2019 Big Truck Trip to Maine, Day 9

August 10, 2019

Bar Harbor, ME

Bar Harbor Campground

Site K-14

Day 9 started with the knowledge that I was going to get the morning to ride the Carriage Road Loop while the female contingent enjoyed a relaxing, bear free morning in the Big Truck. You can do your own research on the carriage roads, but the gist of it is that Rockefeller Jr was rich enough to want to ride around the island via horse & carriage without worrying about automobile traffic, so he just built a network of carriage roads & bridges where he wanted to go.

I mentioned MTB Project on here before, and I'll give it another plug. It was extremely helpful on this ride because there are about a hundred junctions you come to, with so many options. If you ride and this isn't on your phone, put it on there.

I knew enough about the route from this and from seeing portions of it on our earlier drives through the park to know that the views were going to be spectacular. The Carriage Roads start right out the back of the Visitors Center parking lot, and unfortunately start with an immediate, not gradual climb for what feels like a half a mile or more. Quite the start to your morning, but it gets better from there.

Along the southern edge of the island is Day Mountain. Not very high, but great views and the ride I had planned was going to take me to the top. I can tell you that right about here (green arrow) 

that still seemed like a good idea. Right about here (red arrow)

I realized why I was the only idiot up here. After stuffing my lungs back in my torso, I finally found the top and was pretty disappointed.

I was expecting some glorious 360 degree view of all of Maine, and instead there is this pile of rocks by a sign that is surrounded by trees, and a marginal view at best of what I had just conquered.

As I started back down the Mountain, I came across one of the blue dashes on a rock on the side of the road and realized it was the Day Mountain Hiking trail. I rode out onto the rocks and was rewarded with this.

That view definitely made the climb worthwhile. The ride back north was quite scenic as well, coming alongside Jordan Pond, Eagle Lake, and something called Witch's Hole.

OK, I'm sure you are sick of biking related stories by now, but one thing that has become very obvious on this trip is that fatbikes are very much an anomoly out here during the summer. This will summarize the consistent reactions of nearly everyone that was within earshot today when seeing this bike.

Once I got back to the campground, it was time for a dip in the 'heated' pool. I'll give the Bar Harbor Campground folks this, they do have one of the most scenic campground pools I've ever seen.

That, however, did not translate to the water being warm. I discovered their heating element nearby,

Jordan and I went for a quick dip, but ultimately couldn't take it. Normally we can't drag her out of a pool, lake, ocean, etc no matter how cold the water is. Here, 6 millikelvins appeared to do the trick. I am quite surprised this didn't happen when we jumped in.

Next we were off to the park with a picnic lunch and a plan to go somewhat away from the tourist herds. We chose Otter Cove, which turned out to be a great little spot to post up on some warm rocks and watch people hunt for crabs, clams, and treasures while the tide was out.

Kimberly and Jordan did find a couple of tiny crabs, and Jordan picked up a helper.

We finished lunch, decided to go check out Seal Harbor and look for a short hike or two on the southern edge of the island.  Seal Harbor was very cool, with a huuuge sand beach. This little floating dock comes to rest on the beach during low tide. You can barely see the other end of the rope, which is anchored to a post near high tide. I paced off 119 yards (!) from the high tide mark to the water during low tide. 

Seal Harbor is a good example of how this island is a mix between private landowners & towns and the boundaries of Acadia National Park. As we drove east along the coastline heading out of town, we marveled at the monstrous coastal homes on the hillside.

Just a little further past those homes was the trailhead for the Hunters Beach trail. The parking is unmarked, just a little turnout with space for 4-5 cars. The trail starts off fairly non-descript, tucked into a canopy of trees.

Once you pop out onto the rock-strewn beach, it's full sensory overload. A little stream is feeding though the beach into the ocean, to the left is a hidden 'cave' that I could have spent an hour exploring, to the right is a rising coastline where the trail continues along a bluff, and the view from any of those locations will stop you in your tracks.

Inside that cavelike structure, someone had built little cairns on nearly every ledge that would support them. It was fascinating and eerie - felt like we were part of some sort of Blair Witch Project being filmed while we were exploring.

For a while we each sort of explored our own part of the beach, constantly yelling "Hey, come check this out!" Finally we noticed that the weather was taking a turn, rain was coming in and we made the call to head back.

This is such a short and simple trail, but I cannot recommend it enough. Kind of hidden, not terribly difficult to find if you have a decent map, and the payoff is incredible.

As we headed back, the skies opened up and we were getting drenched. We chose to head over to the original Atlantic Brewing site that we had visited last time we were here and grabbed some food in their attached Mainely Meat BBQ restaurant.

The storms started clearing, and since it was our final night in Bar Harbor, we chose to try to race the sunset to the top of Cadillac Mountain. If you get the chance to do this, do not hesitate. We made it just in time to see the sunset, 

and since we hadn't done quite enough yet, Jordan broke out into a full game of tag across the rocks. The setting up above Bar Harbor is difficult to describe, especially in the fading light, but here's the best we could do to capture it.

Back at the campsite, I knew we had a full day of driving ahead of us the next day, but it was time to relax, get the campfire rolling and soak this place in one last time. Acadia definitely left a mark on all of us, and will certainly be in the rotation of future trips.

Tomorrow - drive til it hurts. Destination, Rochester NY or as close as we can get.

2019 Big Truck Trip to Maine, Day 8

August 9, 2019

Bar Harbor, ME

Bar Harbor Campground

Site K-14

Day 8 started just a little bit slower, with some errands while waiting for the rain to clear. Our plan today was to head over to the Schoodic Peninsula. As with most places in Maine, it is only 10 miles from Bar Harbor as the crow flies, but it is just over an hour drive, as illustrated in this very professional graphic.

Because of this, only about 10% of Acadia visitors end up seeing the Schoodic Peninsula. Their loss, as it is remarkably beautiful. If you are planning to come to Acadia, plan one day to spend there along with either a lunch or dinner stop in Winter Harbor. You will not be disappointed.

Once you enter the Schoodic portion of the park, you are on a mostly one way loop. The first stop is Frazer Point, where there is currently some sort of a footbridge under construction. This has a portion of the grassy waterfront area closed, but there is still a lot of accessible area. We arrived during low tide, so we proceeded to skip some rocks and enjoy the fact that we could see for more than 100 feet in front of us for the first time in 3 days.

Next up on the park loop is Pond Island and West Pond Cove.  It's basically almost like a pier jutting out into the cove, but the 'pier' is entirely comprised of rocks. 

We spent a fair amount of time here, as the scenery just keeps getting better the more you explore. You be the judge.

We asked Jordan to take a picture of the two of us. That went... OK.

Since it was low tide, we found a log that had gotten lodged in some of the rocks, which immediately became a balance beam. One of us made it across.

Jordan has already changed the tagline of Maine to "Jordan's Playground", so everything becomes fair game to climb, jump on, slide down, etc.

Once we left West Pond Cove, it was on to Schoodic Point. This place is hard to describe - picture a vast expanse of rocky coastline that you are completely free to explore. It is one of the few remaining spaces at a National Park that hasn't somehow given in to barricading, roping off, or creating a tiny viewing platform to restrict traffic. Maybe it is because so few people visit, or Maine actually assumes that people can be accountable for their own actions, or they just haven't been sued by an ambulance chaser, yet, but whatever it is, THANK YOU! Just look at these images, and imagine being able to spend hours wandering wherever you want with no restrictions.

The mountain you see in the backdrop of many of those photos is Cadillac Mountain, back on Mount Desert Island on the main section of Acadia. 

The other thing that is present while you are free to wander is the crashing of the ocean waves against the granite formations. We could have sat here for hours if time was no object.

Not sure if this is normally the case, but we also got to see a seal playing in the waves just off the coast. I couldn't get a decent enough pic with either of our phones, but the woman behind us snapped a few shots and showed Jordan - so cool!

The next stop on the loop was Blueberry Hill, and there is a hiking trail there that takes you to Schoodic Head. We were pretty beat after spending a few hours playing on the rocks, so we decided to do the shorter trail to the Anvil lookout.

As soon as we started up the hill, we realized we were all a bit sore from yesterday's Beech Cliff hike. This trail started with a slight incline but quickly turned into a climb straight up the hillside.

If you have more time, doing the loop to Schoodic Head seems like a fun option. We loved this short one, especially since you get to enjoy the ocean one more time at the end of the hike.

From here, we wrapped up our Schoodic visit and decided we would try to catch Sand Beach back on the main island before sunset. Before that, we needed food. We were starving, so the first place we passed was the Pickled Wrinkle. If you get the chance, go here. They had Hungry Eyes playing on the jukebox, so any time you can enjoy amazing seafood surrounded by the cheesiest of 80s tunes, you have to do it.

We beelined it for Sand Beach to watch the waves at high tide, and were not disappointed.

This place has so many different things to offer, it's hard to imagine ever growing tired of it. I know that this will not be our last visit. Each day we get back to the campsite completely wiped out, but excited about the next day's adventures. 

Tomorrow - we're winging it. Weather is supposed to be good in the morning, so an early bike ride is in order, from there we'll play it by ear.