicing.
I cannot recommend this campground enough. It is the closest to the entrance of Acadia, it has amazing views and some limited hiking trails, has a playground & pool to keep the kids entertained, and the sites are large enough that you have some privacy. The best oceanfront sites are the full hookups & are reserved for the biggest of the big boy RVs, but there are plenty of other sites. The only challenge is that it will take you a bit of work to get your rig level. Jordan's sand toys came in handy for that.
Ocean view:
Trails:
Our first order of business (after checking out said playground and pool) was to head into the park, stop at the visitors center,
and head straight to Cadillac Mountain. Although it is by far the most touristy part of the park, it is still worth checking out, and we found a hike that got us away from the herds pretty quickly. The weather at the top was full fog/mist, visibility of about 100', and just a surreal feeling of not having any perspective about our surroundings.
We wandered a bit on the granite at the top, then headed for the trailhead of the South Ridge trail. There are a few different options to hike from the top of Cadillac Mountain. What we discovered from a very weary and overworked family of tourists coming back up, is that if you hike down and expect the bus to bring you back up, you are on your own. They said they were 4 hours into their hike which was supposed to be a quick walk. Ouch.
We really didn't plan to go far, just enough to keep Jordan engaged. She has transformed into an outdoor fiend, wanting nothing more than to explore and climb rocks. She has basically become Benny from the LEGO Movie, except instead of "SPACESHIP!" she is just constantly yelling "ROCKS!!"
We went a mile or so, descending a little over 100 feet before successfully explaining that for all the fun we were having climbing down, we needed to head right back up.
After taking in the sweet views and doing a bit more wandering at the top,
and watching Jordan become the trailer for a horror movie,
we then headed for Jordan Pond.
The combination of the fog, the crystal clear water, and the glassy smooth pond produced some pretty epic images.
It also escalated the hat debate, with Kimberly insisting I remove it as to not ruin the photo. I'll leave it to you, which is worse? The hat or the ginger salad?
Anywho, we grabbed a few more pics, got judged and parent-shamed by Sharon Strafford (I just assumed that was her name by her behavior and her disapproving looks as Jordan and I enjoyed ourselves to her chagrin), and decided to go grab some food.
(Let's just ignore the fact that this appears to be a bear stalking its prey, I have been compared to a bear enough this week)
With Jordan getting the last photo op on her pond, we headed into Bar Harbor to grab a bite. This is a cool little town, minutes from the park and with lots of history and cool architecture. None of that mattered to us in this moment, however, as we had worked up an appetite and found Atlantic Brewing.
Nourished & exhausted, we were about to head back to the campsite when Kimberly decided to get a nice portrait of Jordan in this quaint little spot. The result:
her pride in her dad's accomplishment:
Back at the campground, we had our first real bout of rain on the entire trip. We felt bad for all of the tent campers, as the rain was pretty fierce.
All in all it was a solid first day in Acadia, with some cool hikes, amazing scenery, and some rekindled memories from our previous visit. The hikes are really helping Jordan's confidence, as I believe this is now her spirit animal.
Tomorrow, more hiking and exploring, hopefully the rain holds off. Cheers.
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